EXPLORATIONS OF SHISHMANOVO KALE FORTRESS NEAR SAMOKOV (Veselin Hadzhiangelov – vhajiangelov@yahoo.com) The lay-out of the fortress, occupying an area of 2.5 ha, was clarified in 2004. The site can be identified as a settlement with a suburb and a fortified citadel. Part of the gate of the fortress in the so-called suburb, pottery and metallurgical workshops, and an Early Christian basilica of the end of the 4th century AD were explored. An Early Byzantine church was uncovered on the eastern slope of a neighboring hill. Remains of its walls, tiles, bricks, fragmentary plaster with painted decoration and fragmentary glass were discovered.