Hisarya is a small resort town in 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...

, in Plovdiv Province

Plovdiv Province

Plovdiv Province is a province in central southern Bulgaria. It comprises 18 municipalities on a territory of 5,972.9 km² with a total population, as of December 2009, of 701,684 inhabitants...

.

Located in the outskirts of the Sredna Gora

Sredna Gora

Sredna Gora is a mountain range in central Bulgaria, situated south of and parallel to Balkan mountain range and extending from the river Iskar to the west and the elbow of Tundzha north of Yambol to the east. Sredna Gora is 285 km long, reaching 50 km at its greatest width...

 mountain range, it boasts of a very mild climate and over two dozen different mineral springs, which make it a favorite spa for many Bulgarian and foreign tourists.

The town's population is 7,691. The population of the municipality is approximately 14,826.

History

Because of these springs, the town was founded thousands of years ago. Some pre-historic remains have been found in what is now the town centre. Later, it became a Thracian city, and when Thrace

Thrace

Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...

 fell to the Romans and became a Roman province, Hisarya became a Roman town - one of the three most important towns in the province. At various times it was called Augusta, Diocletianopolis (after emperor Diocletian

Diocletian

Diocletian |latinized]] upon his accession to Diocletian . c. 22 December 244  – 3 December 311), was a Roman Emperor from 284 to 305....

) and a couple of other names. It was a famous resort even in those times, which is proved by the fact that emperor Septimius Severus

Septimius Severus

Septimius Severus , also known as Severus, was Roman Emperor from 193 to 211. Severus was born in Leptis Magna in the province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary succession of offices under the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. Severus seized power after the death of...

 himself visited the city.

Many Roman ruins are still visible everywhere - public buildings, a small amphitheatre, the barracks of the Roman garrison, the foundations of a couple of the oldest churches in Bulgaria, as well as the best preserved Roman fortress in Bulgaria. The southern gate is known as "The Camels", because it had broken in the middle and looked like two camels facing each other, before it was partially restored in the early 20th century.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, the prosperous city declined and when it was included within the borders of Bulgaria, it was just a minor fortified town. During the Turkish rule it further declined and at some point the once prosperous city was just a couple of small houses in the midst of many Roman ruins, which peasants from the nearby villages used for a stone quarry, destroying most of them in the process.

After the liberation of Bulgaria in 1878, Hisarya was included in the province of Eastern Rumelia

Eastern Rumelia

Eastern Rumelia or Eastern Roumelia was an administratively autonomous province in the Ottoman Empire and Principality of Bulgaria from 1878 to 1908. It was under full Bulgarian control from 1885 on, when it willingly united with the tributary Principality of Bulgaria after a bloodless revolution...

, and after the Unification of Bulgaria in 1885 it became a part of Bulgaria.

It prospered once again when the mineral springs were re-discovered and the place became the favourite recreation spot for the rich.

After 1945, the summer houses of the rich were nationalised and became spas for the public. The "restitution" after 1992 saw them transferred to the grandchildren of the pre-war rich, who had no money to repair the buildings, so much of the old heritage is now falling into disuse.

Honour

Hisarya Cove

Hisarya Cove

Hisarya Cove is the 950 m wide cove on the northwest side of Osmar Strait indenting for 500 m the southeast coast of Smith Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica south of Dupnitsa Point and 7.6 km northeast of Cape James. Bulgarian early mapping in 2009. Named after the town of...

 in Smith Island

Smith Island (South Shetland Islands)

Smith Island is long and wide, lying west of Deception Island in the South Shetland Islands of the British Antarctic Territory. Surface area ....

, South Shetland Islands

South Shetland Islands

The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands, lying about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, with a total area of . 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...

is named after Hisarya.

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