The first detailed description of Ryahovetz is made by Karel Shkorpil.the fortress walls and the fittings are well preserved and therefor he made a comparatively precise plan of the fortress.He called the fortress “Kale peshterite”.According to this description the fortress has 365 steps length.The main gate,the northern gate, the tower of the northern wall are well described by Shcorpil.In the end of the description Shkorpil mentions one legend – it was a place where the Bulgarian rulers of the Old Bulgarian state minted coins.

The fortress Ryahovetz was on the main road,connecting the Danube with the fortress Cherven and the capital of the Second Bulgarian state – Turnovo.For that reason Ryahovetz was very important about guarding of Turnovo ,thinks Shkorpil.He thinks that Ryahovetz stops to exist in 1444, after the march of the Vladislav III Varnenchik.

A lot of historians make a study of the etymology of the name “Ryahovetz”.

Shkorpil thinks that there is no doubt that the denomination “Rahautsh”means “Ryahivetz”,which is the old name of the present town of Gorna Oryahovitza.

Al.Kuzev considers that “ Rahautch” is a name, adapted to the German language of the Turkish “Rahuvidge”,which is from the Bulgarian “Ryahovetz” or “Ryahovitza”(the fortress near the town of Gorna Oryahovitza).

N.Kovachev thinks that the origin of the name “Ryahovetz” comes from “oreh”(it is a name of a tree)In those days Slavs usually called their villages,usung the names of plants.

V.Nikolov and Il.konstantinov suppose that the name “Ryahovetz” has a Persian origin – from the word “Rah”(it means “road”). Now days the articles about the fortress “Ryahovetz” reiterate the Shkorpil’s description.

Fortress "Ryahovetz" - engraving by Felics Kanic