Haskovo is a town in central southern Bulgaria. It is the
administrative center of Haskovo municipality and Haskovo district.
According to the latest NSI data, as of December 31, 2018, Haskovo
has a population of 70,406 people and is the 12th largest city in
the country.
Haskovo is the fastest and most direct road
connecting Europe with Asia and the Middle East. Not far from the
borders with Turkey and Greece, Haskovo has become a center of
international, trade and cultural exchange. The presence of these
indicators make Haskovo and the region an attractive destination for
industrial development, in the field of construction and mechanical
engineering for the food industry, chemical industry, wine
production, production of food, beverages and tobacco, clothing and
textile industry.
Culture and tourism occupy a significant
place in Haskovo. Every year the city hosts international festivals
"Pretty Thrace sings and dances", music days "Nedyalka Simeonova",
festival for Bulgarian people and dances "Haidushka sofra", national
competition for debut literature "Southern Spring" and many others.
On the territory of Haskovo municipality is one of the most
impressive Thracian tombs - Alexander's Tomb. An integral part of
the city is the world's tallest statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary
with the Infant.
Haskovo is a city with more than a thousand years of history. In
the very center of the city rises a clock monument, which was built
in 1985 on the occasion of the celebrations around the millennium
since the founding of the city.
A center with a rich
heritage, according to archaeologists, the first settlement on the
territory of today's city appeared in the middle of the Neolithic
Age around 5000 BC. From then until today, numerous evidences of the
long road and the history of the city are preserved in prehistoric,
Thracian, Roman, late ancient and medieval archaeological monuments,
traces of which we find both in the city and in the whole area.
Towards the end of the 8th century, on the territory of today's
Hisarya district, south of Haskovo, the Slavs built a new
settlement, surrounded by a thick fortress wall. With its expansion
in the early 10th century, a second fortification wall was built.
Thus, 10 centuries ago, an early medieval city emerged with the
typical crafts of the time, a military garrison and a significant
population.
In the 11th century the settlement was completely
destroyed by the Byzantine invaders. However, the population
remained here and settled on the other side of the river and around
today's "Youth Hill". Haskovo was revived again during the Second
Bulgarian Kingdom under the rule of Assenevtsi and Shishmanovtsi.
After the conquest of the lands, the Turks named the village
Haskoy, later known as Haskoy near Uzundzha, due to the popularity
of one of the largest commodity fairs - the Uzundzhovo Fair, held
within the empire. In the middle of the 19th century, traditional
crafts such as leather and furs flourished, and entire craft and
trade streets with over 200 workshops and commercial offices were
formed in the city. One after another, new Bulgarian schools
appeared in Haskovo.
In 1858 the existing to this day
community center "Zarya" was established. Despite the emergence of
the first industrial enterprises in the period before the wars, the
main livelihood of the population remained agriculture. As early as
the beginning of the 20th century, Haskovo established itself as a
center of the tobacco industry.
Immediately after the
September 9 coup of 1944 in Haskovo came one of the worst incidents
in the establishment of the new regime - an attempt to enter the
guerrillas in a military unit killed the commander of the Second
Army Artillery Regiment Veliko Marinov, three other officers and a
communist.
Passed through the era of the so-called.
"Socialist construction" and the years of democratic transition,
today Haskovo is a modern, contemporary city with developed
infrastructure and light industry.