Petritsch
| Petritsch (Петрич) | |||||
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| Basic data | |||||
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| State : |
 Bulgaria
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| Oblast : | Blagoevgrad | ||||
| Residents : | 27,587 (December 31, 2016) | ||||
| Coordinates : | 41 ° 24 ' N , 23 ° 13' E | ||||
| Height : | 168 m | ||||
| Postal code : | 2850 | ||||
| Telephone code : | (+359) 0745 | ||||
| License plate : | E. | ||||
| Administration (as of 2016) | |||||
| Mayor : | Dimitar Brachkov | ||||
| Ruling party : | Non-party | ||||
| Website : | www.petrich.bg | ||||
Petritsch [ ˈpɛtritʃ ] ( Bulgarian Петрич ) is a city and the administrative seat of a municipality of the same name in Blagoevgrad Oblast in southwestern Bulgaria at the foot of the Belasiza Mountains near the border with Greece . Petritsch is the second largest city in the oblast (district) after Blagoevgrad .
Petritsch is an old town on the lower reaches of the Struma and is known for the mountainous landscape in the area.
The city had around 27,000 inhabitants in 2016.
history
Ancient and Middle Ages
The origins of the city go back to the Thracians . In the 1st century BC Chr. Conquered Romans the territory of the Thracians. The settlement of the Thracian Maeder 10 kilometers northeast of today's city center developed into a well-fortified Roman city and fortress called Petra . In the 4th century the city was conquered and burned down by the Slavs . Probably the inhabitants of the destroyed city then reestablished today's Petritsch nearby. The Slavic ending "-itsch" indicates that the city was inhabited by Slavs.
The expansion of the Bulgarian state in the early Middle Ages led to the incorporation of the Petrich region. As a result of the war that the Bulgarian Khan Presian I waged against Byzantium and after the uprising of the Slavs in the Struma region, the Slavic city of Petrich joined the Bulgarian Empire in 837 , but was recaptured by Byzantium shortly afterwards.
Petritsch was permanently annexed to the Bulgarian state during the reign of Knjaz Boris (852-889). In the following centuries Petritsch was a strategically and militarily important settlement and fortress in the Bulgarian southwest, especially during the numerous wars of Tsar Tsar Samuil (958-1014) against Byzantium. The decisive battle of Kleidion at the end of the First Bulgarian Empire took place here in 1014 between Bulgarian troops under the leadership of Prince Samuil and the troops of the Byzantine emperor Basil II (Vasily II). After the defeat of the Bulgarians, Basil blinded 14,000 captured Bulgarians. Because of this he was nicknamed "Bulgarentöter" (българоубиец, Balgaroubiez). The remains of Samuil's fortress still remind of this today.
In the late Middle Ages, Petritsch became a defensive fortress again - as a fortification system in southwestern Bulgaria. The remains of the fortress still stand on the outskirts of the city in the foothills of the Belasiza Mountains. Dejane von Strumitsa (Деяна в Струмица), who in 1373 gave his permission to build a church in the city.
Ottoman period
During the 500-year "Turkish rule", Petritsch became a typical Ottoman town in the Sanjak Serres in the Vilayet Rumeli. 1651 is reported from a total of 240 houses in the city, spread over two residential areas. There were also several mosques , but only one bathroom. There were 80 villages in the area. The presence of 50 shops spoke in favor of the development of handicrafts and trade . Petritsch was known for his agricultural products: grain , maize , rye , oats , cotton , rice , tobacco and opium .
In the course of the “ Bulgarian Rebirth ”, Petritsch was the scene of a “church battle” between the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople in the second half of the 19th century . In 1868 the construction of the first Bulgarian church, Sweti Nikolai, was completed. In 1873 the first Bulgarian school was opened. From 1892 the majority of Petritsch's Christians belonged to the Bulgarian Exarchate .
As a result of the Russo-Ottoman War and the Peace of San Stefano , Petritsch belonged to the briefly independent Principality of Bulgaria in 1878 . However, this was revised three months later in the Berlin Treaty : Petritsch was reassigned to the Ottoman Vilâyet Saloniki . This state of affairs lasted until 1912 when the city was re- annexed to Tsarist Bulgaria .
By 1900 there were 2,000 houses in the city. Of these, 1,510 were inhabited by Muslims and 490 were inhabited by Christians . The building material used was rubble from the river bed of the Struma, which was held together by a mixture of clay and straw. The ground floor has always been used as a stable and as a warehouse for agricultural products. The upper floor could be reached from the outside via a staircase . The furniture in the houses was sparse. The rooms were covered with colorful woven carpets .
Modern times
Traditionally, there were close social, economic and cultural relationships between the Petritsch region and Strumica and Novo Selo in what is now North Macedonia (50 and 30 km west of Petritsch, respectively). This did not change at first when Bulgaria had to cede Strumica and Novo Selo to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in the Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine in 1919 (while Petritsch remained with Bulgaria) - the border remained largely permeable. From 1922 to 1934, the Inner Macedonian Revolutionary Organization ruled a “state within a state” in the Petrich area. It raised its own taxes, supervised public life and waged a guerrilla war with Yugoslavia, which strained the foreign policy relationship between Sofia and Belgrade. In October 1925, Petritsch was the scene of a brief armed conflict between Bulgaria and Greece .
During the Balkan campaign in World War II , Petritsch was used in 1941 as a deployment area for German troops to attack Greece.
During the People's Republic of Bulgaria , the city on the border with capitalist Greece and Yugoslavia (which left the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc in 1948 ) could only be entered with an invitation and official approval. On July 27, 1955, north of the city, a Lockheed Constellation passenger aircraft of the Israeli airline El Al was shot down by MIG 15 of the Bulgarian air forces for violating the Bulgarian airspace , killing all 58 occupants.
Today, the city in the border triangle of Bulgaria, Greece and North Macedonia is considered a hub for cross-border trade - but also for smuggling . During the Greek embargo against the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (see dispute over the name of Macedonia ) Petritsch was an important trading center for the Republic of Macedonia. In particular, the trade route from Macedonia to Turkey was blocked by Greece. So the transport took place via Petritsch and Bulgaria to Turkey.
The city has given its name to Petrich Peak , a mountain on Livingston Island in Antarctica , since 2005 .
Others
Petritsch's football club is called Belasiza (like the neighboring Belasiza Mountains ). The football stadium is called "Tsar Samuil".
In the vicinity of Petritsch there is a medium wave transmitter which is operated on the frequency 747 kHz with a transmission power of 500 kW. As a transmitting antenna, he uses a self-radiating mast, which is insulated from the earth and is 205 meters high, with a trap antenna on its lower part.
Town twinning
Personalities
- Baba Wanga (1911–1996), Bulgarian prophetess
- Kiril Georgiev (* 1965), chess player
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Titus Livius Ab urbe condita 40:22
- ↑ Violeta Periklieva: Religious Landscapes at the Border. The case of the border regions of Petrich, Bulgaria and Strumica, Macedonia. In: Lena Mirošević u. a .: Landscape in Southeastern Europe. Lit Verlag, Vienna / Zurich 2018, p. 132.
- ↑ Violeta Periklieva: Religious Landscapes at the Border. The case of the border regions of Petrich, Bulgaria and Strumica, Macedonia. In: Lena Mirošević u. a .: Landscape in Southeastern Europe. Lit Verlag, Vienna / Zurich 2018, p. 130.
- ↑ Claudia Weber : In search of the nation. Culture of remembrance in Bulgaria from 1878–1944. (= Studies on the history, culture and society of Southeast Europe 2.) Lit-Verlag, Münster 2006, ISBN 3-8258-7736-1 , p. 248.
- ↑ Stefan Troebst : Ivan Michajlov in Turkish and Polish exile (1934–1939 / 49). Fragments of the political biography of the head of the "Inner Macedonian Revolutionary Organization". In: The Macedonian Century. From the beginnings of the national revolutionary movement to the Ohrid Agreement 1893-2001. R. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 2007, pp. 175-224, on p. 176.