Soosopol

The title of this article is ambiguous. Further meanings are listed under Sozopol (disambiguation) .

Sozopol (Созопол)
Soosopol
Basic data
State :	Bulgaria
Oblast :	Burgas
Residents :	4342  (December 31, 2016)
Area :	41,829 km²
Population density	0.1 inhabitants / km²
Coordinates :	42 ° 25 '  N , 27 ° 42'  E Coordinates: 42 ° 25 '10 "  N , 27 ° 41' 40"  E
Height :	0 m
Postal code :	8130
Telephone code :	(+359) 0550
License plate :	A.
administration
Mayor :	Panajot Rejsi
Ruling party :	GERB
Website :	www.sozopol.bg

Sozopol in the southern part of the Gulf of Burgas
(bottom right)

Typical Black Sea house from the time of rebirth in the old town of Sosopol

Sosòpol [ sɔˈzɔpɔɫ ] (or Sozopol , Bulgarian Созопол ) is a small town on the southern Bulgarian Black Sea coast . It is located on the south side of the Burgas Bay on several small rocky peninsulas in the Burgas Province and is the center of the Sozopol municipality of the same name .

Sozopol emerged from the Greek colony of Apollonia and is, together with Nessebar, one of the oldest cities in Bulgaria. From ancient times to the 17th century, Sozopol was a flourishing trading city. It had the reputation of a winemaking and fishing town and was an important port for the handling of grain from Thrace . From late antiquity , the city developed into a bishopric , to which several monasteries in and around the city were subordinate in the Middle Ages . From antiquity to the first quarter of the 20th century, Sozopol was a city with a predominantly Greek population.

Because of its beaches and its culturally and historically valuable buildings, Sozopol is a nationally known tourist destination . The old town with its fortress walls and other buildings was declared an open-air museum .

geography

location

Overview of Sozopol - red [1]: Skamnij peninsula (old town) , green [2]: Charmanite district and Charmanite peninsula (new town) , purple [3 + 4]: Budschaka district and Budschaka peninsula , blue: Sweti Kirik peninsula
1: Chap Skamnij, 2: Cape Charmanite, 3: Cape Kolokita, 4: Cape St. Stefan
A: Sozopol Bay, B: Korenjata Bay, C: Kawazite Bay, D: Island Sweti Ivan, E: Island Sweti Peter

Sozopol, on the southern Bulgarian Black Sea coast, extends to the northern foothills of the Strandscha Mountains, in the southern part the city borders on the Bay of Burgas , 35 kilometers south of Burgas . The sun beach in the north is 90 kilometers by road or 15 nautical miles from the sea route.

The city of Sozopol is divided into old and new towns. The old town is located on the small Skamnij ⊙ peninsula , which is two hundred meters wide and almost two kilometers long and ten meters above sea level. To the west of this peninsula is the Sozopol Bay and to the east is the Korenjata Bay ⊙ .

The eight- hectare island of Sweti Kirik was connected to the Skamnij peninsula until the turn of the century. It is located 250 meters northwest of the old town and has been connected to the mainland by an artificial dam since 1927, which is why it is actually a peninsula, strictly speaking. The dam connects the northeast of the island with the old town. Since the Sweti Kirik peninsula was extended to the southwest by a 400-meter-long pier , an artificial bay measuring 800 × 200 meters was created in the west of the old town. The bay facing the mainland houses the fishing port and the marina.

Since the early 1960s, Sozopol has expanded due to the increase in tourism to the south. The new town of Sozopol and the youngest district of Charmanite comprise the coast of the Korenjata Bay and the Budschaka ⊙ peninsula . The latter is popularly known as Germankata (German: Die Deutsche ), after a German who died there in 1959.

The old town and the new town are connected by a land bridge on which the town cemetery was located in the Middle Ages . The area was transformed into a park - the Sea Garden . The Budschaka Peninsula and Kawazite Bay ⊙ form the southern border of the city.

In Sozopol Bay, 1.2 kilometers north of the old town, there are also the islands of Sweti Ivan and Sweti Petar . These two islands protect the Sozopol roadstead from strong winds, which was particularly valued by seafarers in ancient times.

Neighboring communities

The city borders the Black Sea to the north, east and south-east. Furthermore, Sozopol borders on the following cities and municipalities in the province of Burgas:

Burgas Chernomorets
Sredez Rawadinowo
Primorsko	Primorsko

The community village of Rawadinowo is 5 kilometers inland and is the closest place. The distance to the provincial capital Burgas is 33 kilometers by land and 25 kilometers by sea. After Primorsko , the next largest town in the south, it is 20 kilometers.

landscape

Sozopol and the surrounding area to the west of it with the Meden rid chain of hills (1903)

The urban area of ​​Sozopol spreads out on the Meden rid hill chain , part of the Strandscha Mountains, which belongs to the geomorphological Meden rid-Strandscha main region. The area is characterized by a complex of sea terraces, a strongly rugged rocky coast and a multitude of limanes , which alternate with larger and smaller sandy beaches. The coast of the urban area is also very rugged and the larger sandy beaches form the central city beach ⊙ (also called north beach) and Charmanite beach ⊙ . Sand dunes occupy almost a third of the area of ​​the latter. The peninsulas between the bays have vertical cliffs that slope into the sea and are difficult to access (→ cliff coast ).

The landscape west of the city is characterized by the slopes of the Meden rid hill range sloping to the east and northeast . The range of hills is bounded in the west by the river Rossen and extends in the east to the Black Sea, including the coast of the Bay of Tschengene Skele in the north to the Arkutino marshland and Cape Maslen nos in the south. Also to the west of Sozopol is the Bakarlak ⊙ peak (376 m), the highest point of the range of hills. The region's soils consist of fertile black earth .

climate

The climate in Sozopol and the surrounding area is dry and temperate continental with some maritime weather influences. Winter is warmer than inland, but it is windier. The average January temperature is 7 ° С. The summers are hot, but still pleasant thanks to the proximity to the sea with a constant breeze. The average daily temperature in July is 29 ° С and the water temperature is 25 ° C. Due to the maritime influence, the climate is milder compared to the rest of the country, so that winter and spring are shorter and summer and autumn are longer. In winter, northwest and southwest winds prevail. In the summer months between April and September the easterly winds predominate, bringing a constant breeze and having an average speed of 3–6 m / s during the day and 1–2 m / s at night. The number of rainy days is few compared to the rest of the country; 17–28 days in summer and autumn and 14–15 days in winter and spring are rain-free.

nature

Dune funnel daffodil on Arkutino beach

Several nature reserves are located in or adjacent to the urban area of ​​Sozopol. South of the city, in the Kawazite Bay, is the Pjasatschna Lilija reserve (German: sand lily). It is only 0.6 hectares in size, making it the smallest Bulgarian nature reserve. It was declared a nature reserve in 1962 and protects one of the largest populations of dune-funnel daffodils , a plant species that is on the Red List in Bulgaria . The 24-hectare natural attraction Pjasatschni Djuni Kawazite (German: Sanddünen Kawazite), where the sand dunes are up to 6 meters high, is a protected area . Also in the bay on the Budschaka peninsula is the 65 hectare Kolokita nature reserve, designated in 1970 , which protects the stone cliffs from erosion.

About 10 km south of Sozopol is the 3858 hectare nature protection complex Ropotamo. It includes the Ropotamo biosphere reserve at the mouth of the Ropotamo river of the same name , the island of Sweti Toma , the Alepu , Stomoplo and Arkutino nature reserves , and the southern end of the Gulf of Burgas with the Maslen nos cape .

Only on the island of Sweti Iwan can be seen wild rabbits released there in 1934 within Bulgaria. Furthermore, the island, including the neighboring smaller island Sweti Petar , is home to the largest colony of gulls along the Bulgarian coast as well as larger populations of the sparrowhawk warbler and ortolan . In 1993, the two islands were merged into the 30 hectare nature reserve Island of Saints Petar and Ivan .

Regardless of the state designation, all these nature reserves as well as other land and lake areas have been combined by the international organization for the protection of birds BirdLife International to form the Important Bird Area -Bakarlaka. This area covers an area of ​​33,505 hectares and most of the inner Gulf of Burgas with the southern bays Atija, Sozopol and Kawazi. Over 172 species of birds nest in this area. 43 of them are on the red list in Bulgaria and 73 are classified as endangered throughout Europe by BirdLife International, including the middle spotted woodpecker , the olive mocker , the spotted moorhen , the Mediterranean shearwater , the sparrowhawk and the ortolan. During bird migration, larger populations of storks can be observed in the plain north of Sozopol and pelicans south of the city . In the sea bays around Sozopol some water bird species , including black-throated and red-throated divers and great egrets, overwinter . The native plant species onion-bluegrass , common beach grass and German ryegrass are under special protection .

The region south of the city gradually merges into the Strandscha Mountains, with the largest nature park in Bulgaria, which is home to many protected plant and animal species.

history

Surname

Apollonia on the Tabula Peutingeriana (red arrow)

The city was given the name Apollonia by its Greek founders in honor of the god Apollon , who was worshiped here as a healer . To distinguish it from other cities of the same name , it was also given the suffix Pontike ( ancient Greek Ἀπολλωνία Ποντική Apollonia Pontike , Latinized Apollonia Pontica ; from Pontos (" Black Sea "), i.e. "Apollonia on the Black Sea") or the name suffix Magna ( “The big one”).

In the course of Christianization in late antiquity , Apollonia was renamed Σωσόπολις Sosopolis (Greek for "city of salvation / redemption / salvation"). The exact time of the name change is not known, in the 4th century the name Apollonia can still be found in Ammianus Marcellinus and in the Tabula Peutingeriana .

In the middle of the 12th century, Sosopolis was mentioned in the Arabic name forms Suzubuli and Surubuli . In Genoese sources as well as in numerous portolans and nautical maps from the 13th century, the city is noted under name forms such as Sixopoli , Sizopoli , Sinopolis , Sunopolis , Susopori , Suxopori , Gisopoli , Gixopoli or Grisopoli . The name Sosopolis was slightly changed under Ottoman rule as Süzebolu  /سوزه بولی / Süze-boli retained. Since 1878, the end of the Ottoman rule over Bulgaria, the name of the city has the Bulgarian form Sozopol .

City history

prehistory

The bay of Sozopol is one of the oldest populated regions in Europe. The first settlement emerged between the end of the 4th and the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. BC and is seen by some researchers as part of the Varna culture . By underwater archeology finds were unearthed from houses, pottery and implements from the Bronze Age. In addition, numerous stone anchors and anchor sticks were found in the bay of Sozopol, dating to the 2nd – 1st centuries. Millennium BC Chr., Which point to a shipping already operated at that time.

Ancient Apollonia

→ Main article : Apollonia Pontica

Attic red-figure pelike from Apollonia in the Sozopol Archaeological Museum

The city was in a since the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. Area settled by Thracians in 610 BC Founded by Greeks from Ionia as one of the earliest Greek colonies in the Black Sea region. Around the same time, the neighboring Antheia was created , which later became Apollonia.

Apollonia had two harbors located in sheltered bays and thus offered a favorable location for seafaring . In addition to the actual center, the city had three fortified districts that were located outside the city wall, one on the island of Sweti Kirik, one south of the new town on the Budschaka peninsula and one on the hills of the mainland above the old town. Further settlements were located to the north, on today's peninsulas Atija (= Antheia), Chrisotira and Akin.

The territory of this Greek city-state comprised the coastal land from Anchialos in the north to Tiniada in the south. Local Thracian tribes lived in the hinterland.

In its history as a Greek polis , Apollonia remained an autonomous city-state. The city went in the 5th century BC. An alliance with the Odryses, which not only reinforced the existing borders, but also brought trading privileges for the Greeks. Due to the privileged position achieved in this way, as well as the fishing , salt extraction from the Burgasseen , metal processing and other raw materials such as wood obtained from the nearby Strandscha Mountains, the city experienced an economic boom.

The city was known as the port of the granary of the Greek city-states, Thrace, and had a theater , an agora and a gymnasium . The coinage of Apollonia began around 430 BC. And continued into the 2nd century AD. It was minted in silver and bronze.

The Roman settlements on the southwestern Black Sea coast

72 BC The Roman proconsul of Macedonia, Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus , took the city, destroyed it and transported the monumental statue of Apollo from his temple to Rome.

After the city came under Roman rule, its influence declined. It was initially subordinated to the Thracian Empire of Odrysen . After its end, Apollonia was incorporated into the Roman province of Thrace and, after the imperial reform under Diocletian, into the diocese of Thrace . The Via Pontica ran near Apollonia .

Sosopolis in late antiquity and the Middle Ages

With the division of the empire in 395 , Apollonia came to the Eastern Roman Empire and experienced a renewed economic boom due to its proximity to the capital Constantinople . In 514, General Vitalian, who rebelled against Emperor Anastasios I , captured the port city and robbed an imperial embassy there of the ransom for Flavius ​​Hypatius .

Remains of the south gate and the medieval Nikolaus church (right)

In Byzantine times, Sosopolis developed into an important bulwark for the Byzantine army along the Via Pontica to control the hinterland of Constantinople and the trade routes on the western Black Sea coast, which provided Byzantium via the Danube Delta access to the north-eastern European markets. As a grain port, the city ​​played an important role in supplying the capital, Constantinople. Large quantities of wood , copper and wine were also handled in the port of Sosopolis. From 680 Sosopolis belonged to the Byzantine province ( theme ) Thrace . Sosopolis traditionally saw itself as a Byzantine city and fortress , if only because of its proximity to Constantinople. In the late 8th century the topic was split up and Sosopolis became the capital of one of the three subdistricts of the military province ( Turma ). A lead seal from the 9th century names a spatharios ( high officer ) and turmarches (commandant of a tower ) Sozopoleos .

The port city was used several times during the Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars as a deployment area for the Byzantines against the Bulgarians who controlled the Thracian hinterland of Sosopolis after the Battle of Anchialos in 708. In 812 Sosopolis was probably conquered by the Bulgarian ruler Krum and incorporated into the Bulgarian Empire for the first time , after which the first Bulgarians and Slavs settled in the city. Krum also stationed part of his armed forces in Sosopolis and the nearby Ranuli. After the peace of 815 Sosopolis again became Byzantine and part of the Byzantine population who had fled before returned. In 917, the border between the Bulgarian Empire and the Byzantine Empire changed again when Simeon I (894–927) conquered all the Byzantine coastal cities from the Danube Delta to Midea , including Sosopolis. In 967 Nikephorus II recaptured the city for the Byzantine Empire. In the Middle Ages, Sosopolis was repeatedly used as a place of exile for high Byzantine dignitaries. For example, in 1083 Bishop Leon of Chalkedon was banished to Sosopolis as a punishment and in 1107 the conspirator Ioannes Solomon, who instigated a rebellion against Emperor Alexios I , was imprisoned in Sosopolis.

In 1204 the Latin Empire was founded during the Fourth Crusade . In the war with the Bulgarians under Tsar Kaloyan , the latter was able to capture the Latin Emperor of Constantinople Baldwin I of Flanders and lock him up in the Bulgarian capital Tarnowo and bring most of Thrace under Bulgarian control. His brother Heinrich of Flanders then plundered through Thrace in retaliation and conquered the region in 1206, but failed when he stormed Sosopolis. After the reconquest of Constantinople in 1261 and the restoration of the Byzantine Empire, General Michael Glabas Tarchaniotis succeeded in reconquering Sosopolis in 1263.

In 1304 the Bulgarian Tsar Todor Swetoslaw conquered Sosopolis after the battle of Skafida and took the former patriarch of Constantinople Ioannes XII. Trapped Cosmas . The peace between the two kingdoms was achieved in 1308 through the marriage of Todor Svetoslavs to Theodora Palaiologina , a daughter of Michael IX. Consolidated in the Sosopol monastery of John the Baptist . In the following time the port city played an important role in the Venetian and Genoese grain trade. In 1316, measures by Todor Svetoslav, including the introduction of customs duties on the grain trade and the confiscation of the property of Genoese traders in Sosopolis, resulted in the Genoese administration of Gazaria prohibiting Genoese from trading on Bulgarian territory and especially in Sosopolis. After the death of Gregory of Sinai († 1346), Sosopolis became the starting point for the pilgrimage to his grave and the monasteries he founded nearby.

In the Byzantine civil war between Johannes Kantakuzenos and Johannes Palaiologos , Sosopolis was the only city on the southwestern Black Sea coast to side with the paleologists . In the Byzantine-Genoese War (1348–1349) Genoese burned Byzantine ships in the port of Sosopolis. When Kantakuzenos intervened on the side of Venice in the Third Venetian-Genoese War (1350-1352), the Genoese admiral Paganino Doria attacked Sosopolis with ten galleys in November 1351 and sacked the city. The tax exemption subsequently granted as compensation enabled it to be rebuilt quickly. In 1361 Sosopolis ("portus Suxopori, in Susopori") was mentioned in connection with the Genoese grain trade. In 1366 Amadeus VI. of Savoy launched a campaign against the Ottomans and Bulgarians on the western Black Sea coast and was able to conquer Sosopolis on October 17, 1366 and plunder the monasteries. After the end of the campaign, he sold the territories he had won and in March 1367 these passed to Byzantium.

Ottoman rule

Apart from two short periods of Ottoman rule (1396-1403 and 1411-1413), Sosopolis remained Byzantine like the coastal towns of Agathopolis , Anchialos and Mesembria . Probably Sosopolis was abandoned by the Byzantines in February 1453, a few months before the fall of Constantinople, along with other cities in Thrace, and subordinated to the Ottoman Beylerbey of Rumelia - Karadja. That would explain why the city escaped destruction during this time. So Sosopol fell under the rule of the Ottomans as one of the last areas in today's Bulgaria. After the fall of the Byzantine capital in 1453, like in Mesembria and Anchialos, members of the fled Constantinople noble families of the Dukas , Kantakuzenos , paleologists, Laskarids and Komnenes as well as Byzantine traders settled there. The members of the former imperial dynasties continued to promote the monasteries and teaching in them. Above all, the monastery of John the Baptist gained national fame through its library and scriptorium after Lorenzo de Medici had his private library equipped with books and manuscripts from the monastery around 1490 .

Information about Sozopol over the next few centuries, as well as most of the settlements on the west coast of the Black Sea, is scarce. This is related to the " closed sea policy " as during this period non-Ottoman seafarers and traders were prohibited from entering the sea. From several text documents it is known that descendants of the Byzantine noble and merchant families gained influence in the Ottoman Empire through their wealth and further promoted the monasteries and schools around Sozopol. In 1593, 150 monks lived and worked in the island monastery of John the Baptist alone . The independence of the monasteries under the patriarch, as well as the influence of individual families from Sosopolis, Anchialos, Agathopolis and Mesembria, granted the Greek population there a certain degree of autonomy. This quasi-independence shaped the formation of a homogeneous Christian society in the coastal region even after the Ottoman conquest, in which the Byzantine traditions lived on.

In connection with the Ottoman-Polish War (1620–1621) in the 1610s and 1620s, the coast was plundered several times by pirates, mostly Cossacks from eastern Ukraine. In addition to their wealth, the monasteries around Sozopol attracted pirates with safe anchorages and shelters. In 1623, pirates took monks and townspeople hostage and barricaded themselves in the monastery of John the Baptist. Already in 1622 the bishop of Sosopolis, Kallinikos, gave up his office because of the devastation of the "Russians" and the flight from the city . In 1629, after the pirates had been driven out, the Ottomans destroyed most of the fortress walls, all 30 town churches and all monasteries around Sozopol, with the exception of Sweta Anastasia . The monks were then relocated to the Virgin Mary Monastery on the island of Chalki near Constantinople.

After the destruction in 1629, the city's importance as a spiritual and administrative center declined. Probably during this time Sozopol was subordinated to the Anchialo Kaza (approximately administrative district). From the 17th century, the export of grain increased continuously via the port of Burgas , so that already in the second half of the century Burgas played the leading role in the Gulf of Burgas. During this time, the empire gradually opened to the west. The French diplomat Claude-Charles de Peyssonnel reported in 1787 that Sozopol was a Palanke and that the port had a lower trading volume than that in Burgas. So the importance of Sosopol decreased continuously in the late Ottoman period. Around a hundred years later, Sozopol was finally ousted as a regional center by Burgas (→ History of the City of Burgas ). Already during the Tanzimats (1840-1864) were towns, including Sozopol, taken out of the Anchialo Kaza and Burgas Kaza newly founded in Sandzak Sliven assumed.

Commemorative plaque for the Russian soldiers who fell in the battle of Sozopol from February 16 to July 7, 1829 and those who fell in the Sozopol Bulgarian-Greek division

In the Russo-Turkish War (1828-1829) , the city was captured on February 16, 1829 in the Battle of Sozopol for five months by Russian troops under the leadership of Rear Admiral Michail Kumani. In honor of the capture of the town of Sozopol one asked in March 1841 Service frigate was Russian Black Sea Fleet in the name of "Sozopol" baptized and attached a plaque in Sozopol. Most of the city's residents at the time were Greeks and Bulgarians and supported the Russians, such as the "Bulgarian-Greek Volunteer Corps". During this time, the region's cultural treasures were plundered by the Russians. When it became known after the Peace of Adrianople that the city should remain in the Ottoman Empire, many residents fled from the advancing Ottomans.

Association of Bulgaria, Refugees and Emigration

In the Russo-Turkish War of Liberation of 1877/78, the Russian army captured Sozopol on January 10, 1878. After the Berlin Congress of 1878, however, the city ​​was again part of the Ottoman Empire and incorporated into the newly constituted autonomous province of Eastern Rumelia . Sozopol remained Ottoman until September 1885. At this time , the Ottoman province of Eastern Rumelia united with the Principality of Bulgaria after a military coup . In February 1897, the Bulgarian Tsar Ferdinand I visited the city with his wife Marie Louise . He financed the paving of the old town streets and donated money for the repair of the Greek churches and for the building of the Bulgarian Church of the Holy Brothers Kiril and Methodius .

Over the next few years, more and more Bulgarian refugees from Eastern and Western Thrace settled in Sozopol. After the anti-Greek pogroms in Bulgaria in 1906, preceded by the Sagoritschani massacre , the Greek institutions in the city were closed and expropriated, including the churches, the library and the Greek school. In the decades that followed, the entire Greek urban population emigrated.

Between 1925 and 1927, the land connection with the mainland was established in connection with the construction of the seafaring and fishing school for orphans on the island of Sweti Kirik. The school existed until 1936. From 1936 to 2005 the island was used as a naval base for the Bulgarian Navy and the school was expanded into a naval academy .

Soosopol from the middle of the 20th century

With the end of the Second World War and the founding of the People's Republic of Bulgaria , the new rulers expropriated all farms with an area of ​​more than 20 hectares as well as mass collectivization . The fishermen were brought together in a fish cooperative and the fish market was moved to Burgas. Sozopol was spared from interventions in the cityscape based on socialist patterns such as the construction of prefabricated housing estates. Public buildings such as the police headquarters, the Tschitalischte and the Archaeological Museum were built during this period , but these were adapted to the cityscape and do not have any real socialist features. During this period Sozopol, unlike other places in south-east Bulgaria, was not affected by the rural exodus of the population towards the city of Burgas. Some of the residents of Sosopol worked as miners in the state-owned Rossen copper mine until the 1990s .

Under state leadership, the small town developed into a popular vacation spot for the Bulgarians and later the residents of other Eastern Bloc countries . Holiday settlements, mostly simple wooden bungalows for state-owned companies from the interior of the country, were built in the Neustadt and south of it . Due to the picturesque location, Bulgarian artists settled in the port city in the 1980s, which earned the city the nickname City of Painters and Fishermen and in 1984 the first edition of the Apollonia Art Festival, which was not approved by the state . In the vicinity of Sosopol, at the mouth of the Ropotamo River , was the private hunting ground of the head of state Todor Zhivkov .

Development in the Post-Communist Era

Play media file

Sozopol, Views (2006)

With the end of communism in 1989, the number of tourists in particular decreased. The Eastern Europeans were now looking for vacation spots that were previously inaccessible for them. With the start of the privatization of the state-owned companies in Bulgaria and the return of the expropriated land , the state holiday settlements, which were built on former private land, came to their previous owners or were given new owners. The massive construction of private accommodation and hotels between 2002 and 2007 led to extensive destruction of the ancient necropolis in the Charmanite area. Another quarter is to be built in the next few years in the Misari ⊙ area , above the new town.

In 1993, representatives of the countries bordering the Black Sea signed an agreement in Sozopol on the protection of the sea from pollution and overfishing and the conservation of its biological resources.

The city's economy in the 21st century is largely based on tourism , fishing and the fish processing industry. The port city is preferred as a tourist destination by many young Bulgarians because, unlike Sunny Beach and the Nessebar peninsula, it has not yet succumbed to international mass tourism .

The city has given its name to Sozopol Gap , a mountain saddle on Livingston Island in Antarctica , since 2004 .

Religions

Pagan religion in Apollonia

→ Main article : "Religion" in the article Apollonia Pontica

Christianity

According to tradition, the apostle Andrew stopped in Apollonia on his way to Scythia , today's Dobruja , and was the first to preach Christianity there . It is certain that a church of Saints Cyricus and Julita was built in the 4th century on the site of the central Temple of Apollo . Most of the other pagan shrines were also converted into churches. So the monastery of the Holy Apostles and the 20,000 Martyrs was built on the site of the Temple of Demeter and Persephone .

In the following centuries, monasteries developed in the vicinity of many churches: three city monasteries (Monastery of St. John, Monastery of the Holy Apostles and the Monastery of the Holy Mother of God), three island monasteries (Monastery of John the Baptist, Monastery of Saints Cyricus and Julita and the Monastery of the Holy Mother of God), the Monastery of St. Nikolas in nearby Chernomorets and the Monastery of St. George in Kraimorie . The monasteries were sponsored by the Byzantine emperors as well as the Bulgarian tsars and given land as gifts. The city monastery of St. John (located next to today's St. George's Church) and the island monastery of St. John the Baptist played a central role in Sosopol's spiritual life. The former was the seat of the local metropolitan from 1366 . The latter was under the direct control of the Patriarch ( Stauropegia ) of Constantinople, which made it independent of the local bishop. The monasteries were a center of literature, had libraries and scriptoria, and played an important role in the dissemination and, after the Ottoman conquest, the preservation of Christianity. In addition to the monasteries, the port city had over 20 city churches in the late Middle Ages.

The election of two of its bishops ( John XII Kozma and Neilos Kerameos ) as Patriarchs of Constantinople testifies to the importance of Sosopol as the center of Christianity . In the spring of 1526 , the bishop of Sosopolis Ioannikos usurped the patriarchal throne of Jeremias I , who was visiting Jerusalem at the time. The latter returned and with the help of the Constantinople population was able to overthrow the usurper. Among several monasteries that were subordinate to the Sosopol Monastery of St. John, there was the Monastery of St. Nikolas in Iași , Moldova , the oldest surviving deed of donation, a Chrysobull of the Moldovan ruler Aron Tiranul , issued in 1595 , is further testimony to the importance of this monastery in Sozopol .

When the monasteries and churches of Sosopol was destroyed in 1629, over 45 codices could only be saved from the monastery of John the Baptist . The majority of them have been in the Vatican Library since the 20th century , while a smaller part is kept in the Monastery of the Virgin Mary on the island of Chalki .

Soosopol as a bishopric

In the 4th century, the city was mentioned as part of the diocese of Deultum and Sosopolis, the bishopric initially being in Deultum . Its bishops took part in the ecumenical councils of Ephesus in 431 and of Chalcedon in 451 and in the synods of Constantinople in 680/681 and Nicaea in 787 . This diocese lost its independence in the 7th century and was subordinated as a suffragan to the diocese ( ecclesiastical province ) of Haemimontus with its seat in Adrianople . The Bishop of Sozopol was under the Archdiocese of Adrianople until the 14th century. It was only when the diocese of Pegai was abolished in 1354 that its last owner, Theodosios, received the seat of the newly founded eparchy (diocese) of Sosopolis as compensation . The new diocese was subordinate to a metropolitan who in turn was directly subordinate to the patriarch.

Due to the pirate attacks and the population exodus on the southwestern Black Sea coast, the Patriarchate of Constantinople merged the dioceses of Medeia and Sosopolis in 1623 . Her seat remained in the larger Sosopolis, whose name she continued to bear. In 1829 the diocese of Sosopolis was merged with the diocese of Akhtopol to form the diocese of Sosoagathoupolis . With the establishment of the Bulgarian Exarchate by the Sultansferman in 1870 , the Bulgarian Orthodox Church regained its independence. Several places on the western Black Sea coast, including Sozopol, remained under the ecclesiastical authority of the Greek Ecumenical Patriarchate. It was not until the anti-Greek pogroms of 1906 that the bishop of Sosopolis left the city and his episcopal seat was moved first to Tsarevo and later to Constantinople. In 1917 the diocese was abolished and the last Metropolitan of Sozopol, Dorotej, resigned from office. In the same year the Bulgarian part of the Diocese of Sosoagathoupolis of the Diocese of Sliven was subordinated to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. Today the city belongs to the ecclesiastical administrative district ( Okolija ) Burgas.

The still existing titular bishopric of Sozopolis in Haemimonto of the Roman Catholic Church also testifies to the office of bishop in Sozopol .

Situation since the 20th century and places of pilgrimage

Church of the Holy Brothers Kiril and Methodius (1888) and the remains of the medieval Church of St. Nicholas

After the destruction of 1629, some of the destroyed churches were gradually rebuilt over the next few centuries. The three-aisled church Sweta Bogorodiza ("Holy Mother of God") from the 15th century serves as an example . The majority of the more than 20 chapels and four churches were not built until the 18th and 19th centuries, when the regulations for the construction of new Christian houses of worship in the Ottoman Empire were relaxed. In 1888, the Church of the Holy Brothers Kiril and Methodius, the first Bulgarian Orthodox church in Sozopol, was consecrated.

In 2010, during excavations led by Kasimir Popkonstantinow on the island of Sveti Ivan, a reliquary with the inscription John the Baptist was found in the church altar of the monastery of John the Baptist . The urn contained a tooth, parts of a skull, rib and arm bones as well as parts of a hand and a jawbone. According to initial estimates by Bulgarian archaeologists, the reliquary was brought to Sozopol via Constantinople in the 4th century AD, when the church was being built. Scientists examined the finds and, based on a DNA analysis in 2012, determined that all bones belong to a man who lived in the early first century and came from the Middle East. The relics have been kept in the Church of the Holy Brothers Kiril and Methodius since the beginning of 2012 .

In the church of George the Victorious, parts of the cross of Christ and relics of the apostle Andrew are kept, who according to reports from the church fathers was the first to proclaim Christianity in the region. While the former was a gift from the ecumenical patriarch Bartholomew I , the latter came from a find in the Sweti Joan Prodrome monastery .

archeology

Terracotta relief in the Louvre, found by Degrand in Sozopol in 1904

The old town of Sozopol and the immediate vicinity have been the subject of archaeological research since the late 19th century. The first excavations did not take place until 1904 on the island of Sweti Kirik and were led by the French consul in Plovdiv Degrand. The results of these excavations were never published. The excavated objects were then brought to France and are in the possession of the Louvre in Paris , including black-figure Ionic vases from the 17th-19th centuries. Century BC And a gilded laurel wreath.

Karel Škorpil and Bogdan Filow report on sporadic finds in the following decades . The first Bulgarian excavations took place in 1924 immediately before the construction of the seaman's school on the island of Sweti Kirik and were directed by Wassil Milkow. In the 1970s, the surrounding forts and dolmens were archaeologically examined. In the 1980s and 1990s, the ancient necropolis in the Charmanite area was mainly explored by archaeologists under the direction of Krastina Panayotova . At the beginning of the 1990s, the medieval metropolitan basilica of the monastery of St. John in the old town was uncovered and preserved. At the connection of the Skamnij peninsula with the mainland, the remains of a single-nave church (9.3 × 5.85 meters) made of rubble were found in the cellar of the cultural center.

Since 2009, excavations have taken place in several locations in the old town and on the islands of Sweti Kirik and Sweti Iwan. This led to the uncovering and restoration of the eastern and southern fortress walls and the southern city gate, as well as the discovery of a medieval customs post, several antique pottery shops and a copper works .

Excavations on the island of Sweti Kirik uncovered an archaic Greek settlement that existed there before the construction of Temenos (7th – 6th centuries BC) and a temple complex that was used for several centuries. The complex consisted of a late Archaic temple and altar (late 6th - early 5th century BC) - possibly the famous Temple of Apollo. The complex also included another oval altar, a temple from the Hellenistic period (4th century BC), an ancient Greek tholos , three ancient Greek sacrificial pits (so-called Bothroi ), an early Byzantine basilica from the 4th century with a baptistery and one Necropolis (5th – 7th centuries). An ancient Greek copper smelter was also discovered in the settlement.

Coin from Apollonia , 4th century BC. Chr.

At the beginning of 2011 Panayotova located the monastery of the Holy Apostles and its church at the far end of Cape Skamnij, near the city gallery. In the winter of 2011/12, a team led by the archaeologists Zonja Draschewa and Dimitar Nedew discovered the medieval customs office and the medieval, single-nave St. Nicholas' Church with an adjoining Christian necropolis with over 450 graves next to the south gate. Rings and several official stamps , including one of the Empress Theodora III. found.

The excavations were coordinated by Krastina Panajotowa from the beginning of 2012 and took place with the participation of the University of Aix-Marseille . In May, French archaeologists uncovered an ancient villa rustica in the Misari area , which was mainly used for wine production. At the beginning of June, two so-called " vampire graves" were found next to the medieval St. Nicholas Church among the 700 Christian graves . It is a woman and a man who were buried 700 years ago and with an iron rod in the stomach and chest impaled were to their resurrection as undead to prevent. Boschidar Dimitrov suspects that the dead are the former pirate and governor of Sosopolis named Krivich and his wife. The skeletons are exhibited in the National Historical Museum in Sofia .

population

Population structure

According to the first description of the population of Sosopol by Claude-Charles de Peyssonnel from the 18th century, the city was then inhabited by Ottoman Muslims and some Greeks. Wenzel Edler von Brognard (1786) reported at the same time that there were 300 households in the city, which corresponded to about 1500 inhabitants, and that the majority of the population were Greek. According to AO Duhamel, the city had 1,354 inhabitants and 315 households during the Russo-Turkish War of 1828/29. Much of the population left the city at the end of the war and settled in Russia. Furthermore, the Greek consul in Varna announced at the beginning of the 19th century that Sozopol had 3,000 inhabitants and a third of them were Muslims. The French traveler Guillaume Lejean again stated in 1861 that Sozopol was inhabited by Bulgarians.

More concrete data are only available from the end of the 19th century with the censuses carried out in Bulgaria. According to the 1893 census, there were 2,777 Greeks and 171 Bulgarians in the city. In the census of 1900, additional surveys were carried out on the mother tongue, after which there were 3073 Greeks, 86 Karakachans and 238 Bulgarians.

After the anti-Greek pogroms in 1906, the first great wave of 1,045 Greeks emigrated from Sozopol to the Greek city of Thessaly . After the Balkan War of 1912/13, Bulgarian refugees from the Komotini and Lozengrad regions in what is now northern Greece and Turkey settled in Sozopol. After the Russian Revolution of February 1917, more than 160 Russian families moved to Sozopol, whose descendants still live in the city today. According to the 1920 census, the city had 4,420 inhabitants, with 2,319 more than half of them Greeks or Karakachans.

The Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine contained provisions on a population exchange between Bulgaria and Greece, according to which almost the entire Greek population had to leave Sozopol after the end of the First World War . In their place, Bulgarians from the Thracian and Macedonian areas of Greece were settled. The first group of Greeks left Sozopol on August 28, 1925 for Thessaloniki . The second large group emigrated almost two months later, halving the number of Greeks living in the city within six months. At the beginning of 1926 only 1277 Greeks lived in the city, but with 2842 people almost twice as many Bulgarians. The remaining Greek population emigrated in smaller groups in the next few years, which ended the Greek settlement of the city.

The last census so far took place in the spring of 2011, which was also the first since Bulgaria joined the European Union. Since it was subject to EU requirements, there was the possibility of not answering questions about ethnic and religious affiliation or about the mother tongue. Only 3637 citizens of Sosopol answered the question about ethnicity, 3566 of them described themselves as Bulgarians, 18 as Turks and 44 stated another ethnicity.

As in the entire church, the relationship between women and men is balanced. Of the 4,285 inhabitants living in Sozopol at the end of 2011, 2101 were men and 2184 women. Since statistical offices in Bulgaria publish detailed data on demography at the municipality and not the local level, more information can be found in the article on the municipality of Sozopol .

Population development

Population development of Sozopol

The changing population figures partly result from the respective territorial status.

year Residents 1786² 1,500 1920 ¹ 4,420 1926² 4,200 1934 ¹ 3,079 1946 ¹ 3,195

year Residents 1956 ¹ 3,257 1965 ¹ 3,427 1975 ¹ 3,880 1985 ¹ 4,439 1992 ¹ 4,550

year Residents 2000 ³ 3,617 2001 ¹ 4,358 2007 ³ 5,396 2009 ³ 5,410 2011 ¹ 4,285

The numbers come from:

• Censuses (¹),
• Estimates (²) or
• official updates of the statistical offices (³).

Personalities

The names of personalities associated with the city have been known since ancient times, including the philosopher Diogenes of Apollonia . The names of several bishops and other clergymen have been handed down from late antiquity. Among the churchmen who were born in Sozopol are the Patriarchs Ioannes XII. Kosmas and Neilos Kerameos known. Among the intellectuals of more recent times, the painter Giorgios Gounaropoulos (1889–1977), the politician Svetoslaw Schiwarow (* 1944) and the historian, politician and minister Boschidar Dimitrov (1945–2018) should be emphasized.

Politics and administration

Mayor since 2007

The 2007 local election was won by Panajot Rejsi. He received 51.07 % of the vote (4415 votes) in the second ballot, at that time still as a candidate for the Far coalition , which included the Sajuz na swobodnite Demokratiei (“Union of Free Democrats”). In the local elections of 2011, Rejsi, who had meanwhile converted to the GERB party, was re-elected mayor in the first ballot by 58.27% of voters (4575 votes).

City council

Composition of the city council in 2011

Political party	Election result	+/- *	Votes	Seats	+/- *
GERB	46, 20%	+38, 19%	3,582	11	+ 9
Bulgarian Socialist Party	14, 37%	+ 02.08%	1,114	03	+ 1
Bulgarian People's Union of Peasants "Aleksandar Stambolijski"	12, 56%	- 05, 32%	00974	02	- 1
(* Change compared to 2007 local elections)

The city ​​council of Sozopol consists of the mayor and the number of 20 city council members prescribed by the municipal code. The city council is re-elected every four years, the next election is in 2015. Since the last local elections on October 23, 2011, the distribution of seats in the city council has been shown with a turnout of 71.16%, as shown in the table.

Community structure

The city council also functions as the local council and is responsible for overseeing all mayors of the localities. The town of Chernomorets and the following villages also belong to the municipality of Sozopol (bulg. Община Созопол / Obschtina Sozopol) :

Atija Gabar Indian Voivoda Krushevets Prissad

Rawadinowo Rawna Gora Rossen Sidarovo Warschilo

City arms

City arms

Sozopol's coat of arms shows an anchor . The anchor had already been depicted on the coins of ancient Apollonia as the symbol of the city and as a sign of the importance of its maritime trade. However, while he stands upside down on the coins with the tip pointing upwards, in the city coat of arms he points with the tip downwards.

Economy and Infrastructure

tourism

The geographical location with three offshore islands, the Black Sea, the ancient and medieval history attract not only visitors from the Balkan countries , but from all over Europe.

The tourism , especially summer tourism is the main source of income for Sozopol. The city, like the coastal resorts in the municipality, is one of the main vacation spots for foreign and domestic tourists. Even so, no large hotel complexes such as those in Nessebar and Sunny Beach were built. Most of the hotels in the city are small family businesses. Religious tourism is increasingly being promoted. Hotel beds across the parish are estimated at 40 to 80,000. Sozopol is visited by more than 200,000 tourists in the summer months. The small town is a popular venue for specialist conferences and seminars in Bulgaria.

Sozopol Bay from the Bakarlak peak, Sozopol on the right, Chernomorets on the left

The campsites Gradina ⊙ (German: garden ), Slatna ribka ⊙ (German: little goldfish ), Kawazite ⊙ , Smokinja ⊙ (German: fig ) are in the immediate vicinity . The first two are located in Sozopol Bay and share a beach several kilometers long, as are the last two, which are located in Kawazi Bay. Around 6 km south of Sozopol, on the border with the Alepu nature reserve , is the Djuni tourist resort built in 1986 by the Austrian Rogner Bau und Touristik GmbH .

Industry and agriculture

The manufacturing industry is represented in the city by food production (mainly fish processing), furniture production and other woodworking companies.

The fishing was done in previous years, not all year, but only in spring and autumn. The fishermen from Sozopol went about commercial fishing with nets in special fishing boats made of oak wood (Bulgarian alamana / Alamana). The boat was rowed by 8 men and had a small additional mast in the bow area. Together with the master, it had a total of 10 crew. Such typical boats were used until the middle of the 20th century.

New job opportunities for Sozopol fishermen emerged in 1948 when the Slavyanka fish factory was built as a branch of the Burgas Fish Combine in Sozopol. In the communist era, industrial fishing was no longer just done with wooden boats and pots , but with modern ships, which enabled year-round fishing. However, the Black Sea has been considered severely overfished since the late 1980s. In Slavyanka not only the processing and preservation of fish took place, but also of dolphin meat, until the 1960s, the dolphin fishing was banned.

In the years after the fall of communism in 1989, the amount of fish caught fell, which had a negative impact on the manufacturing industry. Nevertheless, there is the fish processing factory of the Burgasser Atlantic Group and a processing factory of the Rubex company for the sea snail Rapana venosa (as of 2012). The meat of this type of snail has been exported to Japan since the 1990s , where it is considered a delicacy, and has been offered as "Rapan" in Bulgarian restaurants since 2001. Other larger companies in this economic sector are Pacific Star AG and Delta Industry GmbH .

The small coastal plain, which is located immediately to the north, between Sozopol and Chernomorets and between the Black Sea and the Medni rid, along the Sozopol-Burgas highway, is used for agriculture. The products are sold at the farmers' market between the old and new towns near the bus station and in smaller shops.

traffic

Part of the fishing port

Sozopol has no connection to the Bulgarian rail network, the nearest train station is in Burgas. Furthermore, the connection to the national road network is poor. The 2nd order national road II / 99 connects Sozopol with Burgas in the north and with the other coastal cities in the south. The Burgas-Sozopol route has four lanes.

The port of Sozopol north of the old town in Sozopol Bay is of predominantly regional importance. It has seven berths and a border control point and is mainly used for tourist trips and the transport of goods. There is also a fishing port in Sozopol and a marina built in the early 2000s.

The public transport to the other parts of the community and to Burgas and Sofia is buses and minibuses ( Marschrutki unwound) from the bus station Sozopol from. Passenger transport is operated by both the city's transport company, Sozopolbus , and the Burgasbus . The bus station is opposite the Meeresgarten, between the old town and the new town. The buses to Burgas run every half hour. Occasional trips to Primorsko, Tsarevo and in the summer months to Sofia and Plovdiv are offered.

The speedboat ferry, the Soviet-designed hydrofoil "Raketa", which ran regularly between Sozopol, Burgas, Nessebar, Varna and Istanbul in the 1970s and 1980s, was shut down for financial reasons in the early 1990s - when the economy and tourism in Bulgaria fell into disrepair set. In 2012, traffic with two hydrofoils , which operate daily between Sozopol, Nessebar and Varna, was resumed. The boat ferries and smaller water taxis that run between the islands and the city dock in the old port, near the Archaeological Museum.

Municipal businesses

For the water supply of Sozopol, the fresh water supply system of the Jasna Poljana reservoir is mainly used and supplemented by local springs. The water is led through reinforced concrete water pipes to a water treatment plant with a capacity of 2500 liters per second. The water is pumped from the system into two supply lines leading north and south. Sozopol is connected to the northern aqueduct that supplies the city of Burgas. The municipal Wodosnabdjawane i kanalisazija EOOD-Sozopol is responsible for the water supply and treatment of Sozopol .

All households are connected to the sewer system, but Sozopol has no sewage treatment plant (as of May 2012). The wastewater is therefore disposed of untreated via deep-sea pipelines into the Black Sea. At the beginning of 2012, a project to build a sewage treatment plant was approved, which will be part of the “Sozopol-Chernomorets-Rawadinovo” sewage system and include the towns of Sozopol, Chernomorets, Rawadinowo and the resorts of Arkutino, Camping Slatna ridka, Camping Kawazi, Camping Smokinja and Camping Wesselie should. The construction of the system began in spring 2012, that of the sewage treatment plant is to begin in autumn 2012.

Since 2008, the waste has been disposed of in the garbage dump near the village of Rawadinowo . The landfill, in which two local sewage treatment plants - one for the biological treatment of the polluted waste water and one for the purification of the resulting biogas - are in operation, was built by the German Walter-Heilit Verkehrswegebau GmbH. Before its completion, the garbage dump in Bratowo near Burgas was used for waste . In future, the landfill will process or dispose of the remains of the sewage treatment plant.

Schools and cultural sites

The first modern school was opened in 1830 in what is now the village of Rossen. In it the lessons took place according to the so-called Lancaster method . In 1857, a two-story Greek school was opened in Sozopol, which was built according to the Greek school system. The first Bulgarian school was opened in Sozopol in 1883. There are two day-care centers and a primary school in Sozopol, the St. Brothers Kiril and Method School. The children in Burgas attend further education schools (→ Education and research in Burgas ).

There is also a culture house in Sozopol; the community has a total of eleven cultural centers. Artistic and educational groups are active in the Tschitalischte Otez Paisij : a dance group for children and women, a theater group, a ballet group , an artist group, a pop music group , a folklore group and a language club.

There is also the Bulgarian-Greek cultural association Apollonia, founded in 1992 in Sozopol . In 2011 it had around 320 members and aims to promote and maintain relationships with the former Greek urban population and their descendants, as well as their traditions in Sozopol. For this purpose, the association organizes lectures, exhibitions, concerts and other events in both countries. The association also maintains a youth organization.

Healthcare

Although the city of Sozopol has to ensure health care for the entire municipality of Sozopol, there is only basic and emergency care in the city. For inpatient treatment and further medical treatment, patients have to travel to the nearby provincial capital of Burgas (→ Health Care in Burgas ). The First City Hospital of Burgas maintains an Emergency Medical Center in Sozopol. In addition, there are two pharmacies and the medical center Sv. Zosim with 15 doctor's offices, including six dental offices.

Museums and galleries

The former Greek school, since 1985 art gallery

The Archaeological Museum is number 8 in the list of 100 Bulgarian National Tourist Sites . The museum houses an underwater archeology center that researches the history of the city. The museum's collection includes numerous exhibits from the 5th millennium BC. BC to the 17th century AD, including Greek vases, 120 intact amphorae and exhibits from early metallurgy , trade and shipping as well as products of ancient and medieval handicrafts. Another focus of the collection is Christian art from the 17th to 19th centuries. Century ( icons , carved iconostasis ). The museum is located at 2 Chan Krum Street .

The Ethnographic Museum displays together with the adjacent Trakien- Han everyday objects, jewelery, carpets and handicrafts from Sozopol and the beach Saddle Mountains that give visitors a glimpse of life of the Bulgarians in the 19th century. A special feature is the exhibition of the costumes of the ethnic groups of the Strandscha Mountains, the Rupzi , Tronken and Sagorzi . It is located in St. Kiril and Metodij St. 34 in the old town in a typical Black Sea house.

The city art gallery was established in 1985 when the number of painters settling in Sozopol increased. However, it was not officially opened until 1991. The art gallery's collections include several hundred maritime works by Bulgarian and international painters, as well as pictures by local painters such as Aleksandar Mutafov , Georgi Baew , Jani Chrisopoulos and Petar Katerkow. The gallery is often used for events and concerts, especially during the Apollonia Art Festival . It is located in the building of the former Sosopol Greek School, built in 1857, on the edge of Cape Skamnij, at 78 St. Kiril and Metodij Street . The building is a cultural monument of national importance.

The studio of the painter Aleksandar Mutafov on Lasuren Brjag St. , who is considered to be the founder of Bulgarian maritime painting, opened to visitors in 1976. In 1981 the building, built in 1937, was declared a house museum. There are over 60 of his works.

The historical museum southern fortress wall and tower is the youngest museum in the city and was created in connection with the restoration of the fortifications on the southern side of the old town. It is located in a three-story defense tower at the end of Milet Strasse 50 . While the top floor was used for defense against military targets, the middle floor was used as a grain store as early as the 5th century. A chapel and a 2400 year old freshwater well, which served as the temple of the three nymphs , were uncovered on the lowest floor just a few meters from the sea . The museum also contains items that were found during the restoration work, including parts of the ancient city sewer system.

Regular events

Part of the open-air theater, also called the amphitheater

The settlement of numerous artists in the 1980s led to annual national and international cultural events. The events known beyond the city are the international meeting of the English-speaking writers Sozopol Fiction Seminar from May to the beginning of June and the small festival Sosopolis , which is aimed at the local population. A holdover from the hippie era of the 1970s is the July Morning Festival. Visitors travel to the Black Sea coast on the night of June 30th to see the sunrise on the morning of July 1st. On the two nights before the beginning of July, on June 29th and 30th, the Sozopol Festival - July Morning takes place. On July 17th, the city festival is celebrated and, in addition to a variety of events, the patroness and protector of the city, Saint Mina , is honored. Since 2005 the International Summer Academy of the Arts has been organized for young artists and musicians in the last two weeks of July.

In the second week of August, the Cor Caroli Regatta is held in the waters around Sozopol .

From September 1st to 10th, one of the most internationally known art and film festivals in Bulgaria will take place, the "Apollonia Art Festival", which includes a jazz festival . The open-air stage (next to the Archaeological Museum), the museums, the galleries, the cultural center, public spaces, the stadium and the beach serve as event spaces.

eat

The regional cuisine of Sozopol mainly offers fish dishes. It has been influenced by the different groups of people who mixed in the city. Typical starters ( meze ) include the Tschiros (a type of dried fish) with olive oil and dill, the breaded sea snails Rapana venosa and the garlic puree Skordalia . Sozopol is also known for its gobies , pelamids and stockfish with skordalia, as well as for its fig jam and the damgi , a pastry made from sweet dough.

Sports and sports facilities

In Sozopol there is a football club ( FC Sozopol ), a rowing club (RK Sozopol), a sailing club (SK Sozopol) and a fitness and bodybuilding club (SK Cyborg). FC Sozopol plays in the 2014/15 season in the Second Bulgarian League and carries its games at the same stadium ⊙ out.

The stadium, equipped with a plastic athletics track, is part of the Spartak National Sports Base. It is located in the Charmanite district and is mainly used to prepare Bulgarian national teams, athletes and clubs for international competitions and the Olympic Games. It also includes a multifunctional hall, four tennis courts, two volleyball and two basketball courts and a rowing channel on the Ropotamo River. The sports facilities were completely renovated between 2000 and 2002 and the stadium's playing area in 2011. Currently (July 2012) the stadium is being expanded to include a stand with 2500 seats and three training areas.

Sozopol was one of the venues for the U-17 European Football Championship held in Bulgaria in 2015 .

Special structures

Sosopol old town and the islands

The ancient and medieval cities, like today's old town of Sozopol, were located on the Skamnij peninsula. The old town is characterized by narrow, steep cobblestone streets and the characteristic houses in the style of the Bulgarian Revival . With the resolution no. 320 of the Bulgarian government of September 7, 1974, the old town was declared an architectural and historical reserve "Old Sozopol". This open-air museum includes more than 180 houses that were built in the 18th and 19th centuries and stylistically belong to the Black Sea type, the ethnographic museum, the art gallery, several churches and chapels as well as the remains of the former city monasteries and the city wall. The two-story houses with hip roofs have a square floor plan and some of them have elements of the Strandscha and Balkan houses, which have a stone foundation on which a half-timbered building was built. The outer walls are covered with wooden boards and offer protection from the salty sea breeze. The spaces between were filled with hewn stones and clay. The roofs are covered with monk-nun tile covering. Among the architectural monuments count

• the house of Marieta Stefanowa, which was built on the remains of the medieval city wall;
• the Kurdilid House, which houses the Ethnographic Museum;
• the house of grandmother Kukulisa Hajinikolova;
• the Kurtidi House, known as the "Thracian Inn" with carved paneling in one of the rooms on the second floor;
• Lina Psarianova's house;
• the house of Kreanolu and
• the house of Dimitri Laskaridis.

In front of the old town are the three small islands: Sweti Iwan, Sweti Petar and Sweti Kirik. The first two were declared an archaeological reserve in 2001. The Sozopol lighthouse , which was built in 1883 and electrified in 1973, and the remains of the monastery of John the Baptist are located on the island of Sveti Ivan . Otherwise, like the island of Sweti Petar, it is uninhabited. The island of Sweti Kirik was handed over to the city by the Bulgarian Navy in 2007 and also declared an archaeological-historical reserve.

Fortifications and fortifications

Part of the reconstructed city walls of Sosopolis

Antique and late antique fortress ring around Sozopol; 1.) Antheia, 2.) Peak of Großer Rossen, 3.) Krimna, 4.) Lobodowo kale, 5.) Malkoto kale, 6.) Burchama, 7.) Ranuli, 8.) Maslen nos

The ancient fortifications of Apollonia were largely destroyed by the Romans, but some have been preserved. Others, like the city wall, were rebuilt at a later date. Thus, the Byzantine emperor Anastasios I. city walls ⊙ to build 511. These not only protected the city from the land side, but also surrounded it from the sea side. The fortifications, which were up to five meters high in some places, were repeatedly expanded and renewed in the following centuries. The remains of the walls of the fortifications, which were only destroyed in Ottoman times in 1623, are the only remaining remains of medieval Sosopolis. Since the late 1990s, parts of it, which have been preserved in some places up to over seven meters high, have been reconstructed.

Along the ridge of the Meden rid hill chain, a fortress ring with the fortifications Antheia -  Akin -  Krimna -  Lobodowo kale -  Malkoto kale -  Burchama -  Ranuli -  Maslen nos (and others) was built and expanded in antiquity and late antiquity . Some of them were used until the late Middle Ages. Antheia and Akin was the northernmost fortress. The latter is located on Cape Akin of the same name, 1.7 km north of Chernomorets . In the 1970s, fortress walls up to 3 meters high were preserved. The fortress ⊙ is located in a restricted military area and has not yet been archaeologically examined. The next weir was on the 228.5 m high Großer Rossen ⊙ and has also not been explored.

The main bulwark of the defense systems of Apollonia was on the top of Bakarlak ⊙ with Krimna . The remains of the fortress, which already protected the Thracian mining settlement there in antiquity, are clearly visible. This mining settlement and the subsequent settlement were initially inhabited by the Thracian tribe of the Skirmiani and later taken over by Apollonia. In late antiquity the fortifications were enlarged and took up an area of ​​400 m². It is possible that the Bulgarian Tsar Michail III met there in 1328 . Schischman and the Byzantine emperor Andronikos III. Palaiologos together and affirmed the peace between the two kingdoms. In the fortress area, archaeological investigations found several settlements and large deposits of slag from antiquity and late antiquity. The settlement, fortress and the summit are easiest to reach from the west from the village of Rossen, from where a marked hiking trail leads to it. The eastern slopes are steep and suitable for mountain climbing.

Another complex was the Lobodowo kale fortress . This is located on the 313 m high ridge of the range of hills in this section, around 7 km southwest of Sozopol in the lands of the village of Wesselie ⊙ . The first fortifications were built by Thracians and occupy an area of ​​150 m². The complex probably served to protect a nearby, non-localized settlement. The eastern slopes around the complex are dotted with Thracian dolmens. The fortress is most easily accessible from the villages of Wesselie and Rawadinowo.

The Malkoto kale fortress is located on a 285 m high plateau on the summit of the same name ⊙ and is the best-researched defensive structure of the defensive ring. The archaeological investigations took place from 1973 to 1975 and determined two construction periods. The first plant was built in the 8th century BC. Built by the Thracian tribe of the Skirmiani. Ceramics, oil lamps , anthropomorphic and zoomorphic sculptures from this period are evidence of permanent settlement. A second plant was built at the end of the 4th century BC. Built in BC, survived the Roman invasion and was used until late antiquity in the 6th century. Bronze and copper finds as well as coins and stone balls date from this period, the latter probably serving military purposes. The fortress occupies an area of ​​around 4000 m² on the main ridge of the range of hills. It can only be reached from the south via the narrow mountain ridge. The walls were built from stone blocks extracted on site. They are between 1.6 and 1.9 meters thick and follow the ridge that includes several rocks. To the south of the fortified area several large dolmens and several hundred Thracian dolmens and other burial sites were located to the north .

The fortress of Burchama , which is located on the eponymous, 264.4 m high peak nördlich north of the river Ropotamo and has not yet been archaeologically explored. So far only written records exist. The southern fortifications of the fortress ring were at the port city of Ranuli at the mouth of the Ropotamo River and the fortress Maslen nos at the cape of the same name. Between the two is the Beglik Tash religious complex .

Necropolis

The mountainous region around Sozopol with over 1,500 Thracian dolmens, necropolis and small mounds covered. However, these are still unexplored, in contrast to the necropolises of ancient Apollonia, which have been archaeologically studied since the 19th century. The most famous necropolises within the city were located and partially exposed in the area of ​​the Sea Garden ⊙ , which lies between the old town and the new town, and in the areas of Charmanite, Budschaka and Kalfata. Recent excavations have brought to light important finds from the Thracian period (8th and 7th centuries BC). They are rich in Greek black and red figure pottery, which testifies to an early influence of the Greeks. In 2012, in the area of ​​the necropolis on the Budschaka peninsula, a clay vessel with over 250 coins from Apollonia from the fourth century BC was discovered. Found.

Church building

All of the once more than 30 medieval church buildings were destroyed during the Ottoman rule. In their place, smaller chapels were built , from which the four existing city churches developed.

Church built around	description	location	image
Holy Mother of God 17th century	The three-aisled, single-apse pseudo-basilica is a cultural monument of national importance. A previous building was mentioned in the sources as early as the 15th century. The iconostasis was made at the end of the 18th century by masters from the Debar Art School . The icons made in the 18th and 19th centuries come from the Strandscha region. In 1927 they were placed under protection and in 1962 their iconostasis was declared an art monument of national importance.	Location
Sveti Georgi the Victorious 1860	It is the largest church in Sozopol - a three-aisled pseudo-basilica with an apse. The previous building was built in 330 as the late antique church "Sweti Georgi the Victorious".	Location
Holy Sosim 1857	The single-nave stone church is dedicated to St. Zosimos from Sosopolis in Phrygia . It is located in the Sea Garden and was built on the site of an earlier medieval church. In the west facade, to the right of the entrance, is a grave relief from the 5th century BC. Chr., Admitted, which is dedicated to a citizen of Apollonia born in Amphipolis . The icons were made in the 19th century by master Dimitar from Sozopol.	Location
Holy Brothers Kiril and Method 1888	The single-nave church from the 19th century with a barrel vault is the last work of the builder Gentscho Kanew. The iconostasis, carved from wood, comes from the Church of St. John the Apostle, which was destroyed in the 1960s.	Location
Chapel built around	description	location	image
Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker 2004/08	The 4 × 4 meter chapel is located in the old town between the Archaeological Museum and the port. It was built from 2004 to 2008 from donations from the residents and especially the fishermen, whose protector is St. Nicholas . The iconostasis of the chapel was carved by Tonjo Tonew. Ivan Bakhchevanov painted the icons and designed the exterior facade.	Location
Saint Ivan Rilski	chapel	Location

literature

• Wassil Dojkow, Slawi Dimitrov, Dimitar Simeonow: Градовете на България. Ковачев Verlag, 2009. ISBN 978-954-8775-93-9 (Cities of Bulgaria.) , Pp. 161–162.
• Ralph F. Hoddinott: Bulgaria in Antiquity. An archaeological introduction. Ernest Benn Ltd., London, 1975, pp. 33-41.
• Lambros Kamperidis: The Greek monasteries of Sozopolis. XIV - XVII centuries. Institute for Balkan Studies, Thessaloniki, 1993.
• Xanthippi Kotzageorgi (Ed.): Οι Έλληνες της Βουλγαρίας. Ένα ιστορικό τμήμα του περιφερειακού ελληνισμού. Thessaloniki, 1999, pp. 117-397. (The Greeks of Bulgaria. A historical part of regional Hellenism.)
• Konstantinos D. Papaioannidis: Ιστορία της εν Πόντω Απολλωνίας - Σωζοπόλεως (από της ιδρύσεώς της μέχρι σήμερον). Thessaloniki, 1933. ( The story of Apollonia Pontica - Sozopolis (from its creation to the present day) ).
  • Bulgarian translation: Konstantinos Papaioannidis: История на Аполония Понтийска - Созопол (от създаването и до днес). ФАБЕР, Sofia, 2003. ISBN 954-775-330-4 ( The story of Apollonia Pontica - Sozopol (from the foundation to the present day) ).
• Peter Soustal: Thrace (Thrace, Rhodope and Haimimontos) (= Tabula Imperii Byzantini . Volume 6). Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1991, ISBN 3-7001-1898-8 . Pp. 454-455.

Web links

Commons : Sozopol  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Sozopol (English)
• 3D panoramic photos
• Svetlana Doncheva: Sozopol. In: Foundation of the Hellenic World (Ed.): Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Black Sea. (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Sailing from the Black Sea, Sea of ​​Marmara to the Dardanelles. Black Sea to Sozopol. Homepage of the sailing yacht Tongji, accessed on July 17, 2012 ( sailing report). 
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Sozopol Municipality: Development plan of Sozopol Municipality for the period 2007-2013. (Doc file) (No longer available online.) Website of the Burgas Provincial Administration, formerly in the original ; Retrieved June 6, 2012 (Bulgarian).  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e} General information on the Sozopol municipality. Burgas Provincial Administration website, accessed June 6, 2012 (Bulgarian). 
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Important Bird Areas: Bakarlaka. birdsinbulgaria.org, accessed June 8, 2012 . 
5. ↑ Ivan Wenedikow : Мегалитите в Тракия. (Megaliths in Thrace) . Тракийски паметници 1. Nauka i Izkustvo Publishing House, Sofia, 1976, pp. 128-131.
6. ^ State Agency for Environmental Protection: General information about the Pyasachna Lilia reserve. Ministry of Environment and Water, accessed June 7, 2012 . 
7. ^ State Agency for Environmental Protection: General information on the Kolokita / Korenyata Nature Reserve. Ministry of Environment and Water, accessed June 7, 2012 . 
8. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q} Website of the Sozopol Municipality: General information about the Sozopol Municipality. Retrieved June 6, 2012 (Bulgarian). 
9. ^ State Agency for Environmental Protection: General information about the Ropotamo Nature Conservation Complex. Ministry of Environment and Water, accessed June 7, 2012 . 
10. ↑ State Agency for Environmental Protection: General information about the nature reserve Island of Saints Petar and Ivan. Ministry of Environment and Water, accessed June 7, 2012 .  ; St. John on St. Peter Islands. Project Green Coridors, accessed on August 15, 2012 (English): “The only population in Bulgaria of the introduced in 1934 species of common rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) inhabits the island of St. John. … It comprises the habitat of silver gulls… “  ; Bakarlaka. (No longer available online.) Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Burds, formerly the original ; Retrieved August 15, 2012 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
11. ↑ Pomponius Mela 2, 22 full text .
12. ↑ Ammianus Marcellinus: Res gestae 22, 8, 43.
13. ↑ Eckhard Wirbelauer : Apollonia 2, Pontike. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 1, Metzler, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-476-01471-1 , Sp. 871.
14. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Soustal, Thrace
15. ↑ Bistra Andreewa Swetkowa: Френски пътеписи за Балканите , XIX BC Чужди пътеписи за Балканите Vol. 4, Sofia 1981, pp. 192, 194; Bistra Andreewa Svetkowa: Френски пътеписи за Балканите : XV-XVIII BC Чужди пътеписи за Балканите Vol. 1, Sofia 1975, p. 355.
16. ^ Mihail Zahariade: Apollonia Pontica / Sozopol. Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Black Sea, accessed June 6, 2012 .  ; Sozopolis. Catholic Encyclopedia Online, accessed June 6, 2012 . 
17. ↑ Valentina Yanko-Hombach, Allan S. Gilbert, Nicolae Panin, Pavel M. Dolukhanov (eds.): The Black Sea Flood Question. Changes in Coastline, Climate and Human Settlement. Springer, Dordrecht 2006. pp. 456-457, 469-471, 483.
18. ↑ Ivan Karajotow: Evaluation of the cultural and historical monuments in the municipality of Sozopol. (.doc) morskivestnik.com, p. 8 , accessed on June 11, 2012 (Bulgarian). 
19. ^ Gustav Hirschfeld : Apollonia 2) . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume II, 1, Stuttgart 1895, column 113 f.
20. ↑ Pliny : Naturalis historia 34, 29; Strabo : Geography 7, 319.
21. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Kamperidis, pp. 21–29.
22. ↑ Marcellinus Comes : "Chronicon" (ed. Theodor Mommsen ): p. 99.
23. ↑ Karajotow / Rajtschewski / Iwanow, pp. 44–47.
24. ↑ Veselin Beševliev , in: Yearbook of Austrian Byzantine Studies 30 (1981) p. 74.
25. ↑ Anna Komnena : Alexias 2, 3; 3, 72.
26. ↑ Tsonya Drajeva, Dimcho Momchilov: Akve Khalide - Therma, the city of the hot mineral baths Burgas, Bulgaria. Burgas Regional Museum, accessed February 18, 2012 . 
27. ↑ Manuel Philes : Carmina vol. 2. Paris 1854. pp. 244–245.
28. ↑ Andreas Speer, David Wirmer (Ed.): 1308: A topography of historical simultaneity. Miscellanea Mediaevalia Vol. 35, de Gruyter, Berlin 2010, p. 817.
29. ↑ Peter Soustal: Thrakien (Thrace, Rhodope and Haimimontos) , p. 154
30. ↑ Kamperidis, p. 43.
31. ↑ Nikolaj Ovtscharow : Documentation The medieval fortresses in the Eastern Rhodopes . (Bulgarian Средновековните крепости на Източните Родопи)
32. ↑ Kamperidis, pp. 29–31.
33. ↑ ^{a b} Kamperidis, pp. 48-49.
34. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m} Svetlana Doncheva: Article Sozopol. In: Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Black Sea. Retrieved June 6, 2012 . 
35. ↑ Kamperidis, pp. 31-39; K. Constantinides: Η Απολλωνία. Σωζόπολις νυν καλούμενη. In: Thrakikia 3 (1932) p. 166; Г. Луков: Κняз Фердинанд и Мария Луиза - дарители на Созопол. In: Море 4 (1996) pp. 18-19.
36. ↑ ^{a b} Karajotow / Rajtschewski / Iwanow, p. 121; Zweta Rajtschewska : Учредяване и административно-териториален обхват на каза Пиргос (Бургас) , In: ИМЮИБ 18 (1995) pp. 117-133.
37. ↑ Claude Charles De Peyssonnel: Traité sur le commerce de la Mer Noire. Volume 2, Cuchet, Paris 1787, p. 151. His impressions were collected in the period between 1753 and 1756; s. Karajotow / Rajtschewski / Iwanow, p. 77; 280.
38. ↑ Я. Ф. Зоткин, М. Л. Любчиков, П. П. Болгари, Р. Я. Лихвонин, А. А. Ляхович, П. Я. Медведев, Д. И. Корниенко: Краснознаменный Черноморский флот. Chapter 3 Трудное становление. M. Воениздат, 1987, pp. 27-28 , accessed June 7, 2012 (Russian). 
39. ↑ Karajotow / Rajtschewski / Iwanow, pp. 95-98.
40. ↑ ^{a b c d} Dojkow, Dimitrow, Simeonow: The cities of Bulgaria
41. ↑ Rumjana Emanuilidu: Цоня Дражева: Минералната баня във Ветрен ще остане културна ценност. Interview with Zonja Draschewa, director of the Burgas Museums. (No longer available online.) Factor-bs.com, January 20, 2012, formerly in the original ; accessed July 4, 2012 (Bulgarian): "Това дълго бавене на държавната инициатива за спиране на застрояванията и за започване на консервация и реставрация на културното наследство в периода 2002-2007 г. унищожи голяма част от античното наследство. Унищожена бе част от античния некропол на Созопол. " 
42. ↑ General Fisheries Council for the Mediterranean (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations): General Fisheries Council for the Mediterranean Report, 20th Session, July 5-9, 1993. In: GFCM Report 20 (1993) p. 41.
43. ↑ Bulgarian Archaeologists Uncover Major St. Apostles monastery Built by Byzantium's Last Emperors. (No longer available online.) Novinite.com, July 7, 2011, archived from the original on January 24, 2012 ; Retrieved on June 11, 2012 : "The church of St Apostles monastery was built around 1335 AD and, according to Bozhidar Dimitrov, Director of the Bulgarian National History Museum, it was the largest and most beautiful church along the Bulgarian Black Sea coast" 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.  
44. ↑ General information about Sozopol. (No longer available online.) Orthodox portal svetimesta.com, archived from the original on August 9, 2013 ; Retrieved on June 11, 2012 (Bulgarian): "През този период (. IX-X в) при днешната църква" Свети Георги "е бил изграден голям християнски комплекс, върху основите на раннохристиянска базилика, след последните архиологически проучвания се установява, че там се е намирал централния храм на епископското седалище в Созопол. Същият култов комплекс е известен от изворите като градски манастир "Св. Йоан", комплекс е известен от изворите като градски манастир "Св. Йоан", комплекс е известен от изворите става пизедски Св. до средата на XVI век… „Св. Йоан Подром "," Св. св. Кирик и Юлита "и" Св. Анастасия “на едноименните острови; "Св. Никола “при днешния град Черноморец… и манастирите в града -“ Св. Йоан "," Св. Апостоли "и" Св. Богородица “. Първенствуваща роля имал ставропигалния „Св. Йоан Подром "., Който бил пряко подчинен на Вселенската Константинополска патриаршия, което го правело автономен спрямо местната епископия" info: The archive link is automatically inserted and not yet tested. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
45. ↑ Kamperidis, p. 37, quotation: The donation of this monastery to St. John of Sozopolis by the voevod of Moldavia Aaron, is another indication of the monastery's fame and reputation, which extended well beyond the confines of the Black Sea; Kamperidis, pp. 46-48.
46. ↑ Balkan Heritage Towns and regions: Sozopol and Environs. Balkan Heritage Field School, accessed June 11, 2012 : “Forty-five codexes from the library of the monastery have survived destruction by the Ottomans in the 17th century. Most of these are preserved today at the library of the Vatican. The medieval town of Sozopol had more than 20 churches. The names of two bishops from Sozopol, chosen as Constantinople patriarchs - Ioan XII Kozma and Nil - testify to the importance of the town as a cultural and religious center during that age "  ; Kamperidis, pp. 35-39, quotation: "The few liturgical objects that could be salvaged, along with forty codices found refuge in the monastery of Panighia ... in Chalke".
47. ↑ This emerges from the documents for the Third Council of Constantinople 680/681 . Hans-Georg Beck : "Church and theological literature in the Byzantine Empire." Beck, Munich 1959, p. 175.
48. ↑ ^{a b} Kamperidis, p. 26.
49. ↑ Erich Trapp (Ed.): Prosopographisches Lexikon der Palaiologenzeit Fasc. 8. Vienna 1986. No. 7165.
50. ↑ Kamperidis, pp. 35-39; Svetlana Doncheva: Article Agathoupolis (Ahtopol). In: Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Black Sea. Retrieved June 6, 2012 .  ; P. Chatzegeorgiou: Η Αγαθούπολις της Βορειοανατολικής Θράκης , In: Αρχείον του Θρακικού Λαογρακικού Λαογραφικού καη9 .
51. ↑ Germanos, Metropolitan of Sardeon: Επισκοπικοί κατάλογοι των επαρχιών της βορείου Θράκης και εν γένει της Βουλγαξής στεως Βουλγαίίς σιεως Βουλγαίς σιεως Βουλγαίς στεως Βουλγαίς στεως Βουλγαξής σελες Βουλγαίς. In: Thrakika 8 (1937) p. 171.
52. ^ Ecclesiastical organization of the Diocese of Sliven. Bulgarian Orthodox Church, accessed June 11, 2012 (Bulgarian). 
53. ↑ Balkan Heritage Towns and regions: Sozopol and Environs. Balkan Heritage Field School, accessed June 11, 2012 : “The medieval town of Sozopol had more than 20 churches. The names of two bishops from Sozopol, chosen as Constantinople patriarchs - Ioan XII Kozma and Nil - testify to the importance of the town as a cultural and religious center during that age "  ; Kamperidis, pp. 46-48.
54. ↑ Parts of John the Baptist are said to have appeared. derStandart.at, August 3, 2010, accessed June 7, 2012 .  ; Lost and found, No. 875 body parts of John the Baptist. ntv.de, August 4, 2010, accessed June 7, 2012 .  ; Joe Perkinson: Bulgaria Looks to John the Baptist to Resurrect Flagging Economy. The Wall Street Journal, August 13, 2010, accessed June 6, 2012 .  ; Archeology: Excavation and restoration of St Ivan island near Sozopol financed by Norway. the Sofia Echo, August 9, 2010, accessed June 6, 2012 .  ; Scientists find new evidence supporting John the Baptist bones theory. Telegraph, June 15, 2012, accessed July 11, 2012 .  ; Search for the Head of John the Baptist. (Video) National Geographic, July 15, 2012, accessed July 11, 2012 .  ; Angelika Franz: The six-headed saint. Sveti Ivan's find. Spiegel Online, June 23, 2012, accessed July 12, 2012 . 
55. ↑ Пилигрими към Созопол. (No longer available online.) Sozopol.org, archived from the original on August 2, 2010 ; accessed on June 9, 2012 (Bulgarian): „„ Св. Георги “е със статут на катедрален храм и е най-големият в морския град. Той е бил построен в края на ХVIII, началото на ХIХ век върху християнска базилика на ХVIII, век, век върху християнска базилика на ХVIII век, век воято. Храмът "Св. Георги “днес пази частицата от Светия кръст и мощите на св. Андрей Първозвани, който първи разпространил християнството по тези земи. “  ; Interview with Panajot Rejsi, Mayor of Sozopol. (No longer available online.) Sozopol Municipality website, archived from the original on March 8, 2014 ; Retrieved on June 9, 2012 (Bulgarian): “Освен мощите на Св. Йоан Кръстител при нас са и тези на Св. Андрей, парченца от кръста на Исус Христос, миро от Св. Николай Чудотворец. “ Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; The relics found are from John the Baptist. (No longer available online.) Vesti.bg, archived from the original on April 15, 2012 ; accessed on 9 June 2012 (Bulgarian): "Созополската църква" Свети Георги ". в момента притежава и частица от Светия кръст и мощи на Свети Андрей " info: The archive link is automatically inserted and not yet tested. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.     
56. ↑ Relics of John the Baptist found near Sozopol. (No longer available online.) Mediapool.bg, archived from the original on June 18, 2012 ; Retrieved on June 9, 2012 (Bulgarian): "Според него най-подходящото място за съхранение на мощите е църквата" Св Георги "край Созопол, която в момента притежава частица от Светия кръст, мощи на Свети Андрей.. Частицата от Светия кръст беше подарена от премиера Бойко Борисов. Вселенският патриарх при своето идване наскоро подари мощи на Свети Андрей. “ Info: The archive link has been set up automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
57. ↑ The first name is given as A., but also as L. by some authors.
58. ^ ^{A b} Balkan Heritage Foundation: Balkan heritage projects 2012. Apollonia Pontica Excavation Project. Balkan Heritage Field School, accessed June 6, 2012 . 
59. ^ Louvre: Bust from Apollonia Pontica in the Louvre in Paris. Retrieved June 6, 2012 .  ; 120 years of Franco-Bulgarian collaboration in archeology. (No longer available online.) Bulgarian National Television, archived from the original on June 4, 2012 ; Retrieved June 9, 2012 (Bulgarian). 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.  
60. ↑ ^{a b} Sosopol's monasteries - St. Cyricus and Julita. Orthodox portal svetimesta.com, accessed June 9, 2012 (Bulgarian). 
61. ↑ Sosopol's Monasteries - Holy Apostles. Orthodox portal svetimesta.com, accessed July 12, 2012 (Bulgarian). 
62. ↑ An early Christian church was discovered by archaeologists in Sozopol. (No longer available online.) Factor-bs.com, May 18, 2012, archived from the original on March 8, 2014 ; Retrieved on June 9, 2012 (Bulgarian): "Под средновековната базилика, в близост до южната крепостна стена на Созопол, екип от археолози под ръководството на Цоня Дражева и Димитър Недев направи поредното откритие - ранно християнска едноабсидна църква ... Късно античният некропол, разкрит пред входа, датира от края на шести век и вероятно църквата е строена тогава. “ Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; Copper works was discovered in Sozopol. (No longer available online.) Website of the regional newspaper Burgas Today and Tomorrow, March 28, 2012, archived from the original on May 1, 2012 ; Retrieved June 9, 2012 (Bulgarian). 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.     
63. ↑ Приключиха проучванията на българо-френския екип археолози в Созопол. (No longer available online.) Burgas24.bg, May 19, 2012, archived from the original on March 8, 2014 ; Retrieved June 9, 2012 (Bulgarian): “В единия от секторите открихме едно голямо имение. Находките, които намираме, са основно амфори и големи съдове питоси, което ни кара да мислим, че стопанската дейност, която са извършвали в този район е именно отглеждане на лозя и винопроизводството " info: The archive link is automatically inserted and not yet tested. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
64. ^ Bulgaria: Vampires unearthed. euronews.com, June 14, 2012, accessed June 14, 2012 .  ; Skeletons were staked. "Vampire graves" discovered in Bulgaria. rp-online.de, June 5, 2012, accessed on June 9, 2012 . 
65. ↑ Der Spiegel No. 26 of June 25, 2012: From Pirates to Vampires , p. 132.
66. ↑ Guillaume Lejean: Ethnographie de la Turquie d'Europe. Perthes, Gotha 1861.
67. ↑ Reginald Byron, Ullrich Kockel (Ed.): Negotiating Culture. Moving, Mixing and Memory in Contemporary Europe. European Studies in Culture and Policy Vol. 5. LIT Verlag Münster, 2006, p. 91.
68. ^ Statistical Office of the Republic of Bulgaria: Population by ethnicity. (.xls) Census 2011. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on May 21, 2013 ; Retrieved January 27, 2012 (Bulgarian). 
69. ^ Statistical Office of the Republic of Bulgaria: Population by city and gender. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on January 18, 2011 ; Retrieved August 20, 2012 (Bulgarian). 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.  
70. ^ Theodora Dragostinova: Between Two Motherlands. Nationality and Emigration Among the Greeks of Bulgaria, 1900-1949 , Cornell University Press, 2011, 1,277 Greeks and 2,842 Bulgarians;
71. ↑ National Statistics Office: Population of Sozopol by year. Retrieved June 6, 2012 (Bulgarian). 
72. ↑ Central Election Commission: Final results of the 2007 local elections in Sozopol. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on April 1, 2012 ; Retrieved May 23, 2012 (Bulgarian). 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.  
73. ↑ ^{a b} Central Election Commission: Final results of the 2011 local elections in Sozopol. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on February 1, 2012 ; Retrieved May 23, 2012 (Bulgarian). 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.  
74. ↑ Website of the Sozopol Municipality: Places that belong to the Sozopol Municipality. Retrieved June 6, 2012 (Bulgarian). 
75. ↑ Lili Granizka: The water projects under GERB are getting more and more expensive. mediapool.bg, August 28, 2012, accessed on 28 August 2012 (Bulgarian): "Панайот Рейзи ... претендираше за 80 хиляди курортисти ... докато в икономическото бройката им беше само 2000 легла с платена туристическа такса. Проверка на местното ВиК дружество обаче показа, че в пика на туристическия сезон в Созопол има не повече от 40 хиляди души, а според НСИ там живеят 12,610 души ".  ; Между 90 и 100 хиляди е легловата база в Созопол. (From the Bulgarian. Between 90 and 100,000 are the hotel beds in the municipality of Sozopol). Radio focus, August 28, 2010, accessed on July 10, 2012 (Bulgarian): “Между 90 и 100 хиляди е легловата база в Созопол по неофициални данани, съобри данаити, съобрщи данаити, съобрщи шианани, семарщи данаити, щсеанишианани, семарщи висанани, щсеанишианани, семарщи шианани, щсеари шианани, дисанишианани, Де келеш вианани, дисанишианани. 
76. ^ Website of the Djuni resort. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on June 7, 2012 ; Retrieved June 6, 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.  
77. ↑ Dijana Bedrosjan: Средновековна аламана ще разказва историята на старите рибари в Созопол. A medieval alamana will tell the story of fishing. Darik Radio, April 11, 2012, accessed on July 14, 2012 (Bulgarian): "Автентичният прототип на лодките, с които местните рибари са извършвали промишлен риболов ще бъде изработен от странджански дъб . … Ще бъдат изработени гребла за 8 гребци, а външната част на лодката ще бъде с оригинална дърворезблна дърв. Всяка аламана е имала екипаж от 10 души, един капитан, управляващ посоката на лодката и осем гребци. До средата на миналия век в Созопол все още са извършвали риболов с аламани “ 
78. ↑ Fishing in the Black Sea PDF, 78 pp., 3.8 MB
79. ↑ Delta Industry website. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on June 11, 2012 ; Retrieved June 6, 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.  
80. ^ Website of the Marina Sozopol. (No longer available online.) In: Marina Sozopol. Archived from the original on June 25, 2012 ; Retrieved June 6, 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.  
81. ^ Burgasbus: Timetables for the Burgas-Sozopol route. Timetables on the Burgasbus website. Retrieved June 3, 2012 (Bulgarian). 
82. ↑ The boat ferries "Kometa" should resume their journeys. Travel portal bgizlet.com, accessed on May 23, 2012 (Bulgarian). 
83. ^ Website of the Bulgarian Hydrofoil. Retrieved on July 16, 2012 (website of the operator of the hydrofoil “Kometa”). 
84. ↑ The first stage of the construction of the sewage treatment plant began. (No longer available online.) Sozopol.org portal, archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; Retrieved June 6, 2012 (Bulgarian). 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. ; Sozopol Municipality website: The Bulgarian government started building the Sozopol sewage system. Retrieved May 23, 2012 (Bulgarian).   
85. ↑ The Sozopol landfill was officially put into operation. (No longer available online.) Stroitelstvo.info building portal, archived from the original on March 8, 2014 ; Retrieved May 23, 2012 (Bulgarian). 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. ; The municipality of Sozopol puts a modern landfill into operation. (No longer available online.) Sozopol.org portal, archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; Retrieved June 6, 2012 (Bulgarian). 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.     
86. ↑ ^{a b} General information on the Sozopol municipality. Burgas Provincial Administration website, accessed June 6, 2012 (Bulgarian). 
87. ^ The Bulgarian-Greek cultural associations in the Burgas Oblast. (No longer available online.) Sozopol.org portal, archived from the original on April 2, 2011 ; Retrieved June 6, 2012 (Bulgarian). 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.  
88. ↑ ^{a b c} Sozopol Archaeological Museum: Information brochure Museums in Sozopol. (PDF; 1.5 MB) (No longer available online.) P. 2 , formerly in the original ; accessed on June 9, 2012 (English).  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
89. ↑ Information brochure on museums in Sozopol; The city art gallery in Sozopol. bgizlet.com, accessed June 9, 2012 (Bulgarian). 
90. ↑ Article Aleksandar Mutafov. In: Енциклопедия на изобразителните изкуства в България (Encyclopedia of Arts in Bulgaria) , Volume 2, Publishing House of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia 1987.
91. ↑ Information brochure on museums in Sozopol; Architectural complex of the southern fortress wall and tower. General information about the museum. (No longer available online.) Website of the Sozopol Foundation, archived from the original on July 3, 2012 ; Retrieved June 9, 2012 (Bulgarian). 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.  
92. ^ Website of the Sozopol Fiction Seminar. Retrieved June 7, 2012 . 
93. ↑ Sozopol Festival website. (No longer available online.) Sozopol Fest - July Morning, archived from the original on May 2, 2012 ; Retrieved June 7, 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.  
94. ↑ Information about the Cor Caroli Regatta. (No longer available online.) Yacht Club Bavaria Yachts, formerly in the original ; Retrieved August 21, 2012 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
95. ^ Website of the Apollonia Art Festival. Retrieved June 7, 2012 .  and Günther Huesmann: SWR2 jazz program September. (PDF; 42 kB) Highlights from the Apollonia Arts Festival in Sozopol. swr2, accessed July 17, 2012 (press releases). 
96. ^ Culinary delights of Sozopol. (PDF; 1.6 MB) (No longer available online.) Sozopol Municipality, p. 2 , formerly in the original ; Retrieved June 9, 2012 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    ; Sozopol - the city of Damgi , report by bTV on Youtube, accessed on May 23, 2012.
97. ^ The Sosopol sailing club wins new trophies. (No longer available online.) Sozopol.org, archived from the original on May 24, 2012 ; Retrieved May 18, 2012 (Bulgarian). 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.  
98. ↑ Spartak National Sports Facility. Association for the Development of Sport in Bulgaria, accessed on August 21, 2012 (Bulgarian): “Национална Спортна База“ Спартак ”- гр. Созопол е предназначена за подготовката на национални и клубни отбори, международни форуми ти прес “  . Photos from the construction of the new stadium in Sozopol. (No longer available online.) Burgassport.bg, July 4, 2012, formerly in the original ; Retrieved August 21, 2012 (Bulgarian).  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
99. ↑ National Institute for Cultural Monuments: List of Reserves-Cultural Monuments according to the Law on the Protection of Cultural Monuments in Bulgaria. (PDF; 142 kB) Bulgarian Ministry of Culture, accessed on August 6, 2012 (Bulgarian, see page 6 under number 23): “Решение на Бюрото на МС № 370 от 07.09.1974 г. за обявяване старата част на град Созопол за архитектурно-исторически резерват и туристическти "обуристическти" 
100. ↑ National Institute for Cultural Monuments: List of Reserves-Cultural Monuments according to the Law on the Protection of Cultural Monuments in Bulgaria. (PDF; 140 kB) Bulgarian Ministry of Culture, accessed on August 6, 2012 (Bulgarian, see page 11 under number 41): “Разпореждане на МС № 36 от 21.11.2001 г. за обявяване на територията на островите „Св. Петър "и" Св. Иван “и прилижащата им акватория при Созопол, област Бургас за археогогически резерват“ 
101. ↑ ^{a b} The Krimna fortress. (No longer available online.) Bulgariancastles.com, archived from the original on June 29, 2012 ; Retrieved June 19, 2012 (Bulgarian). 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.  
102. ↑ Wenedikow: Мегалитите в Тракия , pp. 155–157; Thera fortress. (No longer available online.) Bulgariancastles.com, archived from the original on June 23, 2011 ; Retrieved June 19, 2012 (Bulgarian). 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.  
103. ↑ ^{a b} Wenedikow: Мегалитите в Тракия , pp. 155–157.
104. ↑ In Byzantine sources the ancient fortification is also called Kremna (Κρημνά). The meeting is scientifically controversial, s. Peter Soustal: Thrace (Thrace, Rhodope and Haimimontos). Tabula Imperii Byzantini . Vol. 6, Vienna 1991. p. 323.
105. ↑ The Lobodowo kale fortress. (No longer available online.) Bulgariancastles.com, archived from the original on June 23, 2011 ; Retrieved June 19, 2012 (Bulgarian). 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.  
106. ↑ Wenedikow: Мегалитите в Тракия , pp. 131–155; Malkoto kale fortress. (No longer available online.) Bulgariancastles.com, archived from the original on June 29, 2012 ; Retrieved June 19, 2012 (Bulgarian). 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.  
107. ↑ Wenedikow: Мегалитите в Тракия , pp. 131–155.
108. ↑ Dijana Bedrosjan: Archaeologists discovered a coin treasure. Darik Radio, accessed June 20, 2012 (Bulgarian). 
109. ↑ Margarita Kowa: Иконостасът на църквата "Св. Богородица “в Созопол , In: Музей и паметници на културата. Vol. 2, Sofia, 1964, pp. 20-26.
110. ↑ List of church buildings in the Sliven Eparchy. Church administration of the Sliven Eparchy, accessed June 7, 2012 (Bulgarian). 
111. ↑ St. Zosim of Sozopol. Protector of the city of Sozopol. Portal for Orthodox Church ( Memento from February 20, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
112. ↑ In Sozopol a chapel is built in honor of St. Nicholas of Myra. (No longer available online.) Burgasinfo.com, December 6, 2004, archived from the original on January 18, 2015 ; Retrieved June 20, 2012 (Bulgarian). 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. ; Chapel of St. Nicholas of Myra. Medieval portal historicalcities, accessed on June 20, 2012 (Bulgarian, brief information and images).   

This article was added to the list of excellent articles on August 29, 2012 in this version .