In fact it commemorates an event that took place in the 13th century, when Bulgaria was overrun on a regular basis by Tartar and Mongolian horsemen and the Bulgarian Tsar Constantine was unable to provide protection. In 1278 one of the peasant bands who grouped together for protection fell under the influence of one Ivailo who went on to form an army of several thousand men. He was successful in revolting against the Tsar, killed him in battle, took the crown and married his widow thus imparting a degree of legitimacy to his actions. Over the next two years his support dwindled and the male heirs apparent to the throne as well as the Byzantine Emperor began to put pressure on Ivailo who turned to the Mongol Khan for support by recognising his overlordship.

At first he acceded to the request but then had him murdered. The reason for the monument on this scale, for a leader who reigned no more than three or four years is that Marxist historians see in him the first peasant leader in history to have any success.

Zheravna is fitted into the wooded hillside and consists almost entirely of houses that have a stone base up to a little over two metres and thereafter a wooden superstructure. The cobbled and unpaved streets winding up and down the steep slopes are bordered by head-height stone walls. On our evening walk, after checking into a quiet guesthouse near to the Church of St. Nicholas, traffic is both sparse and slow, just two tractors and one old Russian looking motorbike.

We arrive at a piece of open ground centred on a communal fountain and as we sit there, watching the sun go down and returning the greetings of people as they go by, a large herd of goats makes it appearance from the downward slope, announced in advance by bells. This explains why some people have been gathering here at this specific time. The herd self-divides into smaller herds which then head left, right, up, down and straight on, everything functioning on autopilot — a daily ritual in which the animals are so practiced in their role it appears as if it was a circus number or a simple process of cell division.