A town in the eastern part of the Danubian Hilly Plain, 24 km north-east of Shoumen. Population of 7100.

3 km from the present day town, in an archaeological reserve, one can see Pliska, the first Bulgarian capital, related to the pagan period of the Bulgarian state and the Old-Bulgarian culture. Built at the end of the 7th C. as a war camp, it gradually expands to become a permanent residence of the khan. 

In the Inner Town there have been uncovered the Throne-room, the Small Palace, where the khan lived, pagan temples, a water-main and sewerage. A fortress wall with high towers in four corners surrounded the citadel. Beyond the wall the Outer Town lay with houses, market-places, work-shops, an inn.

After the conversion to Christianity churches and monasteries are raised on the ruins of demolished pagan temples. In the place of an old sanctuary the so-called Large Basilica is built - the most imposing medieval church in Bulgaria.

The design and monumental construction of the capital is related to the architectural tradition of the Middle East and Transcaucasia, where the Proto-Bulgarians come from. The huge dimensions, the fortification system and the impressive architecture win for Pliska a place among the most remarkable European capital cities of the 7th-9th centuries.

After the capital is moved, the town gradually declines and in the 17th C. it is merely ruined. As early as the past century the Czech historians Karel Skorpil and Konstantin Jirecek forward the opinion that these are the ruins of the first Bulgarian capital, which is proved by the archaeological investigations, carried on even today.