Berkowiza
| Berkovitsa (Берковица) | |||||
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| Basic data | |||||
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| State : |
 Bulgaria
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| Oblast : | Montana | ||||
| Residents : | 12,504 (December 31, 2016) | ||||
| Coordinates : | 43 ° 14 ' N , 23 ° 8' E | ||||
| Height : | 509 m | ||||
| Postal code : | 3500 | ||||
| Telephone code : | (+359) 0953 | ||||
| License plate : | M. | ||||
| administration | |||||
| Mayor : | Dimitranka Kamenova | ||||
| Website : | berkovitsa.com | ||||
Berkowiza ( Bulgarian : Берковица) is a city in northwestern Bulgaria . It is located in Montana Oblast and is the third largest city in the Oblast after Montana and Lom . Berkowiza is the administrative center of the municipality of the same name Berkowiza.
geography
Berkowiza lies at the foot of the Balkan Mountains , in the south-western part, 12 km from the border with Serbia . To Montana it is 23 km to the northwest and to Sofia 80 km to the south. After Warschez in the southeast is 12 km away.
Berkowiza is located in the southwestern part of the Berkowiza basin of the same name. The river Berkowiza (Berkowskata Reka) flows through the city.
Southwest of the city, 10 km as the crow flies (18 km) is the mountain Kom (2016 m above sea level).
history
Antiquity
The Thracian tribe of the Moesi settled since the first half of the 1st millennium BC. In the region. From the middle of the 1st millennium BC The Thracian tribe of Triballi settled here . The Thracians built a castle in a strategic place on the heights that surround today's town of Berkovitsa.
The Thracians grew grain, kept sheep, worked iron and mined gold in the Slatitsa and Vreshtitsa rivers. At the turn of the ages, the Romans settled in the region. They romanized the Thracian population.
The archaeological finds from this period include a Roman villa rustica near the village of Kalimaniza and the ruins of the fortress near Berkowiza ("Berkowsko Kale"). Archaeological finds from this period are exhibited in the Ethnographic Museum of Berkovitsa: stone sculptures, jewelry, coins, tools, weapons, ceramics.
Berkovitsa is the successor settlement of an ancient fortified settlement on the road from Sofia to Lom . The settlement was already known during the reign of King Kalojan (1197-1207) and was referred to as a border settlement during the kingdom of Vidin .
Middle Ages and Ottoman rule
With the fall of the First Bulgarian Empire, Berkovitsa came to the Byzantine Empire , then to the times of the Bulgarian Empire and then to the Ottoman Empire . During the rule of the Ottoman Empire Berkowiza was a "district town" ( Kaza ).
Berkowiza was first mentioned in Ottoman documents in 1488.
There were numerous major uprisings in Berkovitsa and the region - 1408–1413, 1688 (Tschirpowskoto Wastanie), 1689. Therefore, 1200 Ottoman troops were stationed in Berkowiza in 1717 to protect the Turks living here from the attacks by the Bulgarians. Despite this, there were renewed uprisings in the region - in 1737, 1836 (the great Berkovitsa uprising, led by Mantscho Punin, 4000 insurgents), 1837 (Warbanpenowo uprising, led by Warban Penow, 2000 insurgents).
Before the end of the Ottoman rule over the Bulgarian territory in 1878, two Bulgarian schools were built in 1870 and in 1871 the church "Sweti Nikolaj Tschudotworez" ( Nicholas of Myra ). The church was built by Georgi Novakov Dzhongar's builder. The altar was made by Dimitar Fandakov. The icons in the church are from Konstantin Angelow and Danail from the city of Štip ( Macedonia ). The Tschitalischte was founded in 1872.
Preparations for the April Uprising (1876) were also carried out in Berkovitsa. When the uprising broke out, however, Berkovitsa and all of northwestern Bulgaria remained passive. Nevertheless, 24 members and activists of the revolutionary committees in Berkovitsa were arrested by the Ottoman authorities for preparing for and participating in the uprising. Eight of them were convicted and imprisoned in the Vidin fortress.
On July 8, 1876, voivode Panayot Chitov and his Cheta appeared in the city and an uprising broke out throughout the region. The uprising was put down by the Ottomans.
During the Russo-Ottoman War (1877–1878) the struggle of the Russian troops to liberate the city from the Ottomans continued
It took a whole month (from November 3rd to December 4th 1877) until the Ottoman troops in Berkovitsa were defeated by the Russian troops. The 4th Kharkov Division of the Uhlans under Colonel Ertel marched into the city from the north and finally liberated the city from Ottoman rule.
After the liberation, the city remained a district town, but developed only relatively slowly and gradually lost its economic importance. Many villages were spun off from the district. A number of crafts disappeared. The population earned their livelihood with agriculture, wagon transport and pottery.
Because of the poverty and misery in the region, socialist and communist ideas fell on fertile ground. one of the activists was Dimitar Filopov, after whom a street and a school are named in Berkovitsa today and a monument was erected.
Georgi Dimitrov and Kamen Toshev were elected representatives under the social democratic flag in Berkovitsa in 1914. Communist communities were founded in 1919 in Berkowiza and 14 surrounding villages .
During the September uprising in 1923, power in Berkovitsa and the surrounding villages passed into the hands of the communists. the bloody battles of that time formed the basis for a whole literary branch in Bulgarian literature known as the September literature. an example of this is Geo Milew .
In the second half of the 20th century the city experienced an economic boom. Many companies for wood processing, marble, plastic and metal processing, as well as for abrasives emerged.
Culture and sights
Berkovitsa is one of the 100 national tourist objects in Bulgaria. Southwest of the city, 10 km as the crow flies (18 km) is the mountain Kom (2016 m above sea level). The stamp for the 100 national tourist sites is located in the Kom mountain hut (16 km from Berkovitsa), to which an asphalt road leads. The mountain Todorini Kukli (1785 m) is located 12 km southeast.
Berkowsko Kale (515 m) is centrally located in the heart of the city. from here you can see the whole city. In ancient times the Thracians defended themselves against invaders from here.
The area "Sinija Wir" is 5 km outside the city, next to a small lake. The waterfalls "Chaiduschkite Wodopadi" are also worth seeing.
The church "Sweti Nikolaj Tschudotvorets" (see above).
Museums
In the city there is an ethnographic museum and the museum house " Ivan Wasow ". Ivan Wasow was among other things from 1879 to 1880 judge in Berkowiza.
Regular cultural events
- the festival of children's songs and art "Latscheni Obuwki",
- BERKSTOCK - a rock festival with international participation,
- the folklore festival "Aschiklar pee i tanzuwa",
- the Feast of the Balkan Mountains of Berkovitsa - the end of summer
- the “Wild Raspberry Festival” that takes place at the Kom mountain hut.
Town twinning
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Dzerzhinsky , Russia -
Zaječar , Serbia -
Dimitrovgrad , Serbia
sons and daughters of the town
- Emil Markow (1905–1943), leader of the Bulgarian communist movement
- Dobrin Spassow (1926–2010), philosopher, university professor and politician
- Pavlina Filipowa (* 1975), biathlete
Individual evidence
- ↑ Berkovitsa Contact. Retrieved August 6, 2020 (Bulgarian).
- ↑ Nicoară Beldiceanu: Les actes of premiers sultan Conserves dans les manuscrits Turcs de la Bibliothèque Nationale a Paris. Vol. 2, Paris, The Hague 1964, p. 218 Note 2.
- ↑ Дзержинский - О городе . In: ugresh.ru . Retrieved June 4, 2019.
