Banitsa is a deserted former village in Serres prefecture

Serres Prefecture

Serres is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the Region of Central Macedonia. Its capital is the town of Serres. The total population reaches just over 200,000.-Geography:...

, northern Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

. Its ruins are situated some 15 km north-east of the town of Serres

Serres, Greece

Sérres is a city in Macedonia, Greece. It is situated in a fertile plain at an elevation of about 70 m, some 24 km northeast of the Strymon river and 69 km north-east of the Macedonian capital, Thessaloniki. The Rhodope Mountains rise to the north and east of the city...

, near the present-day village of Orini, on the southern slopes of the Vrontous

Vrontous

Vrontous, also Vrondous and Vrodous is a mountain range in the northeastern Serres and the westernmost Drama prefectures in Greece. Its peaks stand over 1,849 m...

 mountains. During the Ottoman

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 period it had a Bulgarian

Bulgarians

The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...

 population. The village was destroyed by the Greek Army during the Second Balkan War

Second Balkan War

The Second Balkan War was a conflict which broke out when Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Serbia and Greece, on 29 June 1913. Bulgaria had a prewar agreement about the division of region of Macedonia...

, and the population migrated to Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

.

Banitsa was the site of the death of the revolutionary Gotse Delchev

Gotse Delchev

Georgi Nikolov Delchev was an important revolutionary figure in Ottoman-ruled Macedonia and Thrace at the turn of the 20th century...

, who was killed in a skirmish with Ottoman police forces in 1903.