Gabrovo

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Gabrovo (Габрово)
"Труд и постоянство"
("Work and Continuity")
Gabrovo Coat of Arms
Gabrovo (Bulgaria)
Gabrovo
Gabrovo
Basic data
State : BulgariaBulgaria Bulgaria
Oblast : Gabrovo
Residents : 54,950  (December 31, 2016)
Area : 233.8 km²
Population density 235 inhabitants / km²
Coordinates : 42 ° 53 ′  N , 25 ° 19 ′  E Coordinates: 42 ° 53 ′ 0 ″  N , 25 ° 19 ′ 0 ″  E
Height : 329 m
Postal code : 5300
Telephone code : (+359) 066
License plate : EB
Administration (as of 2011)
Mayor : Tanja Hristowa
Ruling party : GERB
Website : www.gabrovo.bg
Gabrovo - Bulgaria - neighboring towns: Trojan , Karlovo , Panagyurishte , Tschirpan , Stara Sagora , Kazanlak , Veliko Tarnovo , Gorna Orjachowiza , Bjala , Levski , Plewen , Dolni Dabnik , Lovetsch

Gabrovo [ ˈɡabrovo ] ( Bulgarian Габрово ) is a city in Bulgaria with 54,950 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2016), in the valley of the Jantra and its tributaries, the country's industrial and cultural center with a university, Etar open-air museum and festival of humor and satire . It is the administrative center of Gabrovo Oblast .

geography

Geographical location

The city is located on the Jantra River , on the northern slope of the Balkan Mountains, almost in the geographical center of the country, 390 meters above sea ​​level . The distances are in the southwest to the capital Sofia 220 kilometers and to Plovdiv 150 kilometers, in the northeast to Varna 274 kilometers and to Veliko Tarnovo 46 kilometers, in the south to Kazanlak 48 kilometers and in the northwest to Sevlievo 28 kilometers.

City structure

The urban area of ​​Gabrovo is divided into the following 19 districts:

  • center
  • Zhivarov must
  • Palausovo
  • Etar open-air museum
  • Nowo machala
  • Jabalka
  • Charkovo
  • Djado Djanko
  • Khadzhizonev most
  • Borowo
  • Sirmani
  • Mladost
  • Rusewtsi
  • Trendafil 1
  • Trendafil 2
  • Lakata
  • Garata
  • Koleloto
  • Wojnowo

history

Legend has it that the city was founded by the blacksmith Ratscho Kowatscha. There is no reliable evidence of this. The city emerged in the 12th century from a settlement with a fortress. The fortress was important in the Second Bulgarian Empire . It protected the road that came from the south of Thrace over the passes of the Balkan Mountains to the Bulgarian capital Tarnowo .

The city was conquered by the Ottoman Turks around 1390 . In the Ottoman Empire, the population continued to be used as guardians of the passes in the Balkan Mountains ( Derwendschi ). In return, she was exempt from certain taxes (blood toll, tithe), had the right to bear arms and enjoyed a certain freedom of religion. The city was first mentioned in 1479 under the name Gabrova . 96 families lived here at the time. By 1545 the number of families living here increased by 500.

In the 17th century Gabrovo was already known as a center of handicrafts and had around 3000 inhabitants. In the late 18th century, 26 crafts were practiced here, including blacksmiths, knife makers, turners, furriers, potters, and silkworms breeders. Each craft was united in a guild ( Efnafi ).

The Gabrovo merchants had their offices from Odessa to Vienna. Thanks to its wealth, the first secular New Bulgarian school was founded here in 1835 with the establishment of the "Gabrovo Comprehensive Primary School" by the pedagogue and school reformer Neofit Rilski . It was financed and launched by merchants such as Wasil Aprilow (1789–1847), whose name it still bears today. The school was a model for other educational institutions that have sprung up in the cities and villages of Bulgaria. In 1872 the school was expanded into a class school (grammar school). Since 1889 it has been called the Aprilow Gymnasium .

In 1860 Gabrovo was granted city rights. In the 1870s, the Austrian scholar Felix Kanitz visited the city and reported that Gabrovo was one large workshop . In 1882 the merchant Ivan Kalpasanow founded Bulgaria's first textile factory here. In the 20th century the city developed into an important textile center and was therefore given the nickname “Bulgarian Manchester”.

Discovered on April 1, 1976, the asteroid of the main outer belt (2206) Gabrova was named after the city.

In 2007 the city still had 67,012 inhabitants and is the namesake for Gabrovo Knoll , a mountain on Livingston Island in Antarctica.

politics

Town twinning

Gabrovo lists the following thirteen twin cities :

city country since
Aalst BelgiumBelgium East Flanders, Belgium 2010
Kumanovo North MacedoniaNorth Macedonia North Macedonia 2009
Mahiljou BelarusBelarus Belarus 1967
Mittweida GermanyGermany Saxony, Germany 2000
Mytishchi RussiaRussia Moscow, Russia 2002
Nowy Sącz PolandPoland Lesser Poland, Poland 2005
Panevėžys LithuaniaLithuania Lithuania 2004
Petach Tikva IsraelIsrael Israel 2016
Prešov SlovakiaSlovakia Slovakia 2004
Şəki AzerbaijanAzerbaijan Azerbaijan 2004
Sisak CroatiaCroatia Sisak-Moslavina, Croatia 2004
Tuna SwitzerlandSwitzerland Bern, Switzerland 1998
Chernihiv UkraineUkraine Ukraine 2007

Economy and Infrastructure

economy

The city is a major industrial center in the country with textile, leather, electronic and chemical industries as well as mechanical engineering.

Two large shopping malls were opened in the city in 2009 and 2010 .

traffic

Gabrovo is the terminus of the railway line Tsareva Liwada - Gabrovo, a branch line from Russe-Gorna Orjachowiza-Stara Sagora-Podkowa.

education

The city is the seat of the Gabrovo University of Technology (Технически университет Габрово).

Culture and sights

theatre

The Etar open-air museum

Gabrovo has three theaters - the Dramatic Theater “Ratscho Stojanow”, a puppet theater and an experimental theater for satire and variety.

Museums

In the city center are the Historical Museum, the Postal Museum and the National Education Museum. The "Christo Zokew" art gallery houses numerous domestic and foreign works.

The House of Humor and Satire on Brijanska St. 64 exhibits various forms of humor by artists from 153 countries on an area of ​​800 m 2 .

Eight kilometers south of the city is the Etar Ethnographic Open-Air Museum , a complex of historically valuable old houses that were moved here from the Gabrowo area in 1963, with a cobblestone street and over 20 workshops in which master craftsmen work as they did in the 19th century. The Boschenzi Open Air Museum is also nearby .

Buildings

Monument to Ratscho Kowatscha

Important buildings are the clock tower from 1835, the Baiow bridge from 1855, the Marienkirche with masterfully carved iconostasis and the Aprilow high school in the city center.

A monument in the middle of the river Jantra commemorates the legendary founder of Gabrovo, the blacksmith Ratscho (Ratscho Kowatscha = Ratscho the blacksmith).

Five kilometers south of the Etar open-air museum is the Sokolski Monastery (Sokolski manastir), built in 1832 , a hideout for Bulgarian freedom fighters such as Wassil Levski (1837–1873), Djado Nikola and Zanko Djustabanow .

Regular events

  • International Biennial for Satire in Art
  • September culture days
  • International craft fair

Sports

Gabrovo is home to the KWK Gabrovo volleyball club .

Personalities

sons and daughters of the town

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ [1]
  2. ^ Website of the Aprilov High School (Bulgarian)
  3. ↑ As of December 31, 2007
  4. ↑ Побратимени градове. Retrieved August 19, 2017 .
  5. ↑ http://www.h-museum-gabrovo.bg/

Web links

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