Lovech

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Lovech

Lovech is a town in north-central Bulgaria

Bulgaria

The state of Bulgaria , Scientific transliteration Balgarija, officially the Republic of Bulgaria has played a significant role in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe for over fourteen centuries....
with a population of about 50,000. Lovech is the administrative centre of Lovech Province

Lovech Province

Lovech is one of the 28 provinces in Bulgaria....
and of the subordinate Lovech municipality, and is located 150 km from the capital city of Sofia

Sofia

Pleven

Pleven is the seventh most populous city in Bulgaria. Located in the northern part of the country, it is the administrative centre of Pleven Province, as well as of the subordinate Pleven municipality....
, Troyan

Troyan

Troyan is a town in central Bulgaria with population of about 30,000 and territory of 888,850 m?. It is located 160km from Sofia. The nearest civilian airport is Gorna Oryahovitsa, 105 km away....
and Teteven

Teteven

Teteven is a town on the banks of the Vit, at the foot of Stara Planina in north central Bulgaria, part of Lovech Province.The town was first mentioned in a written document in 1421....
.

ch is situated in the Forebalkan

Balkan Mountains

The Balkan mountain range is a mountain in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula. The Balkan range runs 560 km from the Vrashka Chuka Peak on the border between Bulgaria and eastern Serbia eastward through central Bulgaria to Cape Emine on the Black Sea....
area of northern Bulgaria, on both sides of the river Osam

Osam

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Lovech'

Start a new discussion about 'Lovech'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

Lovech is a town in north-central Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Lovech Province

Lovech is one of the 28 provinces in Bulgaria....
and of the subordinate Lovech municipality, and is located 150 km from the capital city of Sofia

Sofia

Pleven

Troyan

Teteven

Teteven is a town on the banks of the Vit, at the foot of Stara Planina in north central Bulgaria, part of Lovech Province.The town was first mentioned in a written document in 1421....
.

Geography

Lovech is situated in the Forebalkan

Balkan Mountains

Osam

The Osam is a river in north Bulgaria, with a length of 314 km and a catchment area of 2,820 km?. The river takes its source from the foot of Levski Peak in Stara Planina, at an altitude of 1821 m....
, and unifies both mountainous and plain relief. The eastern part of the town is surrounded by a 250 m high plateau, where the largest park in Lovech, Stratesh, is located, and the southwestern part is surrounded by the hills Hisarya and Bash Bunar. In the northwest the relief gradually changes to the plains of the neighbouring Pleven Province

Pleven Province

Pleven Province or Plevenska Oblast is a province located in central northern Bulgaria, bordering the Danube river, Romania and the Provinces of Bulgaria of Vratsa Province, Veliko Tarnovo Province and Lovech Province....
. The average altitude of Lovech is about 200 m above mean sea level. The highest point of the town is Akbair Hill at 450 m.

Lovech has a beautiful location, with many parks and places to rest. In Stratesh Park, the highest place in the town, there are a great number of lilac bushes, easily seen from the whole town, which are a wonderful view in the spring. Due to this, Lovech is well-known as the town of the lilac

Lilac

Syringa is a genus of about 20?25 species of flowering plants in the olive family , native to Europe and Asia.They are deciduous shrubs or small trees, ranging in size from 2?10 m tall, with stems up to 20?30 cm diameter....
s.

History

Ancient history

Lovech is one of the oldest towns in Bulgaria. Traces of human activities from very ancient times were found in the region, mainly in the caves near the town. The reason was the comfortable location between the mountains and the flat country, and the presence of a river.

The first inhabitants of the town were the Thracian

Thracians

The ancient Thracians were a group of Indo-European peoples who spoke the Thracian language - a scarcely attested branch of the Indo-European language family....
tribe of the Meldi, whose traces date as back to the 4th

4th century BC

The 4th century BC started the first day of 400 BC and ended the last day of 301 BC. It is considered part of the Classical antiquity era, epoch, or historical period....
-3rd century BC. They founded their capital, called Melta, in the area, which was situated at the place of today's neighbourhood and architecture reserve Varosha. Later, when the Balkans were occupied by the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, a military station called Prezidium was founded near the modern town, which was situated at an important strategic position on one of the main Roman roads. Parts of this road are to be seen in the territory of Lovech today.

Middle Ages

The former Roman citadel Hisarya, which is situated on the hill of the same name, was the place where in 1187 the peace treaty between Bulgaria and the Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire and Eastern Roman Empire are conventional names used to describe the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on its capital of Constantinople....
was signed and the independence of Bulgaria was officially declared, marking the restoration of the Bulgarian Empire

Second Bulgarian Empire

The Second Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state which existed between 1185 and 1396 . A successor of the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Kaloyan of Bulgaria and Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria before gradually declining to be conquered by the Ottomans in the late 14th-early 15th century....
. In the 12th century Lovech was a great trade centre and one of the most famous towns in Bulgaria.

The Turkish invasion in the middle of the 14th century did not pass the town, but the Hisarya fortress was captured last of all, in 1446, although for a long time after that the town enjoyed some privileges such as a prohibition on Turkish people to settle in the town or to take Bulgarian children as janissaries.

Ottoman rule

In the 17th century Lovech (Lofça in Turkish

Turkish language

Turkish is a language spoken by over 63 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Cyprus, with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and other parts of Eastern Europe....
was once again an important trade centre and one of the richest towns in Bulgaria, a reason for the town being called Altan Lovech (Golden Lovech, from Turkish

Turkish language

Turkish is a language spoken by over 63 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Cyprus, with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and other parts of Eastern Europe....
) at the time.

1784 is the most horrible year in the history of the town, when it was almost totally burnt and destroyed by a Turkish army. From 20,000 citizens at the time there were only 4,600 survivors .

In the times of revolutionary organisations against the Ottoman rule, Lovech was the centre of operations of the Internal Revolutionary Organisation

Internal Revolutionary Organisation

The Internal Revolutionary Organisation or IRO was a Bulgarian revolutionary organisation founded and built up by Bulgarian revolutionary Vasil Levski in the period between 1869 and 1871....
of Vasil Levski

Vasil Levski

Vasil Levski was the nickname of Vasil Ivanov Kunchev , a Bulgarians revolutionary renowned as the national hero of Bulgaria and styled the Apostle of Freedom....
, called the Secret Revolutionary Committee. He was arrested by the Turkish military in a village near Lovech called Kakrina

Kakrina

Kakrina is a village in central northern Bulgaria, part of Lovech municipality, Lovech Province. It lies in the central Fore-Balkan Mountains, at an attitude of ....
and later hanged in Sofia

Sofia

Sofia , is the Capital and largest city of the Bulgaria, with 2,5 million people living in the Capital Municipality. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of the mountain massif Vitosha, and is the administrative, cultural, economic, and educational centre of the country....
. The biggest museum of Vasil Levski in Bulgaria containing many personal items such as notebooks, clothes and weapon is situated in the old town part of Lovech.

Between 1872 and 1874, the Bulgarian master-builder Nikola Fichev, known also as Kolyu Ficheto

Kolyu Ficheto

Nikola Fichev , commonly known as Kolyu Ficheto , was a Bulgarian Bulgarian National Revival architect, builder and sculptor born in Dryanovo in 1800....
, built the famous Covered Bridge

Covered Bridge, Lovech

The Covered Bridge is, as the name suggests, a covered bridge in the town of Lovech, Bulgaria. The bridge crosses the Osam River, connecting the old and new town parts of Lovech, being possibly the most recognizable symbol of the town....
(?????? ????) over the river Osam, the only one of its kind in the Balkans

Balkans

The Balkans is the historical name of a geographic subregion of southeastern Europe. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains, which run through the centre of Bulgaria into eastern Serbia....
. The bridge was burned out in 1925, but rebuilt in 1931. Now it connects the new and the old part of the town and it's full of cafes, small restaurants and many souvenir shops.

During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, an important battle was held at Lovech, known as the Battle of Lovcha

Battle of Lovcha

The Battle of Lovcha, or Loftcha , was a battle of the Russo-Turkish War, 1877?78 which occurred during the siege of Pleven. Russian forces successfully reduced the fortress at Lovcha which had protected Pleven's communication and supply lines....
.

Cultural and natural sights

The Tinkov house
The Covered Bridge by Kolyu Ficheto
The Hisarya Fortress
The monument of Vasil Levski
The monuments to Russian soldiers killed in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78
The Varosha old town part
Stratesh Park with the biggest zoo in the province
Bash Bunar Park
The baroque buildings in the town's central parts
The Varosha architectural and historical reserve, with Drasova and Rashova memorial houses

Theatres

Lovech Drama Theatre
Theatre by the Nauka Community Centre
The summer theatre in Stratesh Park

Museums

Museum of Vasil Levski
Lovech Historical Museum
Drasova Memorial House
Rashova Memorial House
Saint Kliment Ohridski School

Sports

PFC Litex Lovech
PFC Litex Lovech

PFC Litex Lovech is a Bulgarian football club from the town of Lovech.Litex takes part in the Bulgarian A Professional Football Group. The team plays its home games at the local Lovech Stadium with 7,000 seats, electric lighting and permission to stage international matches....
, one of Bulgaria's top football clubs
Osam, a men's handball club
Lovech '98, a women's handball club
Eagles, a baseball club
A wrestling club
A kyokushin
Kyokushin

is a style of stand-up fighting, full contact karate, founded in 1964 by who was born under the name Choi Yong-I . Kyokushinkai is Japanese language for "the society of the ultimate truth." Kyokushin is rooted in a philosophy of self-improvement, discipline and hard training....
karate
Karate

or , and often mis, is a martial arts developed in the Ryukyu Islands from indigenous fighting methods and Chinese martial arts kenpo. It is primarily a striking art using punching, kicking, knee and elbow strikes and open-handed techniques such as knife-hands and ridge-hands....
club
Progress, a chess club

Famous people born in or connected with Lovech

Joseph I of Bulgaria
Joseph I of Bulgaria

Joseph I, born as Lazar Yovchev, , was a Bulgarian Exarchate from 1877 to 1915....
— Bulgarian exarch
Georgi Ivanov
Georgi Ivanov

Georgi Ivanov was the first Bulgarian in space. He was a member of the National Assembly of Bulgaria in 1990.Born in Lovech, Georgi Kakalov attended the Military Air-force School in Dolna Mitropolia....
— the first Bulgarian cosmonaut
Dimitar Dimov — Bulgarian author
Simeon Djankov
Simeon Djankov

Simeon Djankov is the chief economist of the finance and private sector vice-presidency of the World Bank. In his thirteen years at the World Bank, he has worked on regional trade agreements in North Africa, enterprise restructuring and privatization in transition economies, corporate governance in East Asia, and regulatory reforms around the...
— economist
Anastas Ishirkov — noted geographer
Benyo Tsonev — important figure of Bulgarian linguistics
Todor Kirkov — revolutionary
Hristo Karpachev — poet, partisan
Panayot Pipkov — composer
Lyubomir Pipkov — composer

Events

Lovech RockFest
Lovech MusicFest
Lovech PartyFest

Partner towns

Erfurt
Erfurt

Erfurt is a city in central Germany. It is the Capital of the state of Thuringia with a population of 202,929 . Erfurt is located 100 km SW of Leipzig, 150 km N of N?rnberg and 180 km SE of Hannover....
, Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
, since 1971
Ryazan
Ryazan

Ryazan is a types of inhabited localities in Russia in the Central Federal District of Russia and the administrative center of Ryazan Oblast. It is on the Oka River south-east of Moscow....
, Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
, since 1964

Honour

Melta Point

Melta Point is a rocky point on the coast of Hero Bay, Livingston Island, formed by an offshoot of Teres Ridge. The point is named after the ancient Melta, ancestor of the present town of Lovech in Northern Bulgaria....
on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands

South Shetland Islands

The South Shetland Islands are a group of List of antarctic and sub-antarctic islands, lying about 120 kilometres north of the Antarctic Peninsula....
, Antarctica

Antarctica

Antarctica is Earth's southernmost continent, overlying the South Pole. It is situated in the Antarctica of the southern hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean....
is named after the ancient Melta.

Gallery

External links

- News from Lovech