Provadia
| Provadiya (Провадия) | |||
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| Basic data | |||
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| State : |
 Bulgaria
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| Oblast : | Varna | ||
| Residents : | 12,075 (December 31, 2018) | ||
| Coordinates : | 43 ° 11 ' N , 27 ° 26' E | ||
| Height : | 56 m | ||
| Postal code : | 9200 | ||
| Telephone code : | (+359) 0518 | ||
| License plate : | B. | ||
| administration | |||
| Mayor : | Marin Georgiev | ||
Prowadija [ proˈvadijɐ ] ( Bulgarian Провадия ), also Prawadi , is a city in northeastern Bulgaria , in Varna Oblast . It is the administrative center of the Prowadija municipality of the same name.
geography
Prowadija is located in a mountain area on the river Prowadija , which flows into Varna .
history
The remains of the oldest urban complex on European soil have been found near the city. The complex was walled and offered space for around 350 residents. Ruins of the partly multi-storey houses date from the Copper Age between 4700 and 4200 BC. The inhabitants operated u. a. Trade in salt bricks. 35 kilometers away, the oldest gold hoard in the world to date was found in the 1970s.
The city of Prowadija itself was probably founded during the rule of the Byzantine Empire over this region, as a protection against the invasion of the warlike tribes from the north ( Avars , Huns ). Under Byzantium the place was called Prowat (for passage or bottleneck). At the end of the 11th century, the Bulgarians named the place Owetsch (Bulgarian Овеч; stem: sheep), probably because of the well-developed sheep farming in the region.
Provadija is the medieval provaton where the Ragusans owned important trading establishments. It was conquered by the Ottomans around 1388 after a long siege. The conquerors called the place Prowadija or, in Turkish, Tasch Hisar (Hisar = fortress).
In 1829 it was occupied by the Russians, besieged by the Turks in vain and severely damaged in the process. For a short time, Prowadija was the district center in the Principality of Bulgaria founded in 1878 . In the course of the administrative reform of 1881 it became a municipal town. In the same year the city had 4704 inhabitants.
The city has given its name to Provadiya Hook , a headland of Greenwich Island in Antarctica , since 2006 .
Attractions
In the city center is the 300 year old mosque Tusun Bey (Bulgar. Тусун Бей). There are rock monasteries near the town.
fortress
The fortress lies above the city, is surrounded on all sides by rocks and was built between the 4th and 7th centuries. Used in the 17th century AD. After that it was not used for about a century. From the 9th century it was inhabited again. The Byzantines called the fortress Prowatsch (Greek Prowaton = sheep fortress), the Bulgarians Owetsch (a literal translation of the Greek name Prowaton) and the Ottomans Tasch Hisar. The settlement next to the fortress was established under the Bulgarians. After the Bulgarians converted to Christianity, the city also became a bishopric. The city's rapid upswing was facilitated by its relative proximity to the first two Bulgarian capital cities, Pliska and Preslaw - a favorable geostrategic location. These capitals, like today, have attracted the population. The distance to Varna is only 30 km. Varna had been Bulgarian since 681 AD, but the Bulgarians knew that in the event of a Byzantine attack from the sea they would not be able to hold the city because they would support the more than 2000 ships - that is 30,000 to 40,000 soldiers - the Byzantines had nothing to oppose. Therefore they built a fortress further inland - the fortress in today's Prowadija - to be able to oppose the Byzantine army on their way to the Bulgarian capitals Pliska and Preslaw (80-100 km from Varna) and Veliko Tarnowo (200 km from Varna) . While the Ottomans besieged the fortress for two weeks in vain, the Bulgarians had enough time to gather their army.
In 1278 two Byzantine armies (5000 and 10,000 fighters; military leaders Aprin and Murin respectively) suffered a heavy defeat against the Bulgarian tsar Iwajlo when they tried to get past the fortress to the Balkan passes and were caught by the troops from the fortress and the advancing Bulgarian army. As a result, Varna was very often taken and ruled by the Byzantines. It was not until 1202, when Kaloyan ruled almost all of Thrace, that Varna finally became Bulgarian. The fortress was used by Tsar Kaloyan and his brother Petar II. In 1366 three famous knights were imprisoned here, the most famous being the Marshal of Burgundy. A ransom of 2,400 gold pieces was paid for them. In 1388 the fortress was taken by the Ottomans, who besieged it with 30,000 men under Lala Schachin. After a peace treaty was signed, they broke their word into the city at night and took it after fighting with heavy losses.
After an uprising by the Bulgarians, the fortress was again in Bulgarian hands for about three years from 1409. The fortress was finally abandoned at the end of the 17th century. The Ottomans no longer needed it, as it was now deep inside the Ottoman Empire and had no significance for the defense of the borders on the Danube .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Population by towns and sex. In: nsi.bg. Republic of Bulgaria - National Statistical Institute (NSI), April 12, 2019, accessed May 5, 2019 .
- ↑ Discovered houses from the time before the Egyptian pyramids. Der Standard, October 25, 2012, accessed October 31, 2012 .
- ↑ Europe's oldest city discovered in Bulgaria. (No longer available online.) N24, October 29, 2012, archived from the original on January 11, 2013 ; accessed on October 31, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Europe's oldest prehistoric town unearthed in Bulgaria. BBC News, October 31, 2012, accessed October 31, 2012 .
