URVICH FORTRESS (Boni Petrunova – boni_boon@abv.bg) The fortress was 849 m long with an area of 1.72 ha. The ruins of St. Elias Church were situated almost in its center. The structure of the church and the fortification walls was identical: stones bonded with mortar with timber beams up to 20 cm wide incorporated into the walls. Initially, in the beginning of the 13th century the church was single-naved with a narthex, 16.25 m long, with roof covered with tiles. In the beginning of the 14th century it was reconstructed to a cross-dome church. Fragments from frescoes were found. After Urvich Fortress was conquered by the Ottomans, a monastery was built around the church and it existed during the 15th – 17th centuries. Part of the northern fence of the monastery and the adjacent room were discovered. During the excavations, 28 coins were found: five coins of the 4th – 5th centuries AD, an anonymous Byzantine follis of the 11th century, coins of the 12th – 14th centuries, including silver Venetian and Serbian coins, a hoard of 18 silver coins of the Bulgarian King Ivan Alexander and his son Mihail Asen, the latest ones countermarked in 1371 – 1373, discovered in the narthex of the church, three silver Ottoman akçe of Sultans Bayezid II, Murad III and Mehmed III, a silver coin of Sigismund III Vasa minted in 1588, four finger-rings and a silver earring.