“Nebet tepe” (Nebet hill) is the historical reason for the founding of the city Plovdiv. The hill still features remnants of the north wall of the ancient city, a secret entrance with a stairway to the rocky bank of the river Maritsa – artifacts dating back to the 6th century.

With attractive, artistic lighting Nebet tepe in the Old part of Plovdiv will compete with the famous hill Tsarevets in Veliko Tarnovo. The project is already in motion and began with a massive clean up of the mounds of garbage, announced the vice-mayor Georgi Shopov. “For thirty years, this place hasn’t been cleaned properly – we found some amazing things”, joked the project team. The new discoveries include a 20 meter high gate, which was buried until now. After a consultation with archaeologists, we’ve come to the conclusion that apostle Pavel had passed through this gate. Thus, it will most probably be called after the saint, said Nikolai Tonchev. “The device is unique; it passes under the fortified wall and leads to the cliffs,” said workers.

The municipality employees will clean up the gate and the fortified walls and construct roads for tourists.