Pazardzhik
Encyclopedia
Pazardzhik is a city situated along the banks of the Maritsa
river, Southern Bulgaria
. It is the capital of Pazardzhik Province
and centre for the homonymous Pazardzhik Municipality
. As of February 2011, the town has a population of 71,979 inhabitants.
from what is today Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi
in 1485 on the left bank of the river Maritsa
, near the market of the region, an important crossroad at the middle of this productive region, and named Tatar Pazardzhik (Tatar
: Tatar Pazardjik, "small Tatar market"). Thanks to this favourable location, the settlement quickly developed. While it was very small at the beginning of the 19th century, it became the administrative centre for the region at the end of the century and remained so until the Liberation from Turkish
occupation.
During the following centuries the town continued to grow and strengthened its position. Trade in iron, leather and rice prospered. The town impressed visitors with its beautiful houses and clean streets. In 1718 Gerard Kornelius Drish visited Pazardzhik and wrote "the buildings here according to construction, size and beauty stand higher than those of Niš
, Sofia
and all other places".
The Russians under Count Nikolay Kamensky
took the city after a brief siege in 1810. By the mid-19th century Pazardzhik was a big, important centre of crafts and trade, with a population of about 25,000 people. It hosted two big annual fairs, and a big market Tuesdays and Wednesdays. There was a post office with a telegraph.
In 1837 the Church of the Mother of God was built — an important national monument, famous for its architecture and woodcarving. In the mid-19th century Pazardzhik became an important cultural centre: a school was opened in 1847, a girls' school in 1848, a community centre in 1868, the women's union "Prosveta" in 1870.
During the Liberation War in 1877-1878, the town was burned by retreating Turkish troops. It was liberated on 2 January 1878 by General Joseph Vladimirovich Gourko
's platoon. Pazardzhik grew and spread to the right bank of Maritsa river; barracks and an agricultural school were built.
From the early 20th century on people built factories, stores and houses, and thus the industrial quarter of the town. From 1959 to 1987 Pazardzhik was again an administrative centre for the region, and is again since the 1999 administrative division of Bulgaria.
, in the 1880s the population of Pazardzhik numbered about 15,000 inhabitants. Since then it started growing decade by decade, mostly because of the migrants from the rural areas and the surrounding smaller towns, reaching its peak in the period 1985-1992 exceeding 80,000. After this time, the population has started decreasing in consequence of the poor economic situation in the Bulgarian provinces during the 1990s that leaded to a new migration in the direction of the country capital Sofia and abroad.
The Church of the Theotokos preserves the most impressive icons in Bulgaria by master artists of the Debar
School, wood-carvings of New
and Old Testament
scenes, and icons by Stanislav Dospevski
. Among the town's landmarks are also the clock tower, the ethnographic and history museums.
As with most Bulgarian cities, Pazardzhik has developed a significant pedestrian center, in which several central squares typify the European coffee house society and pedestrian culture. In Bulgaria the café culture is particularly prominent, with many downtown squares easily providing up to a half dozen cafés, with ample outside seating.
Pazardzhik has a level of pedestrian streets (or network of carfree areas) even above the relatively high Bulgarian standard. There are several longer pedestrian streets, and at one point there is even an intersection where five different pedestrian streets converge. A few of these do not continue for very long, but most do, or are connected to the rest of the pedestrian areas of the city, and thus could be said to form the pedestrian network of the city.
During the warmer seasons, most afternoons of the week and especially weekends find a large number of people strolling about or sitting in cafés. There are few tourist attractions in this area but there are large supermarkets including Bila and a Lidl.
Pazardzhik Point
on Snow Island
in the South Shetland Islands
, Antarctica is named after Pazardzhik.
with: West Bend, Wisconsin
, USA.png)
Stavropol
, Russia
Chekhov, Moscow Oblast
, Russia
Moscow
, Russia
Barysaw, Belarus
Maritsa
The Maritsa or Evros , ) is, with a length of 480 km, the longest river that runs solely in the interior of the Balkans. It has its origin in the Rila Mountains in Western Bulgaria, flowing southeast between the Balkan and Rhodope Mountains, past Plovdiv and Parvomay to Edirne, Turkey...
river, Southern 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...
. It is the capital of Pazardzhik Province
Pazardzhik Province
Pazardzhik Province is a province in Southern Bulgaria, named after its administrative and industrial centre - the town of Pazardzhik. It embraces a territory of 4,456.9 km² that is divided into 11 municipalities with a total population of 290,614 inhabitants, as of December 2009.-History:The...
and centre for the homonymous Pazardzhik Municipality
Pazardzhik municipality
Pazardzhik municipality is the second largest municipality in Pazardzhik Province, after Velingrad. It occupies 640 km² or 14,3% of the province. Its territory encompasses the western-most parts of the Upper Thracian Plain and is famous for its fertility...
. As of February 2011, the town has a population of 71,979 inhabitants.
History
Pazardzhik was founded by TatarsTatars
Tatars are a Turkic speaking ethnic group , numbering roughly 7 million.The majority of Tatars live in the Russian Federation, with a population of around 5.5 million, about 2 million of which in the republic of Tatarstan.Significant minority populations are found in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,...
from what is today Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi
Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi
Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi is a city situated on the right bank of the Dniester Liman in the Odessa Oblast of southwestern Ukraine, in the historical region of Bessarabia...
in 1485 on the left bank of the river Maritsa
Maritsa
The Maritsa or Evros , ) is, with a length of 480 km, the longest river that runs solely in the interior of the Balkans. It has its origin in the Rila Mountains in Western Bulgaria, flowing southeast between the Balkan and Rhodope Mountains, past Plovdiv and Parvomay to Edirne, Turkey...
, near the market of the region, an important crossroad at the middle of this productive region, and named Tatar Pazardzhik (Tatar
Tatar language
The Tatar language , or more specifically Kazan Tatar, is a Turkic language spoken by the Tatars of historical Kazan Khanate, including modern Tatarstan and Bashkiria...
: Tatar Pazardjik, "small Tatar market"). Thanks to this favourable location, the settlement quickly developed. While it was very small at the beginning of the 19th century, it became the administrative centre for the region at the end of the century and remained so until the Liberation from Turkish
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...
occupation.
Niš
Niš is the largest city of southern Serbia and third-largest city in Serbia . According to the data from 2011, the city of Niš has a population of 177,972 inhabitants, while the city municipality has a population of 257,867. The city covers an area of about 597 km2, including the urban area,...
, Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
and all other places".
The Russians under Count Nikolay Kamensky
Nikolay Kamensky
Count Nikolay Mikhailovich Kamensky was a Russian general who outlived his father, Field Marshal Mikhail Kamensky, by two years....
took the city after a brief siege in 1810. By the mid-19th century Pazardzhik was a big, important centre of crafts and trade, with a population of about 25,000 people. It hosted two big annual fairs, and a big market Tuesdays and Wednesdays. There was a post office with a telegraph.
In 1837 the Church of the Mother of God was built — an important national monument, famous for its architecture and woodcarving. In the mid-19th century Pazardzhik became an important cultural centre: a school was opened in 1847, a girls' school in 1848, a community centre in 1868, the women's union "Prosveta" in 1870.
During the Liberation War in 1877-1878, the town was burned by retreating Turkish troops. It was liberated on 2 January 1878 by General Joseph Vladimirovich Gourko
Joseph Vladimirovich Gourko
Count Iosif Vladimirovich Romeyko-Gurko , also known as Joseph or Ossip Gourko, was a Russian Field Marshal prominent during the Russo-Turkish War ....
's platoon. Pazardzhik grew and spread to the right bank of Maritsa river; barracks and an agricultural school were built.
From the early 20th century on people built factories, stores and houses, and thus the industrial quarter of the town. From 1959 to 1987 Pazardzhik was again an administrative centre for the region, and is again since the 1999 administrative division of Bulgaria.
Population
During the first decade after the liberation of BulgariaLiberation 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 re-establishment of Bulgarian state with the Treaty of San Stefano of March 3, 1878, after the complete conquest of the Second Bulgarian Empire, which...
, in the 1880s the population of Pazardzhik numbered about 15,000 inhabitants. Since then it started growing decade by decade, mostly because of the migrants from the rural areas and the surrounding smaller towns, reaching its peak in the period 1985-1992 exceeding 80,000. After this time, the population has started decreasing in consequence of the poor economic situation in the Bulgarian provinces during the 1990s that leaded to a new migration in the direction of the country capital Sofia and abroad.
Culture and pedestrian areas
Debar
Debar is a city in the western part of the Republic of Macedonia, near the border with Albania, on the road from Struga to Gostivar. It is the seat of Debar Municipality.-Geography:...
School, wood-carvings of New
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
and Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
scenes, and icons by Stanislav Dospevski
Stanislav Dospevski
Stanislav Dospevski is the name assumed by Zafir Zograf , the son of Dimitar Zograf and nephew of the famed Bulgarian icon and mural painter, Zahari Zograf. He is a notable representative of the Samokov artistic school and one of the most important painters and icon-painters of the Bulgarian...
. Among the town's landmarks are also the clock tower, the ethnographic and history museums.
As with most Bulgarian cities, Pazardzhik has developed a significant pedestrian center, in which several central squares typify the European coffee house society and pedestrian culture. In Bulgaria the café culture is particularly prominent, with many downtown squares easily providing up to a half dozen cafés, with ample outside seating.
Pazardzhik has a level of pedestrian streets (or network of carfree areas) even above the relatively high Bulgarian standard. There are several longer pedestrian streets, and at one point there is even an intersection where five different pedestrian streets converge. A few of these do not continue for very long, but most do, or are connected to the rest of the pedestrian areas of the city, and thus could be said to form the pedestrian network of the city.
During the warmer seasons, most afternoons of the week and especially weekends find a large number of people strolling about or sitting in cafés. There are few tourist attractions in this area but there are large supermarkets including Bila and a Lidl.
Pazardzhik Point
Pazardzhik Point
Pazardzhik Point is a point on the southeast coast of Snow Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica situated 2.1 km east-northeast of Cape Conway and 9.9 km southwest of Hall Peninsula. Snow-free in summer....
on Snow Island
Snow Island (South Shetland Islands)
Snow Island or Isla Nevada is a completely ice-covered island, in size, lying southwest of Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands. Surface area...
in the 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...
, Antarctica is named after Pazardzhik.
Twin towns — Sister cities
Pazardzhik is twinnedTown twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
with: West Bend, Wisconsin
West Bend, Wisconsin
West Bend is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Wisconsin, United States in southeastern Wisconsin. The population was estimated to be 29,894 in 2008...
, USA
StavropolStavropol
-International relations:-Twin towns/sister cities:Stavropol is twinned with: Des Moines, United States Béziers, France Pazardzhik, Bulgaria-External links:* **...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
Chekhov, Moscow Oblast
Chekhov, Moscow Oblast
Chekhov is a town and the administrative center of Chekhovsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia. Before 1954, it was named Lopasnya , after the Lopasnya River. Population: 56,000 ....
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
Barysaw, BelarusBelarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...