The town of Ruse - where Vlad Dracula fought the Turks

Short history of Ruse and its name

It is an accepted tradition to consider the beginning of Ruse back to the Roman castle of Sexaginta Prista (1st century BC), which translates as "Port of the 60 ships". Much earlier, however, during the Stone-Copper Age (5000 BC), the foundations of an early agricultural settlement were laid here. It existed with certain interruptions throughout the Stone-Copper, Bronze, Iron and Roman ages, as it was the beginning of the settled way of life on the territory of modern Ruse. After the establishment of Asparukh’s Bulgaria, the fort fell into the hands of the Bulgar conquerors, who gave it the name "Rusi". Specialists claim that the town's name originates from the folkloristic notion that settlements were created around the presence of an iconic female patron figure. In the case of Ruse–grandmother Rusa, a tavern keeper, or maiden Rusa, patroness of youth war bands. After the conversion, Ruse fell under the patronage of St. George the Victorious, who is still the protector of the Danube town. Evidence for this statement is the city of Giurgiu, located on the northern bank of the Danube, which, according to experts, was part of "little Vienna" in the past. It is believed that in the past it was a common phenomenon for the cities and towns to extend on both sides of the river, and according to Professor Nikolay Nenov, the one who rules the south bank usually also ruled the north.

Vlad Dracula and the town of Ruse

Historical sources indicate that in the 15th century (shortly before the fall of the Second Bulgarian Empire under Ottoman rule), the Wallachian Duke Vlad III, also known as Vlad the Impaler, Vlad Tepes and Vlad Dracula, captured the town of Ruse and liberated it from the Ottoman Turks. Scholars suggest that it was in the Danube town that the Vlad first showed his notorious cruelty to his enemies, by impaling a large number of Ottoman soldiers who dared to stand in his way.

Here, however, the question arises, how did he manage to cross the river, together with his army, without being noticed by the Ottomans located in the Rusçuk fortress?

The Legends

According to a legend, Vlad Tepes used a tunnel that runs under the Danube river to surprise the Ottoman Turks in the rear. It is believed that later in the 19th century, the two exits of the tunnel were blocked and 2 clock towers were built in their place–one in Giurgiu and the other in Ruse. Unfortunately, the tower in Ruse was destroyed in 1919 and has not been rebuilt since then, while the one in Giurgiu is a symbol of the city to this day. It is interesting that most residents in Ruse and Giurgiu live with the idea that under their feet there is a network of tunnels that also crosses the river. Similar legends are still told in the among the inhabitants of Ruse, claims the director of the Regional History Museum, Prof. Dr. Nikolay Nenov.

A theory states that an underground passage connects the Orlova Chuka cave to the town, a distance of approximately 40 km.

Another theory generally accepted by the inhabitants of Ruse is that a tunnel dug by the Turks starts from the Levent tabya military barracks and ends at the Turkish inn.

According to another legend, tunnels were dug from the former District Administration (now the Ruse Regional Historical Museum) to the house of one of the governors, and in the darkness provided by the underground premises, he tortured those who opposed him.

Other legends say that under the Ottoman Ruse (then named Rusçuk) there was a system of underground fortifications, thanks to which prominent revolutionaries, like Vasil Levski among many others, managed to avoid the patrols on duty and enter the town without being noticed.

Whether these claims are true or the fruit of folk creativity, we can only speculate. It is certain that during World War II, German troops dug a considerable network of bunkers and bomb shelters that can be seen to this day. We have no way of knowing whether they used tunnels which already existed. However, judging by the fact that during archaeological investigations under a number of Bulgar fortresses dating from the period of the First Bulgarian Empire tunnels built specifically for the purpose of escape or counter-attack were discovered, the possibility that there is some truth to the legends mentioned in this article does not seem to be so insignificant.

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Sources:

https://bulgarianhistory.org/legendata-ruse-tzepesh/