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Roman Stadium
The once huge Roman Stadium is mostly hidden under the pedestrian mall and buildings; alas, a visionary plan to reconstruct the street with a glass walkway and so reveal the whole structure, remains unrealised. For now, 12 rows of the northern section have been restored, and are visible from the street. Above the ruins, a modern bronze statue of the city's founder - the 4th-century BC king of Macedon, Philip II - stands on a column.
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Ruins of Eumolpias
Some 203m high in the old town, a hill contains sparse ruins of Eumolpias, a Thracian settlement from about 5000 BC. The fortress and surrounding town enjoyed a strategic position, and it was later bolstered by Macedonians, Romans, Byzantines, Bulgarians and Turks, who named it Nebet Tepe (Prayer Hill). While the remaining rubble is rather formless, the site does offer great views. The hill is best reached from ul Dr Chomakov (the continuation of ul Sâborna).
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State Gallery of Fine Arts
The State Gallery of Fine Arts, occupying a mansion from 1846, contains outstanding works by 19th- and 20th-century masters like Goshka Datsov, Konstantin Velichkov and Nikolai Rainov. Look out also for Georgi Mashev and master Vladimir Dimitrov's works.
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Sveta Marina Church
Originally built in 1561, Sveta Marina Church was burnt down 50 years later, rebuilt in 1783, and repaired in 1856. See the 17m-high pagoda-shaped wooden bell tower (1870), and the intricate, 170-year-old iconostasis.
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Sveta Nedelya Church
The grand, reopened Sveta Nedelya Church, built in 1578 and renovated in the 1830s, contains exquisite, carved walnut iconostases and now faded wall murals from the mid-1800s.
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Zlatyu Boyadjiev House
Zlatyu Boyadjiev House, opposite Hikers Hostel in the old town, contains paintings by Plovdiv native Zlatyu Boyadjiev (1903-76), many idealising the Bulgarian peasantry; some cover entire walls.
