Matochina (, "

lemon balm Lemon balm (''Melissa officinalis'') is a perennial herbaceous plant in the mint family. It has lemon-scented leaves, white or pale pink flowers, and contains essential oils and compounds like geranial and neral. It grows to a maximum height o ...

") is a small village in southeastern

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

, part of

Svilengrad Svilengrad (; ; ) is a town in Haskovo Province, south-central Bulgaria, situated at the tripoint of Bulgaria, Turkey, and Greece. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Svilengrad Municipality. Geography Svilengrad is close to the ro ...

municipality,

Haskovo Province Haskovo Province (; former name ''Haskovo okrug'') is a province in southern Bulgaria, neighbouring Greece and Turkey to the southeast, comprising parts of the Thracian valley along the river Maritsa. It is named after its administrative and i ...

. Matochina lies in the southernmost ridges of the

Sakar Mountain Sakar () is a low dome-shaped mountain range in southeastern Bulgaria, whose southeasternmost limits extend to European Turkey. Its highest peak is Vishegrad with an altitude of 856 meters above sea level. It is an important ornithological ...

, from the municipal centre Svilengrad and from the provincial capital

Haskovo Haskovo ( ) is a city in the region of Northern Thrace in southern Bulgaria and the administrative centre of the Haskovo Province, not far from the borders with Greece and Turkey. According to Operative Program Regional Development of Bulgaria ...

; it is located just west of the Bulgaria–

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

border and not far northeast of the Bulgaria–

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

border. The village is famous for the medieval Matochina Fortress.

History

Matochina has existed since at least 1664, when Ottoman sultan

Mehmed IV Mehmed IV (; ; 2 January 1642 – 6 January 1693), nicknamed as Mehmed the Hunter (), was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1648 to 1687. He came to the throne at the age of six after his father was overthrown in a coup. Mehmed went on to b ...

was reported to have hunted near the abandoned fortress and the village located below it. During that time, Matochina was known as ''Fikla'' or ''Fikel''. The village was passed to Bulgaria in 1912. It was renamed to ''Matochina'' in 1934 due to the abundance of the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

herb lemon balm (''Melissa officinalis'') in the surrounding area.

Churches

Matochina's entire population is

Bulgarian Orthodox The Bulgarian Orthodox Church (), legally the Patriarchate of Bulgaria (), is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox jurisdiction based in Bulgaria. It is the first medieval recognised patriarchate outside the Pentarchy and the oldest Slavic Orthod ...

by confession. The village has a medieval

cave church A cave monastery is a monastery built in caves, with possible outside facilities. The 3rd-century monk St. Anthony the Great, known as the founder of Christian monasticism, lived in a cave. *Albania **Qafthanë Cave Church, cave church near Ur ...

that dates to the 10th century; the church is named after the

Epiphany Epiphany may refer to: Psychology * Epiphany (feeling), an experience of sudden and striking insight Religion * Epiphany (holiday), a Christian holiday celebrating the revelation of God the Son as a human being in Jesus Christ ** Epiphany seaso ...

and was in use until the mid-20th century. The cave church lies southwest of the village. It is a rectangular room with an arch carved out of the rock. The

cella In Classical architecture, a or naos () is the inner chamber of an ancient Greek or Roman temple. Its enclosure within walls has given rise to extended meanings: of a hermit's or monk's cell, and (since the 17th century) of a biological cell ...

or ''naos'' is wide and up to high. The entrance to the church is an overarched passage long and high. Another church, dedicated to the Saints

Constantine Constantine most often refers to: * Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I * Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria Constantine may also refer to: People * Constantine (name), a masculine g ...

and

Helena Helena may refer to: People *Helena (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Katri Helena (born 1945), Finnish singer * Saint Helena (disambiguation), this includes places Places Greece * Helena ...

, was inaugurated in late 1935.

Castle

The Matochina Fortress (Маточинска крепост, ''Matochinska krepost''), also known as Bukelon (Букелон), lies on a

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; : plateaus or plateaux), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. ...

to the northeast of the village itself. Bukelon was reportedly mentioned in reports about the

Battle of Adrianople The Battle of Adrianople also known as Battle of Hadrianopolis was fought between the Eastern Roman army led by the Roman emperor Valens and Gothic rebels (largely Thervings as well as Greutungs, non-Gothic Alans, and various local rebels) ...

of 378. The only well-preserved part of the castle today is the inner fortress with the

keep A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residen ...

, which is in height and dates to the 12th–14th century. The keep is a three-storey tower with

arrow loop An arrowslit (often also referred to as an arrow loop, loophole or loop hole, and sometimes a balistraria) is a narrow vertical aperture in a fortification through which an archer can launch arrows or a crossbowman can launch bolts. The interio ...

s on all sides. The third storey was reportedly used as a

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

for the defenders. The keep was constructed out of stone and bricks. A cross-shaped brick

monogram A monogram is a motif (visual arts), motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or a company, used as recognizable symbo ...

to the side of the entrance indicates that the fortress may have been reconstructed by

Tsar Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...

Michael Shishman of Bulgaria Michael Asen III (), commonly known as Michael Shishman (), ruled as tsar of Bulgaria from 1323 to 1330. The exact year of his birth is unknown but it was between 1280 and 1292. He was the founder of the last ruling dynasty of the Second Bulgaria ...

(1323–1330). The keep is rectangular in shape with two protruding parts, one of which is semicylindrical. The Matochina Fortress was part of

Adrianople Edirne (; ), historically known as Orestias, Adrianople, is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the Edirne Province, province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, Edirne was the second c ...

's defensive system and protected the city from the north. Form here bulgarian army go to the

Battle of Adrianople (1205) The Battle of Adrianople occurred around Adrianople on April 14, 1205, between Bulgarians and Cumans under Tsar Kaloyan of Bulgaria, and Crusaders under Baldwin I, who only months before had been crowned Emperor of Constantinople, allied w ...

Honour

Matochina Peak in

Imeon Range Imeon Range (, ‘Hrebet Imeon’ \'hre-bet i-me-'on\) () is a mountain range occupying the interior of Smith Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. It extends in southwest-northeast direction between Cape James and Cape Smith, and ...

on Smith Island in the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands located in the Drake Passage with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the n ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

is named after Matochina.

References

{{Svilengrad Villages in Haskovo Province