page_title: Pleven
section_title: Prehistory and antiquity
hierarchical_section_title: Pleven / History / Prehistory and antiquity
caption_attribution_description: Bank building in Pleven, Bulgaria
context_page_description: Pleven is the seventh most populous city in Bulgaria. Located in the northern part of the country, it is the administrative centre of Pleven Province, as well as of the subordinate Pleven municipality. It is the biggest economic center in Northwestern Bulgaria. At the end of 2018 its population is 96,610.
  Internationally known for the Siege of Plevna of 1877, it is today a major economic centre of the Bulgarian Northwest and Central North and the third largest city of Northern Bulgaria after Varna and Ruse.
context_section_description: The earliest traces of human settlement in the area date from the 5th millennium BC, the Neolithic.
  Numerous archaeological findings, among them the Nikolaevo treasure found in Bulgaria, evidence for the rich culture of the Thracians, who inhabited the area for thousands of years.
  In the beginning of the new era, the region became part of the Roman province of Moesia, and a road station called Storgosia arose near present-day Pleven on the road from Oescus (near modern Gigen) to Philippopolis (now Plovdiv). It later evolved into a fortress. One of the most valued archaeological monuments in Bulgaria from the period is the Early Christian basilica from the fourth century discovered near the modern city.
caption: The central streets of Pleven
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