{"id":1045,"date":"2010-01-01T08:31:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-01T06:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/?p=1045"},"modified":"2026-07-23T13:56:38","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T11:56:38","slug":"on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-31","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-31\/","title":{"rendered":"On This Day in Bulgaria: August 31"},"content":{"rendered":"

August 31 closes the month in Bulgaria’s history with a discovery and an upgrade: the 2009 unearthing of an early medieval cult complex at Cape Kaliakra, and the 2006 opening of Sofia Airport’s new runway.<\/p>\n

August 31, 2009 \u2014 A Cult Complex Unearthed at Cape Kaliakra<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Archaeologists excavating the clifftop fortress of Cape Kaliakra on the Black Sea coast, led by Boni Petrunova of the National Archaeological Institute with Museum, uncovered a religious cult complex dating to the 8th or 9th century.<\/p>\n

The find added another layer to Kaliakra’s long story \u2014 a site that had already yielded traces of Thracian, Byzantine, and medieval Bulgarian settlement \u2014 and underscored the peninsula’s role as a centre of early Christian life on the Bulgarian coast.<\/p>\n

August 31, 2006 \u2014 Sofia Airport’s New Runway Opens<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Sofia Airport brought a new runway into service, 3,600 metres long and able to handle 20 aircraft movements an hour and up to 2,200 passengers at peak times. It was built parallel to the old runway, which was decommissioned.<\/p>\n

The upgrade reflected Bulgaria’s growing air travel demands in the years before its 2007 accession to the European Union, and it remains the airport’s primary runway today.<\/p>\n

That wraps up late August \u2014 revisit August 30<\/a><\/strong> if you missed it, then dive into our Bulgaria From Above<\/a><\/strong> series and our guides to the best of Bulgaria<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On this day in Bulgarian history: archaeologists uncovered an early medieval cult complex at Cape Kaliakra in 2009, and Sofia Airport’s new runway opened in 2006.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3429,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-on-this-day-in-bulgaria","latest_post"],"yoast_head":"\nOn This Day in Bulgaria: August 31 History<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On this day in Bulgaria, August 31: archaeologists found an 8th-9th century cult complex at Cape Kaliakra in 2009, and Sofia Airport's new runway opened in 2006.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-31\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"On This Day in Bulgaria: August 31 History\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On this day in Bulgaria, August 31: archaeologists found an 8th-9th century cult complex at Cape Kaliakra in 2009, and Sofia Airport's new runway opened in 2006.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-31\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"BRONICABLE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-01-01T06:31:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-23T11:56:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/bulgaria-coast-sea-nessebar-6598399.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"853\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"bronic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"bronic\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-31\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-31\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"bronic\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/67e3ae78e8122c37cbfd42a4258de1be\"},\"headline\":\"On This Day in Bulgaria: August 31\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-01-01T06:31:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-23T11:56:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-31\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":223,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-31\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/01\\\/kaliakra-fortress-archaeological-remains.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"On This Day in Bulgaria\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-31\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-31\\\/\",\"name\":\"On This Day in Bulgaria: August 31 History\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-31\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-31\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/01\\\/kaliakra-fortress-archaeological-remains.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-01-01T06:31:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-23T11:56:38+00:00\",\"description\":\"On this day in Bulgaria, August 31: archaeologists found an 8th-9th century cult complex at Cape Kaliakra in 2009, and Sofia Airport's new runway opened in 2006.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-31\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-31\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-31\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/01\\\/kaliakra-fortress-archaeological-remains.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/01\\\/kaliakra-fortress-archaeological-remains.jpg\",\"width\":2788,\"height\":1652,\"caption\":\"The fortress and archaeological remains on Cape Kaliakra, where an early Christian cult complex was uncovered in 2009. Author: MrPanyGoff. License: CC BY-SA 3.0. Source: Wikimedia Commons.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-31\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"On This Day in Bulgaria: August 31\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"BRONICABLE\",\"description\":\"Discover Bulgaria & Beyond\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"BRONICABLE\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/03\\\/cropped-Color-logo-no-background.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/03\\\/cropped-Color-logo-no-background.png\",\"width\":3181,\"height\":1291,\"caption\":\"BRONICABLE\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/67e3ae78e8122c37cbfd42a4258de1be\",\"name\":\"bronic\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/25ff1fede0383d75d30524398c544fe9b3d552bf220106f6c6dcbf4381ee2070?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/25ff1fede0383d75d30524398c544fe9b3d552bf220106f6c6dcbf4381ee2070?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/25ff1fede0383d75d30524398c544fe9b3d552bf220106f6c6dcbf4381ee2070?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"bronic\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/author\\\/bronic\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"On This Day in Bulgaria: August 31 History","description":"On this day in Bulgaria, August 31: archaeologists found an 8th-9th century cult complex at Cape Kaliakra in 2009, and Sofia Airport's new runway opened in 2006.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-31\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"On This Day in Bulgaria: August 31 History","og_description":"On this day in Bulgaria, August 31: archaeologists found an 8th-9th century cult complex at Cape Kaliakra in 2009, and Sofia Airport's new runway opened in 2006.","og_url":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-31\/","og_site_name":"BRONICABLE","article_published_time":"2010-01-01T06:31:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-23T11:56:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":853,"url":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/bulgaria-coast-sea-nessebar-6598399.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"bronic","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"bronic","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-31\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-31\/"},"author":{"name":"bronic","@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/67e3ae78e8122c37cbfd42a4258de1be"},"headline":"On This Day in Bulgaria: August 31","datePublished":"2010-01-01T06:31:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-23T11:56:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-31\/"},"wordCount":223,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-31\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/kaliakra-fortress-archaeological-remains.jpg","articleSection":["On This Day in Bulgaria"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-31\/","url":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-31\/","name":"On This Day in Bulgaria: August 31 History","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-31\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-31\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/kaliakra-fortress-archaeological-remains.jpg","datePublished":"2010-01-01T06:31:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-23T11:56:38+00:00","description":"On this day in Bulgaria, August 31: archaeologists found an 8th-9th century cult complex at Cape Kaliakra in 2009, and Sofia Airport's new runway opened in 2006.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-31\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-31\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-31\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/kaliakra-fortress-archaeological-remains.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/kaliakra-fortress-archaeological-remains.jpg","width":2788,"height":1652,"caption":"The fortress and archaeological remains on Cape Kaliakra, where an early Christian cult complex was uncovered in 2009. Author: MrPanyGoff. License: CC BY-SA 3.0. Source: Wikimedia Commons."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-31\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"On This Day in Bulgaria: August 31"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/","name":"BRONICABLE","description":"Discover Bulgaria & Beyond","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/#organization","name":"BRONICABLE","url":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-Color-logo-no-background.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-Color-logo-no-background.png","width":3181,"height":1291,"caption":"BRONICABLE"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/67e3ae78e8122c37cbfd42a4258de1be","name":"bronic","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/25ff1fede0383d75d30524398c544fe9b3d552bf220106f6c6dcbf4381ee2070?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/25ff1fede0383d75d30524398c544fe9b3d552bf220106f6c6dcbf4381ee2070?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/25ff1fede0383d75d30524398c544fe9b3d552bf220106f6c6dcbf4381ee2070?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"bronic"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en"],"url":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/author\/bronic\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1045"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2481,"href":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1045\/revisions\/2481"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}