Sapareva Banya
Encyclopedia
Sapareva Banya is a town in southwestern 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...

, part of Kyustendil Province
Kyustendil Province
-Religion:Religious adherence in the province according to 2001 census:-Language:Mother tongues in the province according to 2001 census:* 153,242 Bulgarian * 7,929 Roma  * 1363 others and unspecified -Ethnic groups:...

. It is located at the north foot of the Rila
Rila
Rila is a mountain range in southwestern Bulgaria and the highest mountain range of Bulgaria and the Balkans, with its highest peak being Musala at 2,925 m...

 mountain 15 km east of Dupnitsa. The town is known for its hot mineral
Mineral water
Mineral water is water containing minerals or other dissolved substances that alter its taste or give it therapeutic value, generally obtained from a naturally occurring mineral spring or source. Dissolved substances in the water may include various salts and sulfur compounds...

 (103 °C (217.4 °F)) and clear mountain water, as well as the geyser
Geyser
A geyser is a spring characterized by intermittent discharge of water ejected turbulently and accompanied by a vapour phase . The word geyser comes from Geysir, the name of an erupting spring at Haukadalur, Iceland; that name, in turn, comes from the Icelandic verb geysa, "to gush", the verb...

 in the town centre that sprang forth in 1957.

History

The 12th-13th-century St Nicholas Church
Church of St Nicholas, Sapareva Banya
The Church of St Nicholas is a small medieval Eastern Orthodox church in the southwestern Bulgarian town of Sapareva Banya, which is part of Kyustendil Province. Originally either the property of a local notable or attached to a larger church, it was constructed anytime from the 11th to the 14th...

, the 18th-century St George's Church from the Bulgarian National Revival
Bulgarian National Revival
The Bulgarian National Revival , sometimes called the Bulgarian Renaissance, was a period of socio-economic development and national integration among Bulgarian people under Ottoman rule...

 and the St Forty Martyrs Church from 1859 are located in Sapareva Banya.

The former Byzantine town of Germane or Germania once stood at the location of modern Sapareva Banya. It was the birthplace of the great Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

 general Belisarius
Belisarius
Flavius Belisarius was a general of the Byzantine Empire. He was instrumental to Emperor Justinian's ambitious project of reconquering much of the Mediterranean territory of the former Western Roman Empire, which had been lost less than a century previously....

 and was first mentioned in the 6th century as Γερμανία, Γερμανός, Γέρμεννε. In an 11th-century charter of Basil II
Basil II
Basil II , known in his time as Basil the Porphyrogenitus and Basil the Young to distinguish him from his ancestor Basil I the Macedonian, was a Byzantine emperor from the Macedonian dynasty who reigned from 10 January 976 to 15 December 1025.The first part of his long reign was dominated...

, it was listed as Γερμάνεια. The modern name first appears as Bane in 1576. Later on, it was disambiguated by adding the name of the nearby village of Saparevo: the area is rich in mineral springs and many localities have similar names. Saparevo's name, first attested in 1570, is probably derived from the noun tsapar ("woodchopper"), from the dialectal verb tsaparim (цапарим), "to chop, to cut". Some authors suggest an etymology from the Thracian
Thracians
The ancient Thracians were a group of Indo-European tribes inhabiting areas including Thrace in Southeastern Europe. They spoke the Thracian language – a scarcely attested branch of the Indo-European language family...

 *Sapara.

Municipality

Sapareva Banya is also the seat of Sapareva Banya municipality (part of Kyustendil Province), which includes the following 3 villages:
  • Ovchartsi
  • Resilovo
  • Saparevo

Honour

  • Saparevo Glacier
    Saparevo Glacier
    Saparevo Glacier is an 1.8 km long and 2 km wide glacier on Smith Island, South Shetland Islands draining the northwest slopes of Imeon Range. Flowing north-northeast of Mount Christi and southwest of Matochina Peak into Vedena Cove in Drake Passage. Bulgarian early mapping in 2009. ...

     on 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 Saparevo / Sapareva Banya.
  • Flavius Belisarius, the famous Roman general, was born in the town which preceded Sapareva Banya.

External links




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