The modern Veliki Preslav or Great Preslav (Велики Преслав, vɛˈliki prɛˈsɫaf), former Preslav (Преслав; until 1993), is a city and the seat of government of the Veliki Preslav Municipality (Great Preslav Municipality, new Bulgarian: obshtina), which in turn is part of Shumen Province, Bulgaria. Veliki Preslav is situated at an altitude of 132 m (92 m above sea level).
A former village, it assumed the name of the medieval capital in 1878 and became a town in 1883. As of December 2009, it had a population of 8,951 inhabitants.
Preslav was the capital of the First Bulgarian Empire from 893 to 972 and one of the most important cities in medieval Southeastern Europe. The ruins of the city are situated in modern northeastern Bulgaria, some 20 kilometres southwest of the regional capital of Shumen, and are currently a national archaeological reserve.
The name of Preslav is of Slavic origin; apparently it was initially founded and functioned as a Slavic settlement until its fortification at the beginning of the ninth century. The proximity to the then Bulgarian capital of Pliska led to the fast development and expansion of Preslav during the reign of the Khans Krum and Omurtag. By the time of the coronation of Khan Boris I in 852, Preslav had turned into an important strategic military centre and was the seat of the Ichirgu-boil. A number of churches were built in the city after the conversion of the Bulgarians to Christianity in 864.
The pagan revolt of the Pliska nobility led by Prince Vladimir in 892 was decisive for the future destiny of the city. In 893 Vladimir was dethroned and during the Council of Preslav Boris I appointed Simeon the Great as his successor and decided to move the capital of the state from the still somewhat pagan Pliska to Preslav. In the following 80 years the city developed rapidly, turning into a centre not only of Bulgarian politics and diplomacy, but also of Slavic culture, literature and fine arts. A chronicler mentioned that it took Simeon 28 years to establish and build up his new capital.
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Pliska (Плиска ˈpliskɐ, Пльсковъ) was the first capital of the First Bulgarian Empire during the Middle Ages and is now a small town in Shumen Province, on the Ludogorie plateau of the Danubian Plain, 20 km northeast of the provincial capital, Shumen. Pliska was the first capital of Bulgaria, and according to legend founded by Asparuh of Bulgaria in the late 7th century; this legend is archaeologically unsubstantiated. The site was originally an encampment, with the first tent-shaped buildings at Pliska of uncertain date.
Krum (Крум, Κροῦμος/Kroumos), often referred to as Krum the Fearsome (Крум Страшни) was the Khan of Bulgaria from sometime between 796 and 803 until his death in 814. During his reign the Bulgarian territory doubled in size, spreading from the middle Danube to the Dnieper and from Odrin to the Tatra Mountains. His able and energetic rule brought law and order to Bulgaria and developed the rudiments of state organization. Krum was a Bulgar chieftain from Pannonia. His family background and the surroundings of his accession are unknown.
Church Slavonic, also known as Church Slavic, New Church Slavonic, New Church Slavic or just Slavonic (as it was called by its native speakers), is the conservative Slavic liturgical language used by the Eastern Orthodox Church in Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Serbia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia. The language appears also in the services of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese, and occasionally in the services of the Orthodox Church in America.