Kardzhali
Kardzhali (Кърджали) | ||||||
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Basic data | ||||||
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State : |
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Oblast : | Kardzhali | |||||
Residents : | 43,031 (December 31, 2016) | |||||
Coordinates : | 41 ° 39 ′ N , 25 ° 22 ′ E | |||||
Height : | 275 m | |||||
Postal code : | 6600 | |||||
Telephone code : | (+359) 0361 | |||||
License plate : | K | |||||
Administration (status: since 2003) | ||||||
Mayor : | Hasan Asis Ismail | |||||
Ruling party : | Dwischenie sa Prawa i Swobodi | |||||
Website : | www.kardjali.bg |
Kardzhali [ kɤrdʒɐli ] ( Bulgarian Кърджали , Turkish Kırcaali ) is a city of about 43,000 inhabitants in the south of Bulgaria . It is the administrative center of a municipality and the Kardzhali Oblast . The city is mostly inhabited by Turkish Bulgarians .
location
Kardzhali is located in the eastern Rhodope Mountains , 259 km southeast of Sofia and 90 km south of Plovdiv .
In the city there is a large historical museum with 4,000 exhibits, 179 archaeological objects (19 prehistoric, 122 ancient and 37 from the Middle Ages ), a musical theater and a puppet theater.
The Kardzhali dam is located near the city , through which the Arda is dammed up to form a reservoir. Perch were recently released from the Ovcharitsa reservoir. Thirty years ago 45,000 carp were released .
Nearby is the city of Momchilgrad (Bulgarian: Момчилград). It is 50 km to the city of Haskovo .
history
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/82/KurdjaliArcheologyMuseum.jpg/220px-KurdjaliArcheologyMuseum.jpg)
The city was settled in ancient times. The Thracians left the first traces in more than 3000 years of history when they settled this area. Perperikon , one of the most important places of worship of antiquity , is from this time and not far from Kardzhali . Even after the Christianization of the region, Perperikon remained an important religious center.
The Thracians were followed by the Hellenes , Persians , Byzantines , Slavs , Bulgarians , Crusaders and Ottomans . In the Middle Ages, Kardzhali became the center of the Achridos province . The Sweti Joan Prodrom monastery was the center of one of the largest Christian-Orthodox eparchies of the Middle Ages. Not far from Kardschali (approx. 6 km) is the fortress Wischegrad , near which Heinrich von Flanders was crowned Latin Emperor in 1206 .
In 1362 the region was conquered by the Ottomans; all the major fortresses in the region were burned down and destroyed. During the Ottoman period, the city was rebuilt and given the name Kırcaali .
The city has given its name to Kardzhali Point , a headland on Livingston Island in Antarctica , since 2009 .
Town twinning
Kardzhali has partnerships with the following cities:
- East Staffordshire , UK
- Elkhart , United States
- Komotini , Greece
- Philippi , Greece
- Soufli , Greece
- Tekirdağ , Turkey
- Gaziosmanpaşa , Turkey
- Vladimir , Russia
Schools in Kardzhali
- Branch of the University of Plovdiv
- Foreign language high school "Christo Botew"
sons and daughters of the town
- Talât Pascha (1874–1921), Ottoman civil servant and politician
- Tahsin Özgüç (1916–2005), Turkish archaeologist
- Iwo Papasow (* 1952), Bulgarian musician
- Huben Cherkelov (* 1970), Bulgarian painter
- Şenol Can (* 1983), Turkish soccer player
- Taner Sağır (* 1985), Turkish weightlifter
- Eliza Kostowa (* 1990), tennis player
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Population by Districts and Ethnic Group as of March 1, 2001. Retrieved February 8, 2019 .
- ↑ Vladimir: Sister Cities