Sopot is a
BulgariaBulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a country in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe. Bulgaria borders five other countries: Romania to the north , Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, and Greece and Turkey to the south...
n town situated in the fertile sub-Balkan mountain valley of
KarlovoKarlovo is a picturesque and a historically important town in central Bulgaria located in a fertile valley along the river Stryama at the southern foot of the Balkan Mountains...
(which is the western part of the famous
Rose ValleyThe Rose Valley is a region in Bulgaria located just south of the Balkan Mountains, between them and the eastern part of the lower Sredna Gora chain to the south...
), immediately below the steep southern slopes of the Troyan Balkan Mountain (Central Stara Planina). Sopot is part of
Plovdiv ProvincePlovdiv is an oblast in central southern Bulgaria , onе of the 28 Bulgarian provinces. It comprises 18 municipalities Plovdiv is an oblast in central southern Bulgaria (formerly part of Eastern Rumelia), onе of the 28 Bulgarian provinces. It comprises 18 municipalities Plovdiv is an oblast in...
and is the administrative centre of a municipality.
It lies 5 km west of
KarlovoKarlovo is a picturesque and a historically important town in central Bulgaria located in a fertile valley along the river Stryama at the southern foot of the Balkan Mountains...
, 136 km east of
SofiaSofia 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...
, 63 km north of
PlovdivPlovdiv 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 61 km south of
TroyanTroyan is a town in central Bulgaria with population of about 30,000 and territory of 888,850 m². It is located 160km from Sofia. The nearest civilian airport is Gorna Oryahovitsa, 105 km away...
.
Sopot is a
BulgariaBulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a country in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe. Bulgaria borders five other countries: Romania to the north , Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, and Greece and Turkey to the south...
n town situated in the fertile sub-Balkan mountain valley of
KarlovoKarlovo is a picturesque and a historically important town in central Bulgaria located in a fertile valley along the river Stryama at the southern foot of the Balkan Mountains...
(which is the western part of the famous
Rose ValleyThe Rose Valley is a region in Bulgaria located just south of the Balkan Mountains, between them and the eastern part of the lower Sredna Gora chain to the south...
), immediately below the steep southern slopes of the Troyan Balkan Mountain (Central Stara Planina). Sopot is part of
Plovdiv ProvincePlovdiv is an oblast in central southern Bulgaria , onе of the 28 Bulgarian provinces. It comprises 18 municipalities Plovdiv is an oblast in central southern Bulgaria (formerly part of Eastern Rumelia), onе of the 28 Bulgarian provinces. It comprises 18 municipalities Plovdiv is an oblast in...
and is the administrative centre of a municipality.
It lies 5 km west of
KarlovoKarlovo is a picturesque and a historically important town in central Bulgaria located in a fertile valley along the river Stryama at the southern foot of the Balkan Mountains...
, 136 km east of
SofiaSofia 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...
, 63 km north of
PlovdivPlovdiv 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 61 km south of
TroyanTroyan is a town in central Bulgaria with population of about 30,000 and territory of 888,850 m². It is located 160km from Sofia. The nearest civilian airport is Gorna Oryahovitsa, 105 km away...
. It is the birthplace of arguably the best known and most renowned Bulgarian novelist,
Ivan VazovIvan Minchov Vazov was a Bulgarian poet, novelist and playwright. He was born in Sopot, a town in the Rose Valley of Bulgaria .-Biography:The exact date of Vazov's birth is disputed...
. Sopot is also a machine building centre.
According to Konstantin Jireček, the toponym is of Proto-Slavic origin, as indicated by the large number of
identical placenamesSopot is a seaside town in Eastern Pomerania on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland, with a population of approximately 40,000....
all around the Slavic world. There is information about the locality dating back to the
OttomanThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
rule. During the
Bulgarian National RevivalThe Bulgarian National Revival , sometimes called the Bulgarian Renaissance, was a period of socio-economic development and national integration among Bulgarian people under Ottoman rule...
(18th-19th century) it was called "Golden Sopot" because of its flourishing development in the crafts and trade. The citizens of Sopot manufactured homespun, braids, fur and leather of high quality and traded predominantly round the Ottoman Empire.
During the struggle for liberation in 1877 the town was largely destroyed by fire and its population was slaughtered or expelled. The town was named
Vazovgrad between 1950 and 1965 after which it obtained its present name again.
The pioneering Bulgarian educator
Nedelya PetkovaNedelya Petkova was a Bulgarian education pioneer. In 1859 she began teaching girls and developed this into a school system for girls across the Bulgarian part of the Ottoman Empire, with hundreds of girls attending classes....
(1826 - 1894) began her career a student at the monastery school of the “Holy presentation of the Blessed Virgin” convent in Sopot.
The population is almost exclusively
ChristianChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
, mostly
Eastern OrthodoxThe Orthodox Church, also officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to in English speaking countries as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the world's second largest Christian communion, estimated to number 225 million members...
but with some
EvangelicalEvangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s.Most adherents consider its key characteristics to be: a belief in the need for personal conversion ; some expression of the gospel in effort; a high regard for biblical authority; and an emphasis on the...
and
Roman CatholicThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
families.
Honour
Sopot Ice PiedmontSopot Ice Piedmont is situated on Burgas Peninsula, Livingston Island, Antarctica. The glacier drains the N slopes of Delchev Ridge E of Delchev Peak, flowing northward into Moon Bay between Rila Point and Renier Point. The glacier is named after the Bulgarian town of Sopot. Besapara Hill...
on Livingston Island in the
South Shetland IslandsThe 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| style="border-top:solid 1px #ccd2d9; padding:0.4em 1em 0.4em 0; vertical-align:top;" | 14,000,000 km
2 280,000 km
2 13,720,000 km
2 |-! style="border-top: solid 1px #ccd2d9; padding: 0.4em 1em 0.4em 0; vertical-align: top;...
is named after Sopot.