Asenovgrad

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Asenovgrad (Асеновград)
Asenovgrad coat of arms Map of Bulgaria, position of Asenovgrad highlighted
Basic data
State : BulgariaBulgaria Bulgaria
Oblast : Plovdiv
Residents : 48,719 (December 31, 2018  )
Area : 78 km²
Population density 624.6 inhabitants / km²
Coordinates : 42 ° 1 '  N , 24 ° 52'  E Coordinates: 42 ° 1 '0 "  N , 24 ° 52' 0"  E
Height : 269 ​​m
Postal code : 4230
Telephone code : (+359) 0331
License plate : PB
administration
Mayor : Emil Karaiwanow
Ruling party : E.G
Website : www.assenovgrad.com

Asenovgrad [ ɐsɛnovˌɡrat ] ( Bulgarian Асеновград ) is a city and administrative center of a municipality of the same name in Central South Bulgaria . The city is located 19 km south of Plovdiv . Asenovgrad is the second largest city in Plovdiv Oblast and the administrative center of the municipality of the same name Asenovgrad. Until 1934 the city was called Stanimaka (Станимака).

The city is known for its many churches and monasteries and is therefore also called Little Jerusalem . The population consists of Bulgarians, Turks, Greeks and Roma .

geography

Asenovgrad is located in the south of the Plovdiv Oblast. At the breakthrough of the Chaya River (Bulgarian Чая) from the Rhodope Mountains into the Thracian Plain . An important highway from Plovdiv and Smolyan to Xanthi in Greece runs through Asenovgrad .

The central geographical location between central Bulgaria, the Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea already determined the importance of the city in the Middle Ages. Because of its location on the mountains, the city has a very pleasant climate with warm winters and cool summers. Fall winds come in regularly from the neighboring Rhodope Mountains. This is a light wind that blows from evening to 10 a.m. The wind reaches strengths of 4–5 and blows north along the direction of the river. This wind is a good factor in wine fermentation and is one of the reasons why Asenovgrad became a center of viticulture and winemaking.

The Jugowska River flows near the city .

history

Church Sveta Troitsa (Holy Trinity )

In the vicinity of the city (village of Bogdaniza), hearths and graves from the Neolithic era have been found. At another place (village Ruen, 5 km west of Asenovgrad) graves from the late Neolithic (3500-3000 BC) were found. Thracian tombs with many bronze objects were also found.

Around 700 BC 3,000 Greek colonists from the municipality of Istiaia on the island of Evia founded the city under the name Stenimachos (Greek Στενήμαχος).

In 72 BC The Romans took the city as part of the military expansion of the Roman Empire towards the Black Sea . After a long peaceful period, the city was destroyed by the Goths in 251 . After the division of the Roman Empire in 395, the city fell under the control of the Byzantine Empire . Slavic tribes increasingly settled in the region up to around 700 and eventually made up the majority of the population.

The medieval name of the town of Stanimaka and the fortress was first mentioned in 1083 in the founding document of the nearby Batschkowo monastery . Another settlement, Petritsch or Vasilikos, near the fortress was also mentioned in the document.

In the 8th century the city became part of the First Bulgarian Empire . The Bulgarian-Byzantine conflicts in the Middle Ages, the military importance of the fortress, a branch of the rose Via Militaris on the Rhodope Mountains south into present-day Western Thrace monitored and the city with the Via Egnatia association.

Court chapel of the Asenova fortress

The city of Stenimachos was mentioned in a document from the Third Crusade (1189-1192), in which the fortress Skribenzion is mentioned. The crusade was led by Emperor Friedrich I (also known as Barbarossa), who took quarters in Philippopolis (today Plovdiv ) in 1189 and wintered there while some of his troop leaders robbed the neighboring settlements, including Stenimachos.

In 1196 the Byzantine Emperor Alexios III. Angelos invited the murderer of Tsar Iwan Assen I , the Boljar Iwanko as administrator ( strategos ) of the Macedonia issue . However, Ivanko renounced Byzantium in 1198 and declared himself ruler of the region and recognized the suzerainty of the Bulgarian crown, which also included Stenimachos. Emperor Alexios III Angelus started a war against Ivanko and took the Asenov fortress after a siege during one of the battles. All Bulgarians in the fortress were captured.

During the Fourth Crusade , the area was conquered by the Crusaders in 1204 and fell to Rénier de Trith , until it was recaptured a year later by the Bulgarian Tsar Kalojan after the Battle of Adrianople .

During the war between the Byzantine and Second Bulgarian Empires , the city became an important military base for the Bulgarian Tsar. Because relations with the Latins deteriorated, Tsar Ivan Assen II ordered in 1230 to strengthen the existing Stanimaka fortress and expand it. Since then, the fortifications have been among the architectural masterpieces of the Tarnowo Art School .

After the conquest of Bulgaria by the Ottoman-Turkish Empire by 1396, Stanimaka (Greek Stenimachos) was destroyed by the new rulers. In the vicinity of the fortress, a new settlement developed only slowly, in which Turkish Muslims settled, who still make up about 20% of the city's population. The majority of the population formed from then until the population exchange after the First World War Greeks.

Today the medieval Bulgarian Asenova fortress is located two kilometers south of Asenovgrad and has become the symbol of the city. In 1934 the city was named after the fortress. Asenowgrad means "City of Assen".

Attractions

Street scene in Asenovgrad
  • the rock formation Belintash (Белинташ), 30 km from Asenovgrad
  • Tscherwena stena nature reserve ("Red Wall"), in the Rhodope Mountains
  • the Topchika cave

sons and daughters of the town

Town twinning

The city of Asenovgrad maintains a city ​​partnership with the following cities :

Web links

Commons : Asenovgrad  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Population by towns and sex. In: nsi.bg. Republic of Bulgaria - National Statistical Institute (NSI), April 12, 2019, accessed May 5, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Asenova Krepost. Humanities Center for the History and Culture of East Central Europe at the University of Leipzig