Qualla: Palace of Omurtag https://qualla.com/palace-of-omurtag en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:31 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/s/x/e/j/palace-of-omurtag-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Palace of Omurtag https://qualla.com/palace-of-omurtag Palace of Omurtag: Introduction https://qualla.com/palace-of-omurtag/ Photo credit Izvora, Public domain. Two civilizations are buried under the same field. Beneath the village of Han Krum in northeastern Bulgaria, archaeologists have uncovered the fortified palace of Omurtag, ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire from 815 to 831 CE, a Bulgar khan who worshipped the sky-god Tangra and resisted the spreading Christianity of his neighbors. Beneath that palace, in older layers, they have found the foundations of four Late Antique churches, a basilica, a bath, and Gothic graves with chain mail and gold-inlaid brooches. This was the world of Ulfilas, the 4th-century Gothic bishop who translated the Bible into the Gothic language and gave Christianity to peoples who would later sweep across Rome.

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Image: Izvora | Public domain

]]> Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/x/e/j/palace-of-omurtag-wp/sxej-palace-of-omurtag-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Palace of Omurtag: Who Was Omurtag https://qualla.com/palace-of-omurtag/ Photo credit Izvora, Public domain. Omurtag inherited an empire from his father Krum, the fearsome khan who had killed the Byzantine emperor Nikephoros I in battle in 811 and reportedly turned his skull into a drinking cup. Where Krum was a conqueror, Omurtag was a builder and an administrator. He signed a 30-year ...

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Image: Izvora | Public domain

]]> Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/x/e/j/palace-of-omurtag-wp/sxej-palace-of-omurtag-who-was-omurtag.mp3 0:06 2 full Palace of Omurtag: The Older Christianity https://qualla.com/palace-of-omurtag/ Photo credit Izvora, Public domain. Long before Omurtag's rampart rose here, this place belonged to the Goths. In the 4th century CE, before the Huns drove them west, Gothic foederati lived across this stretch of the lower Danube basin. The most famous of them was Ulfilas, also called Wulfila, a bishop of Arian Chr...

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Image: Izvora | Public domain

]]> Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/x/e/j/palace-of-omurtag-wp/sxej-palace-of-omurtag-the-older-christianity.mp3 0:06 3 full Palace of Omurtag: Bulgar on Top of Goth https://qualla.com/palace-of-omurtag/ Photo credit Izvora, Public domain. When Omurtag chose this site for his palace in the early 9th century, he did not know about the Gothic basilica or the bishop. He saw a defensible hill near the Tica River, close to his capital at Pliska, and he ordered a fortress built. The rampart at Han Krum is smaller than Pl...

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Image: Izvora | Public domain

]]> Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/x/e/j/palace-of-omurtag-wp/sxej-palace-of-omurtag-bulgar-on-top-of-goth.mp3 0:06 4 full Palace of Omurtag: Layered Discovery https://qualla.com/palace-of-omurtag/ Photo credit Izvora, Public domain. Excavations began in 1957 but progressed slowly under the Communist government, which had limited funds for archaeology that did not directly serve nationalist narratives. After 2000, joint Bulgarian and German teams resumed serious work. They unearthed Gothic graves containing m...

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]]> Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/x/e/j/palace-of-omurtag-wp/sxej-palace-of-omurtag-layered-discovery.mp3 0:06 5 full Palace of Omurtag: Standing in the Field https://qualla.com/palace-of-omurtag/ Photo credit Izvora, Public domain. Today the site is open ruins under open sky, low stone walls tracing rooms whose roofs collapsed a thousand years ago. The Bulgarian countryside around it is rolling, agricultural, mostly empty. The village of Han Krum, named for a different khan, sits a short walk away. The Chat...

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]]> Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/x/e/j/palace-of-omurtag-wp/sxej-palace-of-omurtag-standing-in-the-field.mp3 0:06 6 full