Pliska (Bulgarian: Плиска [ˈpliskɐ], Church Slavonic: Пльсковъ, romanized: Plĭskovŭ) was the first capital of the First Bulgarian Empire during the Middle Ages and is now a small town in Shumen Province, on the Ludogorie plateau of the Danubian Plain, 20 km northeast of the provincial capital, Shumen.