The town of Karnobat has a population of 20 000 inhabitants and lies at a distance of 56 km northwest of Burgas. The town is the centre of a municipality with 30 component settlements. The settlement is situated in the Karnobat Field at an altitude of 215 m.

The town is mentioned in an Ottoman document from 1460 as a road station under the name of Karin Obasa. The town is known under the name of Polyanovgrad until 1962.

The town has an ancient history dating back to the Neolith, the Ancient and Middle Ages. The present-day town is the successor of the Roman settlement-fortress Markeli. After the foundation of the Bulgarian State in 681 the region becomes the arena of military actions between Bulgaria and Byzantine. In 792 khan Kardam defeats the Byzantine troops and the settlement enters the limits of the Bulgarian state. The first written evidence for the existence of Karnobat is from 1253 from the Arabian scholar and traveler Al Idrisi. The town falls under the Ottoman yoke in 1371 and is a small administrative centre at that time. During the Revival period have been built the churches "St. Yoan Bogoslov", the Community centre (1862) and the first public school is opened in 1864.

The tourist sights of the town are: the remains of the medieval fortress Markeli, the clock tower (1841), the church "St. Yoan Bogoslov", the house-museum of Dimiter Polyanov, the gallery of Bencho Obreshkov and others.

Tourist sights

The clock tower in Karnobat has been built in 1841 by maser-builders from Tryavna.

The medieval fortress Markeli lies at a distance of 8 km from Karnobat. Here have been discovered remains of a basilica dating back to VI c., an ancient Bulgarian church from X c. and ancient Bulgarian ground fortifications.