Kovachevsko kale was a Roman city which lies 6 kilometres west of the Bulgarian town of Popovo. The Czech archaeologist Karel Škorpil called it Kovachoveshko kale, after the name of the nearby village, Kovachevets.
It is notable for its massive defensive walls which have a roughly triangular plan and enclosed an area of more than 40 hectares. The stone walls are fortified with 17 U-shaped towers. There are two gates, one to the west and one to the north-east.
The city is located on a flat terrain, naturally protected by rivers.
The strong 3.20 m thick walls were built between 308 and 324 AD during the joint reign of Roman Emperors Constantine I the Great and Licinius after the Gothic Wars of 250-269. The city was set on fire in the Second Gothic War of 376-382 AD. It was slowly restored until the invasion of Attila the Hun around 447 AD. Finally it was destroyed by the Slavs and Avars in the 580s.
Recent excavations by Veliko Tarnovo University have revealed a huge Roman building from the 4th century AD within the walls which appears to have been a horreum (i.e. a granary). It measured over 60m x 25m, though it has not been fully exposed. It had a massive double door of 2.4m width. The walls of the building are 1.3m wide reinforced with external buttresses. It had two stories and a basement and was constructed with opus mixtum. The granary was plundered and set on fire around 378 AD probably by the Goths.
An underground aqueduct built of clay pipes supplied the fortress with drinking water, descending from the northwest over several kilometres from Kalakoch hill.
References:The Walls of Constantinople are a series of defensive stone walls that have surrounded and protected the city of Constantinople (today Istanbul) since its founding as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Constantine the Great. With numerous additions and modifications during their history, they were the last great fortification system of antiquity, and one of the most complex and elaborate systems ever built. They were also the largest and strongest fortification in both the ancient and medieval world.
Initially built by Constantine the Great, the walls surrounded the new city on all sides, protecting it against attack from both sea and land. As the city grew, the famous double line of the Theodosian Walls was built in the 5th century. Although the other sections of the walls were less elaborate, they were, when well-manned, almost impregnable for any medieval besieger.