Stara Zagora is a city in Southern Bulgaria, one of the main
economic centers in the country, as well as a major transport hub of
Southern Bulgaria. It is the center of the eponymous municipality,
district and regional association of municipalities RAW Trakia. The
city is the sixth largest in the country with a population of
134,726 people according to NSI data as of 31.12.2019 and forms the
fifth largest urban agglomeration in Bulgaria with a population of
213,444 inhabitants (as of September 2007), as well as the center of
The 5th largest district in Bulgaria with a population as of
December 31, 2016 of 321,377 people. The stable economic development
of the region gives it second place in terms of GDP per capita in
the country.
The city is home to the oldest Bulgarian theater
in Thrace - Geo Milev Drama Theater, the ancient Forum of Augusta
Trayana, and 14 km from the city center is the national spa resort
Stara Zagora Mineral Baths. In 1925 the second opera in the country
after Sofia was opened - the South Bulgarian Opera (today the State
Opera Stara Zagora), and in 1895 - the first city park of European
type in Bulgaria - Ayazmoto. The city also houses the Museum of
Religions and the Neolithic Dwellings Museum.
The town is located in the Stara Zagora plain - the eastern part
of the Upper Thracian lowland - between Sarnena Sredna gora,
Svetiiliyski hills, Manastirski hills, Sakar mountain and Chirpan
hills, near the river Bedechka with an average altitude of 196 m. It
is located 209 km on an asphalt road and 250 km on a rail road from
Sofia.
Quarters
The city is divided into separate
neighborhoods around its central part. Before the Second World War,
neighborhoods of refugees from the Thracian and Macedonian Bulgarian
lands were formed on the outskirts of the city. Most of the
neighborhoods were built after World War II, after the massive rural
population in the region moved to the city to provide labor for the
new industrial facilities. Several neighborhoods are joined by
villages.
According to the cadastral map, the city's
neighborhoods are: Ayazmoto, Bedechka-Gradinski, Vasil Levski,
Vazrazhdane, Geo Milev, Golesh, Dabrava, Zheleznik, Zora, Industry,
Kazan, Kolyu Ganchev, Lozenets, Makedonski, Metropolitan Metodiy
Kusev, Opalchenski, Samara Samara 2, Samara 3, Slaveykov, Studentski
grad, Tri chuchura, Tri chuchura-sever, Tri chuchura - south,
Aturen, APK and the Central part of Stara Zagora.
Climate
The climate of the urban area is transitional continental with
influence from the Mediterranean Sea. In winter the weather is
milder and warmer compared to the cities in the Thracian lowlands,
as Sredna Gora protects from the cold northern and northeastern
winds. Rare in Bulgaria exotic exotic tree species of magnolia,
cedar, fig, laurel (bay tree), pomegranate, almond, paradise apple,
cypress grow. The average annual temperature is 12.9 ° C (average
January +1 ° C and average July +23.9 ° C) with an average annual
rainfall of 598 mm. Northwest of Stara Zagora, about 16 km away, are
the Stara Zagora Mineral Baths, and north of the town, about 15 km
away, is another mineral spring in the village of Yagoda.
Stara Zagora is one of the most ancient cities in the world and
during the ages the city had many names, but most often 8 of them
are mentioned: Beroe, Augusta Trayana, Irinopolis, Borui, Vereya,
Eski Zagra, Zheleznik and Stara Zagora.
Neolithic era
The
earliest traces of civilization in the region of Stara Zagora date
back to the end of the 7th millennium BC. Then, almost
simultaneously, four prehistoric settlements appeared on the
territory of today's Zagora and in its immediate vicinity, one of
which was the largest in the Bulgarian lands for 6 thousand years.
Some scholars believe that the ancient Thracian Beroe was located
there.
In 1968, Neolithic dwellings from the middle of the
6th millennium BC were discovered in the city, which are the best
preserved and with the richest fund in Europe and have been turned
into a museum.
A high density of settlements during the
Neolithic and Chalcolithic, over 120 prehistoric settlements and 5
prehistoric settlement mounds, with many finds, one of which is the
largest in Europe. Life here began at the end of the 7th millennium
BC. and lasted until the 12th century AD.
A ritual facility
nearly 8000 years old was discovered near Stara Zagora.
During large-scale research in the 1970s near Stara Zagora was
discovered the largest ore mining center in the world in the V
millennium BC. These oldest metal mines in Europe are nearly 7,600
years old. In 2014, archaeologists from the Regional History Museum
(Stara Zagora) opened the first honey factory in Europe, over 7,000
years old.
Antiquity
Beroe was founded in the region of
today's Stara Zagora about 2500 years ago. In 46 Beroe was annexed
to the Roman Empire and became part of the province of Thrace. In
106, Emperor Trajan gave the city the right to self-government and
renamed it Augusta Trayana. The city became the second largest
economic, administrative and cultural center in the province. The
famous Roman historian Amian Marcellinus wrote: "The great cities of
Philippopolis and Augusta Trayana, which in ancient times were
called Evmolpiada and Beroe, adorn the province of Thrace."
The city has an independent municipal government, city council and
national assembly and enjoys a special status. By special order, it
was in this city that the veterans of the wars fought by the Roman
Empire settled. During the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (161 -
180) in the city were built straight streets, dozens of residential
and public buildings, city walls, enclosing an area of about 50 ha
and reinforced with about 40 towers, of which 11 were studied, water
supply, sewerage, theater building, temples, markets, odeon, baths,
forum. A theater with marble seats was also built, from which the
spectacular gladiatorial battles, processions, celebrations, or
meetings were observed, where the important affairs of the city were
decided. There was a high school in the city, and sports events were
held at the stadium. The arts and music developed in the city, as
evidenced by the found samples of bronze and stone sculptures,
jewelry, pottery, glass objects, statues and inscriptions about
Orpheus.
In Augusta Trayana, huge mansions with magnificent
villas appeared, such as the well-studied Thracian villa Chatalka,
which belonged to Thracian aristocrats.
Augusta Trayana
minted her own coins for a century, from the reign of Marcus
Aurelius (161-180) to Gallienus.
In the 3rd - 4th century
Augusta Trayana was partially destroyed during the attacks of the
Goths, but at the beginning of the 4th century it was fortified
again.
Late antiquity
During the period of late antiquity
(IV-VI century) the city was again named Beroe. The times are
connected with the relocation of the capital of the empire from Rome
to Constantinople, the accelerated Christianization of the local
population, the Gothic invasions at the end of the 4th century and
the devastating raids of the Huns in the middle of the 5th century.
In late antiquity in Beroe began a mass Christianization of the
local population, especially after the Edict of Milan. The city is
one of the most active centers of early Christianity. Apostle Carp,
one of the 70 apostles of Jesus Christ and a disciple of the apostle
Paul, was the first to introduce Christianity here. Beroe became the
seat of an episcopate that grew into an archbishopric. The Bishop of
Beroe Demophilus took part in the Church Council in Serdica. In 355,
Pope Liberius was exiled to Beroe, and Demophilus went to
Constantinople, where he reached the highest rank - patriarch of the
Byzantine Empire.
In the 6th century, the city is mentioned as Beroe in the Gothic
calendar under the date November 19, associated with the famous 40
women martyrs. At the end of the century the city was destroyed
again, but then rebuilt and bears the name Vereya.
The Middle
Ages
For the first time the region of Zagore (Zagora) is
mentioned in the news of Georgi Amartol, repeated by Leo the
Grammarian, George Kedrin and Simeon Metaphrastus, which describes
the help that the Bulgarian army of Tervel gave to Emperor Justinian
II in his restoration to the throne of Constantinople. On this
occasion, in 705, a peace treaty was concluded between the Byzantine
Empire and Bulgaria, according to which the region of Zagore was
ceded to Bulgaria. Three years later, according to other sources,
Justinian II tried to regain the area, but was defeated near
Anhialo. According to the later reports of Theophanes the Confessor,
in 716 a new treaty was concluded between the new emperor Theodosius
III Adramitus and Tervel, according to which another part of Thrace,
west of Zagora, was ceded to the finally ceded region of Zagora to
the Bulgarians. Million in Thrace. In 717, Tervel provided new aid
to the empire with a large army and defeated a 30,000-strong Arab
army besieging Constantinople. After that, Beroe crossed to
Byzantium and Bulgaria several times.
From Beroe to Irinopol
In 784 the city of Beroe was in the possession of the Byzantine
Empire, and the Byzantine Empress Irina visited the city with her
son Constantine VI and a large retinue of courtiers. The Empress
rebuilt the city and called it Irinopol - the city of Irina. The
chronicler Theophanes the Confessor describes the Empress's visit to
Beroe: “This year, in the month of January, the seventh of Turkey,
the said Stavrakius returned from the land of the sklavs and
triumphantly celebrated his victory at the hippodrome. And in May,
from the same seventh turkey, Empress Irina with her son and a large
army went to Thrace, carrying musical instruments, and reached
Beroe. She ordered this city to be built and renamed it Irinopol.
Permanent accession to Bulgaria
In 812 Irinopolis was again
Bulgarian and was named Beroe, after the victorious war of Krum in
812. Historical sources show that after the peace treaty of 817 the
Bulgarian state took large-scale actions to protect and strengthen
the region south of Stara Planina from Beroe to the sea and for its
permanent accession to Bulgaria. Until 860 Beroe was Bulgarian and
during this period its population was already predominantly
Bulgarian. For several years the Byzantines took the district of
Zagora, but during the christening of Prince Boris I in 864 the
district of Zagora and the town of Beroe were returned to Bulgaria.
The chronicles for the return of the district also indicate its
borders - from Sidera (Iron Gate, now Zmeyovski Prohod) to Debelt.
Within Bulgaria, the city is the center of a county and retains its
role as one of the largest administrative, economic and religious
centers. The emperors lived here for a long time, using Borui as
their second capital. Here for two centuries was the residence of
the Byzantine emperors of the Comnenus. From here they organized
campaigns against the northern invaders - Pechenegs and Cumans.
The stone reliefs from Stara Zagora from the 8th - 9th century
have a high cultural and historical value, are recognized as a
masterpiece of fine arts and are one of the most interesting
archaeological finds in Europe.
By the end of the 10th
century the town was in Bulgarian hands and acquired an entirely
Bulgarian character. The Bulgarians call the town Borui (a modified
form of the Thracian Beroe).
The traveler al-Idrisi, who
visited the city, reported that in the XI-XII centuries on the way
from the city of Veroi to the now unidentified city of Pacimisk
passes through successive sown areas, continuous cultivated fields,
large villages, many vineyards, orchards, along numerous flocks of
sheep, cattle and sheep. During the Crusades, when the troops of
Frederick I Barbarossa passed through the Balkans, the Austrian
priest Ansbert, who had access to the imperial office, wrote of the
city of Vereya that it was a "big, rich city" that the Crusaders
captured, plundered and burned.
Under Ottoman rule
The
Ottoman troops attacked Borui and Plovdiv in 1364 during the first
campaign of Lala Shahin, but only after his second campaign in 1372
they conquered Borui. The biggest battle took place at the top of
Bulgarian Fortress, 5 km west of the city.
The earliest Ottoman document mentioning the city is from 1430.
There it is now called Eski Hisar. The Ottomans, knowing about the
ancient history of the city as the center of the Zagore district,
found in the city a huge amount of cultural and historical heritage
and in the first years christened it with various similar names -
Zagr and Atik (Ancient Zagra), Zagra and Atik Hissar ( The ancient
city of Zagra), Zagra, Zagra and Eski Hisar, Zagrala Eskisi (Stara
Zagra), Eski Zagora (Ancient Zagora), Zagrasi Attic, Zagralie
Eskisi, Eskisi Zagora (Stara Zagora). Later, however, in the
seventeenth century, a single form was required - Eski Zagra.
According to Evliya леelebi, in the 17th century there were
3,000 houses, about 760 roads and 14 neighborhoods in Stara Zagora.
At that time there were 5 mosques: Alipasha, Tekke, Nalbey, Noktaji
and Hamzabey. There were also 1 madrasa, 42 schools, 5 hammams
(named: Aladja, Pasha, Yeni, Chifte and Kyuchuk hammam), 1 bezisten
and 855 shops. It is interesting that he does not mention the
presence of a Bulgarian population in the city, although there is
evidence of tombstones with Bulgarian names. Another proof of this
is a preserved Greek inscription in the church of St. Demetrius,
which shows the existence of a church on this site long before 1743,
serving the Christian population.
In 1738 the population of
Stara Zagora was predominantly Turkish.
In 1788 a plague
broke out, and in 1792 there was a famine and drought, a plague of
cattle, and hail destroyed the entire crop. During this time,
military contingents passed through the settlements for criminal
purposes, which "took off the shirt from the naked, and from the
barefoot worms." The worst years, however, were 1813, 1814, and
1815: the plague years known as the Great Plague or the Great Karen.
The next plague epidemic came in 1837 and was called the Little
Plague.
In 1841 a class school was founded in the town, which
applied the program and methods of the Gabrovo Aprilov High School.
In 1863 a girls' school was opened. Neofit Rilski, Ivan Bogorov,
Petko Slaveykov and others taught in Stara Zagora. Vasil Levski and
Raina Popgeorgieva studied here and graduated with honors. The city
is the birthplace of a number of prominent Bulgarian Revival figures
such as Zahari Knyazhevski and Alexander the Exarch. Nikolai
Pavlovich also worked here for two years, intending to open a
drawing school.
In 1858, at the suggestion of the Stara
Zagora Revival activist Todor Shishkov, the locals began to call
their town Zheleznik. This was a sharp reaction against the Turkish
name Eski Zagra. From that moment on, the name Zheleznik is found in
a number of documents, in periodicals, in tombstones and building
inscriptions. Due to the great vigilance and persistence of the
earners, on April 13, 1871 the city received its present name Stara
Zagora. The idea came from another prominent Stara Zagora figure at
the time - Hadji Mr. Slavov. This happened in 1871 at the People's
Church Council held in Constantinople, at which the Zagorje diocese
was established. Subsequently, the city adopted the name Stara
Zagora and became the first Bulgarian city renamed with a Bulgarian
name before the Liberation.
Dr. Ivan Bogorov in his book "A
few days walk around the Bulgarian places" (1868) notes that the
Eskizaar field is one of the most fertile in all of Rumelia and that
Eski Zagra is one of the most populated cities in Bulgaria in
Rumelia.
Struggle for national liberation
Stara Zagora
Uprising
The uprising in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1875 prompted
the Bulgarian revolutionaries to take action and they decided to
declare an immediate armed uprising in Bulgaria. Stara Zagora was
chosen as the center of the uprising, as the Stara Zagora committee
was the strongest. Kolyo Ganchev, a wealthy man with a position in
society and chairman of the Stara Zagora Revolutionary Committee -
one of the largest active units with a membership of over 100 people
- was elected leader of the uprising in the city.
Following
the failure of the uprising, Turkish authorities arrested about 600
people. The leader of the uprising, Kolyo Ganchev, was also
captured, and after his categorical refusal to betray, he was
tortured for months, blinded and finally hanged in public in front
of Stara Zagora residents. His last words are: "I wanted to fly the
Bulgarian flag on the Turkish konak and see my Fatherland freely!"
Despite the defeat, the Stara Zagora uprising played a huge role in
strengthening the general revolutionary upsurge among the Bulgarian
people and ignited the spark for the April Uprising and the Stara
Zagora flag. insurgents is the prototype of today's Bulgarian flag.
The battle of Stara Zagora
At the beginning of July the Front Detachment advanced south of
the Balkan Mountains and on July 10/22 its vanguard entered Stara
Zagora. The commanders of the Front Detachment and the Bulgarian
Militia - Gen. Gurko and Gen. Stoletov were solemnly welcomed. The
mayor of the town Petko Slaveykov greeted them in the church "St.
Dimitar" and in front of the gathered thousands of citizens and the
whole clergy a prayer was said.
There are 14 Russian
squadrons, 12 cannons and 4 companies of the Bulgarian militia led
by Major General Stoletov in the city. General Gurko leaves the city
to take part in the battle for Nova Zagora. In Stara Zagora remain 4
volunteer companies, 4 mountain cannons, 3 cavalry regiments, 2
Cossack hundreds and 8 cavalry cannons - a total of about 4,500
people, who occupy a defensive line 4 km long in the form of an arc
about 1.5 km south of Stara Zagora. It is divided into a right flank
(II Volunteer Company, commander Lieutenant Colonel Kurtyanov), left
flank (V Volunteer Company, commander Lieutenant Colonel
Nishchenko), and in the center are the emergency Cossack hundreds.
Meanwhile, Suleiman Pasha's Central Ottoman Army continued to
advance on Stara Zagora and Nova Zagora. The decisive battle began
on the morning of July 31 with a Turkish attack. At about 10 o'clock
the main attack on the left flank was repulsed, but by noon Suleiman
Pasha deployed all his forces, several times exceeding the Russian
and Bulgarian troops, and the position of the defenders became
unstoppable after all the reserves entered the battle. The most
brutal Ottoman blow was taken by the heroic Third Volunteer Company
under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Pavel Kalitin. It, together
with the First Volunteer Company, must cover the retreat of the
other military units and allow the population to leave the city. The
tired volunteers retreated on the way to Kazanlak together with the
people amid the screams of the victims from the burning city.
Colonel Fyodor De Preradovich was the last to leave the city. Three
Ottoman stools entered Stara Zagora and carried out a massacre of
the non-withdrawn Bulgarian population.
The battle near the
town of Stara Zagora is considered the baptism of fire of the
Bulgarian militia and the Bulgarian army.
The complete
destruction of Stara Zagora
The enormous superiority of the
Turkish army forced Gen. Gurko to retreat to Shipka, where the
Bulgarian volunteers show unheard of courage and heroism. Upon
entering Stara Zagora, the Turks began mass slaughter and
destruction - killing 14,500 Bulgarians from the city, another
10,000, mostly young boys, girls and women were abducted in Turkey.
The city was completely looted, burned and destroyed. The few
survivors fled to Northern Bulgaria. Contemporaries at the time
believed that there would never be a city in this place again.
Part of Eastern Rumelia
The reconstruction of Stara Zagora
began immediately after the Liberation. For this purpose, in 1878,
the famous architect from Austria-Hungary Lubor Bayer arrived in
Stara Zagora, who designed the modern rectangular chess plan,
typical for today's Stara Zagora. On October 5, 1879, the general
governor of Eastern Rumelia, Aleko Bogoridi, laid the symbolic
cornerstone for the restoration of the city. In Bulgaria, the only
other city with such a development plan is Nova Zagora, which was
also burned by the Turks. With a chess layout are some of the most
modern and large cities in the world.
20th century
After
the Second World War, the city's population was 38,325 (1946). In
1956 Stara Zagora reached 56,000 people, in 1965 - 87,000. In 1968
Stara Zagora reached 100,000 people and ranked among the largest
Bulgarian cities - hundreds of thousands. At the 1975 census, the
city's population was 122,000. In 1985, 157,000 people. In 1992, the
population reached 162,768.