Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2024 All Rights Reserved

A French coin found near the Medieval fortress of Rusocastro baffles archaeologists

Photo: burgasmuseums.bg

A new priceless find has been discovered during excavations of the medieval Bulgarian town of Rusocastro. While exploring its massive fortress wall, archaeologists came across a silver coin (tornese) minted in the Kingdom of France. 

A small part of the coin is missing, making it impossible to determine which ruler minted it, the Regional History Museum in Burgas said. Archaeologists' guesses differ as to whether it is King Louis IX or King Louis X, but they are sure of one thing - that such coins are extremely rare in the Balkans.
Rusocastro fortress
The find provokes questions about the dynamics of various trade flows during the Middle Ages in the Eastern Balkans. Apparently, at that time people in the region also used French silver coins. Another explanation for the presence of this coin in Ruskocastro is that visitors or residents of the town had direct access to French silver currency.


Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

An exhibition in Sofia presents the ancient "lords of salt" from Provadia

The exhibition "The Lords of Salt: Provadia - The Saltworks 5600 - 4350 BC" will be presented in Sofia. The temporary exhibition will be officially opened on June 11 at the National Archaeological Institute and Museum of the Bulgarian Academy of..

published on 6/8/24 3:30 PM
From left to right - Hristo Botev, Ivan Drasov and Nikola Slavkov.

Bulgaria lost one of the greatest heroic figures of our times in the fire of the fight for national independence

The testimonies of those who took part in the fateful events of 1876 are numerous and often contradictory. But the letters and documents about the April Uprising, which led to the liberation of Bulgaria , paint a fuller picture of the events that goes..

published on 6/2/24 6:35 AM

Tsar Ferdinand’s last will to be buried in Bulgaria is now fulfilled

76 years after his death, the remains of the first Bulgarian Tsar of the Third Bulgarian Tsardom, Ferdinand I, were returned to the "Vrana" Palace and his last will has finally been fulfilled. The Tsar wrote that he wished to be..

published on 5/30/24 5:01 PM