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Burgas

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Burgas is the second-largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast
Bulgarian Black Sea Coast
The Bulgarian Black Sea Riviera covers the entire eastern bound of Bulgaria stretching from the Romanian Black Sea Riviera in the north to European Turkey in the south, along 378 km of coastline. White and golden sandy beaches occupy approximately 130 km of the 378 km long coast...

 with population 210,260. It is also the fourth-largest by population in the country, after Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city by population in the European Union, with 1.4 million people living in the Capital Municipality...

, Plovdiv
Plovdiv
Plovdiv is the second-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia, with a population of 380,312. Known in ancient times as Philippoupolis, it is the administrative center of Plovdiv Province in southern Bulgaria and three municipalities and Bulgaria's Yuzhen tsentralen planning region , as well as the...

 and Varna
Varna
Varna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and in Northern Bulgaria, third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, and 77th-largest in the European Union, with a population of 355,450 .Commonly referred to as the marine capital of Bulgaria, Varna is a...

. It is the capital of Burgas Province
Burgas Province
Burgas Province or oblast is located in southeastern Bulgaria, on the southern Black Sea coast. Its capital is the city of Burgas. It is the largest province by area, ahead of Sofia Province, and fourth by population.-Municipalities:...

 and an important industrial, transport, cultural and tourist centre.

Surrounded by the coastal Burgas Lakes
Burgas Lakes
The Burgas Lakes or Burgas Wetlands are a group of coastal lakes of varying saltiness located around the Bulgarian city of Burgas in the proximity of the Black Sea...

 and located at the westernmost point of the Black Sea
Black Sea
ur a loser!The Black Sea is an inland sea bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas and various straits. The Bosporus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects it to...

, the large Burgas Bay
Burgas Bay
Burgas Bay is the largest bay of the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and one of the largest ones in the Black Sea. It is 41 km at its widest and 25 m at its deepest, reaching 31 km at its greatest innermost extent, approximately where the Bulgarian city and major port of Burgas is located....

, Burgas has the largest and most important Bulgarian port. Today, it is a key economic, cultural and tourist centre of southeastern Bulgaria, with the Burgas Airport
Burgas Airport
Burgas International Airport , is the airport of Burgas , Bulgaria.In 2008, the airport handled 1,936,853 passengers and 16,952 aircraft movements.-Future plans and expansion:...

 serving the resorts of the southern Bulgarian coast.

Geography





Burgas is situated in the westernmost point of the bay of the same name and in the eastern part of the Burgas plain which is located to the east of the Upper Thracian Plain
Upper Thracian Plain
The Upper Thracian Plain constitutes the northern part of the historical region of Thrace. It is located in southern Bulgaria, between the Sredna Gora mountains to the north and west; the Rhodopes, Sakar and Strandzha to the south; and the Black Sea to the east...

. Burgas is located at 389 km of Sofia, 272 km of Plovdiv and 350 km of Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey and fifth largest city proper in the world with a population of 12.6 million. Istanbul is also a megacity, as well as the cultural and financial centre of Turkey. The city covers 39 districts of the Istanbul province...

. To the east and north the city is surrounded by the Burgas Lakes
Burgas Lakes
The Burgas Lakes or Burgas Wetlands are a group of coastal lakes of varying saltiness located around the Bulgarian city of Burgas in the proximity of the Black Sea...

 - Vaya
Lake Burgas
Lake Burgas or Lake Vaya , located near the Black Sea west of the city of Burgas, is the largest natural lake in Bulgaria, with an area of 27.60 km², a length of 9.6 km and a width of 2.5 to 5 km. It is up to 1.3 mi deep.The lake's waters contain relatively little salt...

, Atanasovsko
Lake Atanasovsko
Lake Atanasovsko or Lake Atanasovo is a salt coastal lake north of Burgas, Bulgaria, located in direct proximity of the Black Sea. The lake is about 5 km long and divided into two by a strip of sand in the middle...

 and Mandrensko
Lake Mandrensko
Lake Mandrensko or Lake Mandra is the southernmost of the Burgas Lakes, located in the immediate proximity of the Black Sea and close to Burgas...

 which are home to several hundred bird species. Pan-European corridor 8
Pan-European corridors
The ten Pan-European transport corridors were defined at the second Pan-European transport Conference in Crete, March 1994, as routes in Central and Eastern Europe that required major investment over the next ten to fifteen years. Additions were made at the third conference in Helsinki in 1997...

 passes through the city.

Administrative division


Burgas is divided into the following neighbourhoods:
  • Akatsiite
  • Bratya Miladinovi
  • Vazrazhdane
  • Gorno Ezerovo
  • Dolno Ezerovo
  • Zornitsa
  • Izgrev
  • Lazur
  • Lozovo
  • Meden Rudnik
  • Petko Slaveykov
  • Pobeda
  • Sarafovo
    Sarafovo
    Sarafovo is a neighbourhood of Burgas, which is the biggest city in South Eastern Bulgaria - a regional, tourist and trade center.Sarafovo is a beautiful calm quarter of Burgas, which is the fourth largest city in Bulgaria. The city has great infrastructure, an International airport and it is a...

  • Kraimorie
  • Centar
  • Vetren
  • Banevo


  • With a Decision from the Counsel of Minister in 2009 the villages Banevo and Vetren were incorporated to Burgas.

    Currently a new city plan is considered which will open the city to the sea and includes several residential neighbourhoods and a new highway junction.
    |}

    History



    Burgas is a successor of the Ancient Greek
    Ancient Greece
    Ancient Greece is the civilisation belonging to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth. It is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the...

     city of Pyrgos (Πύργος, Greek
    Greek language
    Greek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...

     for "tower") , founded by colonists from Apollonia
    Sozopol
    Sozopol is an ancient town and seaside resort located 35 km south of Burgas on the southern Black Sea Coast of Bulgaria. Today the town is mostly a seaside resort known for the Apollonia art and film festival and is named after one of Sozopol's ancient names.The busiest times of the year are the...

     as a military and observational post against the other important settlement in the region — Mesembria
    Nesebar
    Nesebar is an ancient city and a major seaside resort on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria, located in Nesebar municipality, Burgas Province...

    . Besides Pyrgos, the present-day city expands over the area of three other ancient settlements: Castrition, Skafida and Rossokastron.

    During the rule of the Ancient Romans
    Ancient Rome
    Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea, it became one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

    , Burgas was known as Debeltum, and was established as a military colony for veterans by Vespasian
    Vespasian
    Titus Flavius Vespasianus, commonly known as Vespasian , was a Roman Emperor who reigned from 69 AD until his death in 79 AD...

    . In the Middle Ages
    Middle Ages
    The Middle Ages of European history is a period of European history covering roughly a millennium in the 5th century through 16th centuries. More specific starting and ending points are sometimes adopted by scholars to suit their respective specializations or current focus...

    , a small fortress called
    Pyrgos was erected on the place and was most probably used as a watchtower. It was only in the 17th century that a settlement named Ahelo-Pirgas grew in the modern area of the city. It was later renamed to Bourgas and had only about 3,000 inhabitants, most of them Greeks
    Greeks
    The Greeks , also known as Hellenes, are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions, who can also be found in diaspora communities around the world....

     at the time of the Liberation
    Liberation of Bulgaria
    In Bulgarian historiography, the term Liberation of Bulgaria is used to denote the events of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 that led to the establishment of a Bulgarian state with the Treaty of San Stefano of 3 March, 1878...

    . The city was a township in İslimye
    Sliven
    Sliven is a town in southeast Bulgaria and the administrative centre of Sliven Province. It is a relatively large town with 115,000 inhabitants . Sliven is famous for its Bulgarian Haiduts who fought against the Ottoman Turks in the 19th century and is known as the "City of the 100 Voyvodi", a...

     sanjak in at first Rumelia
    Rumelia
    Rumelia or Rumeli is a Turkish name, used from the 15th century onwards, for the southern Balkan regions of the Ottoman Empire...

     Eyalet, after that in the Silistre
    Silistra
    Silistra is a port city of northeastern Bulgaria, lying on the southern bank of the lower Danube at the country's border with Romania...

     Province and Edirne
    Edirne
    Edirne is a city in Thrace, the westernmost part of Turkey, close to the borders with Greece and Bulgaria. Edirne served as the capital city of the Ottoman Empire from 1365 to 1453, when Constantinople became the empire's new capital. At present, Edirne is the capital of the Edirne Province in...

     Province before the liberation in 1878. It was a sanjak centre in Eastern Rumelia
    Eastern Rumelia
    Eastern Rumelia or Eastern Roumelia was an autonomous province in the Ottoman Empire from 1878 to 1908, however it was under Bulgarian control from 1885, when it de facto annexed by the Principality of Bulgaria...

     before incorporated in the Principality of Bulgaria
    Principality of Bulgaria
    The Principality of Bulgaria was a self-governing entity created as a vassal of the Ottoman Empire by the Treaty of Berlin in 1878. The preliminary treaty of San Stefano between the Russian Empire and the Porte , on March 3, had originally proposed a significantly larger Bulgarian territory: its...

     in 1885.

    Later, it became a major centre on the southern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast
    Bulgarian Black Sea Coast
    The Bulgarian Black Sea Riviera covers the entire eastern bound of Bulgaria stretching from the Romanian Black Sea Riviera in the north to European Turkey in the south, along 378 km of coastline. White and golden sandy beaches occupy approximately 130 km of the 378 km long coast...

     and a city of well-developed industry and trade. A number of oil and chemical companies were gradually built. Salt and iron are also mined and traded abroad.




    In the early 1800s Burgas was depopulated after raids by kurzdhali bandits. By the mid 19th century it had recovered its economic prominence through the growth of craftsmanship and the export of grain.

    In 19th century, with the increasing maritime trade in the Black Sea Burgas became one of the most important port-cities. However, it has lost some of its importance with the shift of the trade between Balkans-Istanbul-Trabzon to Southern port-cities with the construction of Salonica-Istanbul railways. In 1903, the railway station in Burgas opened, giving an additional boost to the city's expansion. Burgas, unlike many other Bulgarian cities, was not much affected by Communist-type urbanization and has kept many of its 19th and early 20th century architecture.

    Today the local port is the largest in Bulgaria adding significantly to the regional economy. Burgas also holds annual national exhibitions and international festivals and has a vibrant student population of over 6,000 that add to the city's appeal. The historical society also maintains an open-air museum at Beglik Tash
    Beglik tash
    Beglik Tash is a Thracian rock sanctuary situated on the southern Black Sea coast of Bulgaria, near the city of Primorsko.Beglik Tash is a natural phenomenon of huge megaliths carved by a Thracian tribe and later used for pagan ceremonies...

    .

    Several countries have consulates in Burgas, among them Turkey
    Turkey
    Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...

    , Belarus
    Belarus
    Belarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the north. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel , Mahilyow and Vitebsk...

    , Romania
    Romania
    Romania is a country located in Southeastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Almost all of the Danube Delta is located within its territory...

    , Russia
    Russia
    Russia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

     and Ukraine
    Ukraine
    Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south. The city of Kiev is both the capital and the largest city of...

    .

    Burgas Peninsula
    Burgas Peninsula
    Burgas Peninsula , in Antarctica, extends 10.5 km in the east by northeast direction towards Renier Point, Livingston Island...

     on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands
    South Shetland Islands
    The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands, lying about 120 kilometres north of the Antarctic Peninsula. By the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, the Islands' sovereignty is neither recognized nor disputed by the signatories and they are free for use by any signatory for non-military...

    , Antarctica
    Antarctica

    | style="border-top:solid 1px #ccd2d9; padding:0.4em 1em 0.4em 0; vertical-align:top;" | 14,000,000 km2
    280,000 km2
    13,720,000 km2 |-! style="border-top: solid 1px #ccd2d9; padding: 0.4em 1em 0.4em 0; vertical-align: top;...

     is named after the city of Burgas.

    Economy


    Burgas is an important industrial center. The most notable industrial enterprise is LUKOIL Neftochim Burgas
    LUKOIL Neftochim Burgas
    LUKOIL Neftochim Burgas , based in Burgas, Bulgaria, is the lagrest oil refinery in Southeastern Europe and the largest industrial enterprise in Bulgaria. Owned by Russian oil giant LUKOIL, the refinery provides for 7% of the country's GDP, as well as for 25% of the revenues to the state budget...

     - the largest oil refinery
    Oil refinery
    An oil refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into more useful petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt base, heating oil, kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas...

     in South-eastern Europe and the largest manufacturing plant in the Balkans
    Balkans
    The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...

    .

    Institutions of higher education


    Attractions

    • Burgas Regional Historical Museum
    • Ethnographic Museum
    • Museum of Nature and Science
    • Art Gallery
    • Opera House
    • International Folklore Festival

    Notable natives

    • Apostol Karamitev
      Apostol Karamitev
      Apostol Milev Karamitev was a Bulgarian actor, popular throughout the 1960s. He finished acting under the guidance of B. Danovski. Later he specialized in Moscow, Leningrad, Prague and Warsaw. His debut was in the movie "Utro nad rodinata" in 1951...

       (1923–1973), actor
    • Dimitar Dimitrov
      Dimitar Dimitrov
      Dimitar Dimitrov may refer to:* Dimitar Dimitrov , Bulgarian football manager* Dimitar Dimitrov , former Macedonian Minister of Culture...

       (b. 1959),football coach
    • Rousy Chanev (b. 1945), actor
    • Georgi Chilikov
      Georgi Chilikov
      Georgi Chilikov in Burgas is a Bulgarian football player who is playing for PFC Chernomorets Burgas. He was part of the Bulgarian 2004 European Football Championship team, who exited in the first round, finishing bottom of Group C, having finished top of Qualifying Group 8 in the pre-tournament...

       (b. 1978), footballer
    • Georgi Djulgerov
      Georgi Djulgerov
      Georgi Djulgerov is an award-winning Bulgarian film director, screenwriter, producer, and professor at the Krastyo Sarafov National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts. Born in Burgas, Bulgaria, on September 30, 1943...

       (b. 1943), film director
    • Georgi Dyulgerov (b. 1980), pop singer
    • Georgi Kostadinov
      Georgi Kostadinov
      Georgi Kostadinov is a former boxer from Bulgaria.-Amateur career:Kostadinov won the Olympic Flyweight gold medal at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games for Bulgaria...

       (b. 1950), first Bulgarian boxing Olympic champion
    • Georgi Kaloyanchev
      Georgi Kaloyanchev
      Georgi Todorov Kaloyanchev is a Bulgarian actor. He was born in the city of Burgas on January 13 1925. He studied in the former theatrical school in Sofia. Immediately after graduating he started playing in the Ivan Vazov National Theatre...

       (b. 1925), actor
    • Georgi Mihalev
      Georgi Mihalev
      Georgi Petrov Mihalev is a retired backstroke swimmer from Bulgaria. He was a member of the Bulgarian National Swimming Team for the period of 1981 to 1994.-Major Achievements:...

       (b. 1968), competitive swimmer
    • Kostas Varnalis
      Kostas Varnalis
      Kostas Varnalis was a Greek poet.-Life:Varnalis was born in Burgas, Bulgaria, in 1884. As his name suggests, his family originated from Varna. He completed his elementary studies in the Greek schools of Plovdiv and then moved to Athens to study literature at the National and Kapodistrian...

       (1884–1974) Greek poet
    • Nedyalko Yordanov
      Nedyalko Yordanov
      Nedyalko Yordanov is a famous Bulgarian poet, playwright, and publicist....

       (b. 1940), writer
    • Nikola Stanchev
      Nikola Stanchev
      Nikola Nikolov Stanchev was a Bulgarian freestyle wrestler.He was born in Tvarditsa, Burgas province....

       (b. 1930), first Bulgarian Olympic champion
    • Petya Dubarova
      Petya Dubarova
      Petya Stoykova Dubarova was a Bulgarian poet. She was born and lived in the seaside town of Burgas. Dubarova published poems in youth newspapers and magazines such as: Septemvriyche, Rodna Rech, and Mladezh .Dubarova's poems have a style of certain frivolity, full of pastel colours and romanticism...

       (1962–1979), poetess
    • Prodan Gardzhev
      Prodan Gardzhev
      Prodan Stoyanov Gardzhev is a former Olympic Champion in freestyle wrestling and two times world champion from Bulgaria.He was born in in Rosenovo, Burgas Region and died in Burgas.-External links:**...

       (1936–2003), Bulgarian Olympic champion - wrestling
    • Radostin Kishishev
      Radostin Kishishev
      Radostin Prodanov Kishishev is a Bulgarian footballer, currently playing for Litex Lovech.-Career:Kishishev, born in the Bulgarian city of Burgas, began his career with local sides Chernomorets Burgas and Naftex Burgas. He then played as a central midfielder in Turkish side Bursaspor between...

       (b. 1974), footballer
    • Zlatko Yankov
      Zlatko Yankov
      Zlatko Yankov is a retired Bulgarian football midfielder.He was capped 80 times and scored 4 goals for the Bulgarian national team between 1989 and 1999. He played eight games at the World Cups in 1994 and 1998, and he was also in the Bulgarian Euro 1996 squad...

      , (b.1966), football player
    • Kichka Bodurova,{b.1955},pop singer
    • Toncho Rusev,composer and trompet player
    • Toni Dimitrova,{b.10.1.1963},pop singer
    • Krasimir Gyulmezov-duet Chick,group Domino,{b.10.2.1961},composer,pop singer
    • Ani Vurbanova,member of group Studio W and solo pop and jazz singer
    • Nedko Troshanov,composer and musician
    • Galya Icherenska,member of group Tonika ans solo pop singer

    Notable buildings and architectural structures



    The building of the TV Centre Burgas ( РРТС Бургас ) looks like a highrise with 6 floors with a tower looking like "Eiffel Tower with concrete legs" on its roof http://www.predavatel.com/bg/5/bur.htm.

    Twin cities

    San Francisco, California
    San Francisco, California
    San Francisco is the fourth most populous city in California and the 12th most populous city in the United States, with a 2008 estimated population of 808,976. It is the eighth most densely populated city in the U.S. and is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the larger San...

    , United States
    United States
    The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

     Rotterdam
    Rotterdam
    Rotterdam ; city and municipality in the Dutch province of South Holland, situated in the west of the Netherlands. The municipality is the second largest in the country, with a population of 584,046 as of January 2007...

    , Netherlands
    Netherlands
    The Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...

     Yantai
    Yantai
    Yantai is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Shandong province, People's Republic of China. Located on the southern coast of the Bohai Sea and the eastern coast of the Laizhou Bay, Yantai borders the cities of Qingdao and Weihai to the southwest and east respectively.The largest fishing...

    , People's Republic of China
    People's Republic of China
    The People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the most populous in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately one-fifth of the world's population...

     Krasnodar
    Krasnodar
    Krasnodar is a city in Southern Russia on the Kuban River. It is the administrative center of Krasnodar Krai .-Name:It was founded on January 12, 1794 as Yekaterinodar...

    , Russia
    Russia
    Russia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

     Alexandroupolis, Greece
    Greece
    Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....

     Miskolc
    Miskolc
    Miskolc is a city in North-East Hungary, mainly with heavy industrial background. With a population close to 180,000 Miskolc is the third-largest city of Hungary It is also the county capital of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén and the regional centre of Northern...

    , Hungary
    Hungary
    Hungary , in English officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU, V4 and is a Schengen state...

     Beşiktaş
    Besiktas
    This article is about a district in Istanbul. For the sports club, see Beşiktaş J.K.Beşiktaş is a metropolitan district of Istanbul, Turkey located on the European side of the city, by the coast of the Bosphorus...

    , Turkey
    Turkey
    Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...


    See also

    • List of cities in Bulgaria
    • Bulgarian Black Sea Coast
      Bulgarian Black Sea Coast
      The Bulgarian Black Sea Riviera covers the entire eastern bound of Bulgaria stretching from the Romanian Black Sea Riviera in the north to European Turkey in the south, along 378 km of coastline. White and golden sandy beaches occupy approximately 130 km of the 378 km long coast...

    • Lake Burgas
      Lake Burgas
      Lake Burgas or Lake Vaya , located near the Black Sea west of the city of Burgas, is the largest natural lake in Bulgaria, with an area of 27.60 km², a length of 9.6 km and a width of 2.5 to 5 km. It is up to 1.3 mi deep.The lake's waters contain relatively little salt...

    • Burgas Airport
      Burgas Airport
      Burgas International Airport , is the airport of Burgas , Bulgaria.In 2008, the airport handled 1,936,853 passengers and 16,952 aircraft movements.-Future plans and expansion:...


    External links