The Thracians were a multitudinous nation divided into different tribes. They lived separated from one another and could never establish a long-lasting country. A significant part of the most representative monuments of the Thracian art were found in the region of Lovech.
    The town of Lovech has been built upon the Thracian settlement of Prezidum, characterized by its rich material and spiritual culture. Necropolises and tumuli are evidence of this. The necropolis Slatina-Goran represents the Thracians’ earliest treasures – gold and silver jewels, a bronze chisel, earthenware from the IIId millennium B.C. In one of the caves and in the centre of Lovech several gold spirals, a gold rivet, a bronze point of a dagger and interesting earthenware were discovered. The latter contain traces of charred grapes.
    The Thracian treasures from the towns of Lukovit and Letnitsa and the villages of Vladinya, Alexandrovo, Raduvene brought fame to Lovech and the whole region. Some of them consist of applications of horse-trappings made of silver or silver with gilding. Others consist of silver and bronze containers – jugs, phials, cups. Some of the scenes represented on the applications have no analogy in the Thracian art. The trade relationships of the native Thracian tribes and their economic power were marked by a number of monetary finds and by seals on amphoras of Rhodos with inscribed priests’ names as well as the month when the wine had been poured in them.
    In the year 15 B.C. the Thracians’ lands, north of Stara Planina were conquered by the Romans and became the Roman province of Mizia. An extensive building of fortresses, roads, and stations began.
    The preserved parts of the military road Via Trayana along the ridge of Stara Planina date back to the I-IId century. It started from the Roman town of Ulpia Eskus /today’s village of Gigen/, crossed the Balkan near the town of Troyan, and reached Philipopolis /today’s Plovdiv/.
    In the Ist century Via Trayana was a main road which served the military and trade traffic between Thracia and Mizia. It was used together with the adjoining roadside stations till the Vth century when it was destroyed by Atilla’s Huns.
    Via Trayana was one of the most well-preserved Roman roads with an original stone covering in the country.
    Today’s Lovech has been built on the ruins of the Roman fortress of Melta which defended the settlement for centuries. Several thoroughfares intersected there. It was an important station on the Roman road Via Trayana, which came from the Danube, crossed Melta and the Passage of Troyan, and reached Plovdiv. There it joined the diagonal road coming from Belgrad to Byzantion i.e. the main thoroughfare which connected Central Europe and Asia. Melta was also situated on the main road from Serdika /today’s Sofia/ to Odessos /today’s Varna/. It was connected with Nikjup and Nove near the town of Svishtov.