Part of the territory of Veliko Turnovo has been declared a museum reserve with three zones, also including the territory of the village of Arbanassi.

Turnovo became the capital of the restored Bulgarian state directly after the uprising of Assen and Peter (1185-1187), which put an end to the Byzantine rule. During the following two centuries (1186-1393), when the Bulgarian state had reached the peak of its development, Turnovo developed as a major political, economic, cultural and commercial center, known throughout Europe. In its area and population, the Bulgarian capital of that time was among the largest cities in the European Southeast. During that period, magnificent palaces, monasteries, churches, fortifications, bridges and big buildings were put up.

The medieval Turnovgrad [Turnovo town] extended over the Tsarevts, Trapezitsa, Momina Krepost, and Sveta Gora hills and Assenova Mahala neighbourhood by the Yantra River.

The two main medieval fortresses rose on Tsarevets and Trapezitsa hills. The strong fortifications guaranteed the security of  “the inner town”, spreading on the two hills. Living by the side of the Yantra in the Assenova neighbourhood, where the so-called New Town emerged, were craftsmen and local merchants, while the residential district of the foreign merchants (Frank Hissar) was southeast of the Baldwin Tower. The residential districts, making up the so-called “inner town”, were also protected by fortifications. Outside the fortifications were only the dwellings of the poorest people living right by the side of the river.

No doubt, of highest interest for visitors, is the time when the city had been the capital of the Bulgarian Kingdom.

Tsarevets Architectural and Museum Reserve
Rising on Tsarevets hill was the citadel (the fortified central part) of the medieval town. This main fortress of the medieval capital protected the Palace of the Bulgarian Kings – an architectural compound, strongly fortified by fortress walls and towers, covering an area of 4,772 sq m. The representative and administrative buildings, connected with the functioning of the authorities and the royal premises were to be found in this independent fortress. The palace Church of St Paraskeva (St Petka) was also located here, buried in which were members of the ruling dynasty. The Residence of the Bulgarian Patriachs (Patriarchate) rose on the highest place of the hill. It included an architectural compound of buildings, made up as an independent fortress in an irregular angular shape (with fortress walls, gates and towers) spreading on a total area of about 3,000 sq m. The patriarchy church of the Holy Ascension was in the center of the inner courtyard. This is a cross-domed, three apse church with two narthexes. There is a premise attached to the south facade of the church, which had been a belfry tower – a rare phenomenon in Balkan church architecture. The uncovered numerous fragments of multicoloured marble and glazed ceramic slabs are evidence of the elaborate decoration of the church. The floor mosaic had been particularly beautiful. Kept in the church were the relics of St Mihail Voin [Warrior], a Bulgarian boyar, honoured as a warrior and a healer. They had been brought by Tsar Karloyan in the early 13th century. Two compounds are also situated in the citadel, inhabited by members of the aristocracy. The remaining area was densely built with two-storeyed dwellings, divided in residential districts. The foundations of more than 320 residential and housing buildings have been unearthed. Every residential district had a church of its own. Perilously overhanging the Yantra River in the southeast end of Tsarevets is the Lobnata Skala [Execution Rock], from which condemned traitors were thrown into the river. A tower, protecting the Frankhissar Gate and the water reservoir of the Yantra, rose in the southeast end of Tsarevets. Legend associates this tower with Emperor Baldwin, taken prisoner by Tsar Kaloyan in the battle at Adrianople in 1205. The tower, commonly known as Baldwin’s Tower, was restored after a design by Architect Rashenov in 1930-1932.

The fortress on the Trapezitsa hill was the second in importance to that on Tsarevets. In the 12th-14th century it was called “The Glorious City of Trapezitsa”. Fortified by strong fortress walls, following the curve of rocks overhanging the Yantra, it was also densely built with houses. Some 17 churches were also erected. The Monastery St Ivan Rilski [John of Rila] was also within that fortress. Transferred in it in 1194-1195 were the relics of the wonder-maker of Rila a kept there for nearly three decades. It was precisely from the capital of the Assens that the cult for the Bulgarian national saint spread beyond the frontiers of the kingdom, acquiring significance throughout the Eastern Orthodox world.

Monasteries and churches were built in the Assenova neighbourhood (now the Assenov residential district). Some of them can be seen to this day. Preserved in these Bulgarian medieval monuments of historical and architectural value are mural paintings, reflecting the extremely high artistic, religious and philosophical values of the age.

The Church of St Demetrius is directly connected with Bulgaria’s history. When it was inaugurated in 1185, the Bulgarian boyars, the brothers Peter and Assen, rose in an uprising against Byzantine rule. The uprising was successful and Turnovgrad was declared a capital. The rulers of the Bulgarian state reborn - Assen, Petur and Kaloyan – were crowned in that church. It served as a Christian church until 1779 long after Turnovo had fallen under Turkish rule. The church has been completely restored.

The Church of the Forty Holy Martyrs is probably the best-known medieval monument in the country. It was erected on the order of Tsar Ivan Assen II in commemoration of the major victory of the Bulgarians over the Byzantine troops at Klokotnitsa in 1230. During the 13th-14th century it had been one of the most beautiful and rich churches of the kingdom. It was considerably damaged during the Ottoman domination, when it was turned into a mosque; its mural paintings were pasted by lime, and the icons and the iconostasis were burned. What has been preserved are extremely valuable columns, a token of continuity of the heroic traditions in the development of the Bulgarian state: Assen’s column with an inscription dedicated to the Bulgarians’ historic victory in 1230, Omourtag’s column with an inscription reflecting the building activities and life philosophy of Kan Omourtag, and the column from the Rodosto fortress. In 1972 a Christian tomb and a solid gold signet ring with an inscription “Kaloyan’s Ring” was found in the northeastern part of the church. According to experts, this is the tomb of Tsar Kaloyan. The church has now been completely restored.

The Church of St St Peter and Paul was built around the late 13th or during the 14th century and extensions were added during the 16th-17th centuries.  Three periods can be identified in its elaborate mural decorations: from the 14th, 16th and 17th centuries. When the town fell under Turkish rule, the Bulgarian Patriarchate was moved in it along with the entire library of the Patriarchate. Bulgarian Patriarch Euthymius of Turnovo served for about two years in it before being sent in exile in 1393. The Church of St George is comparatively small and was built on top a medieval Bulgarian church. Razed to the ground by the Turks, it was rebuilt in 1812. Its mural paintings are of interest as they were made in the spirit of the Turnovo School of Art.

Every walk in Veliko Turnovo hides surprising meetings, carrying the specific feeling of history and of  space at one and the same time.

Standing out among the numerous cultural and historical monuments in the city there are also real masterpieces of construction, the work of the major Revival Period builder master-builder Nikola Fichev (Ousta Kolyu Ficheto): the churches of St St Constantine and Helena (1872-1874), of St St Cyril and Methodius (1861) . The Konak (now National Revival and Constituent Assembly Museum), built in 1872 by Kolyu Ficheto, had an eventful and intriguing historical fate. Vassil Levski, the Apostle of Bulgarian freedom, was interrogated here in 1873; in the wake of the bloody suppression of the April 1876 Uprising, the Turkish court held its sessions in this building, in the trial of the revolutionaries Bacho Kiro, Tsanko Dyustabanov, Georgi Izmirliev, Ivan Semerdzhiev, Ekim Tsankov and some others; in 1877 the citizens of Turnovo welcomed the Russian liberators in front of the Konak; in 1879 the Constituent Assembly held its sessions here (drafting and adopting the First Bulgarian Constitution) as did the First Grand National Assembly, while in 1885 the decision was taken to recognize the Unification of the Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Roumelia. This museum, along with the archaeological, church and ethnographic compounds, the New History Museum and the reserves Tsarevets and Arbanassi, are parts of the history museum in Veliko Turnovo.

The Samovodska Charshiya ethnographic compound consists of a typical Revival Period street with small craftsmen’s workshops, shops and characteristic houses. Typical of Turnovo is also the atmosphere along Gourko Street, where standing out by its architectural outlines among a number of preserved or restored houses is the Sarafkin House (1861) with the ethnographic display of Folk Art in the Region of Veliko Turnovo.

The Prison Museum (1862), where Vassil Levski, Filip Totyu, Stefan Karadzha, and Bacho Kiro, the fighters for national liberation, were held prisoners. The monument to the Assen dynasty (a Bulgarian royal dynasty reigning from 1185 until 1277),  particularly impressive for visitors of Veliko Turnovo is the grand Sound and Light Programme – a night-time tourist attraction, shown on Tsarevets Hill, which can be watched from the town.