Portal:Bulgaria

Welcome to the Bulgaria portal!

Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located west of the Black Sea and south of the Danube river, Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey to the south, Serbia and North Macedonia to the west, and Romania to the north. It covers a territory of 110,994 square kilometres (42,855 sq mi) and is the 16th largest country in Europe. Sofia is the nation's capital and largest city; other major cities include Burgas, Plovdiv, and Varna.

Bulgaria has an upper-middle-income economy, ranking 70th in the Human Development Index. Its market economy is part of the European Single Market and is largely based on services, followed by industry—especially machine building and mining—and agriculture. The country faces a demographic crisis; its population peaked at 9 million in 1989, and has since decreased to under 6.4 million as of 2024. Bulgaria is a member of the European Union, the Schengen Area, NATO, and the Council of Europe. It is also a founding member of the OSCE and has taken a seat on the United Nations Security Council three times. (Full article...)

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Location of Chiprovtsi

Chiprovtsi (Bulgarian: Чипровци, pronounced [ˈtʃiproft͡si]) is a small town in northwestern Bulgaria, administratively part of Montana Province. It lies on the shores of the river Ogosta in the western Balkan Mountains, very close to the Bulgarian-Serbian border. A town of about 2,000 inhabitants, Chiprovtsi is the administrative centre of Chiprovtsi Municipality that also covers nine nearby villages.

Chiprovtsi is thought to have been founded in the Late Middle Ages as a mining and metalsmithing centre. Attracting German ore miners who introduced Roman Catholicism to the area, the town grew in importance as a cultural, economic and religious centre of the Bulgarian Catholics and the entire Bulgarian northwest during the first few centuries of Ottoman rule. The apogee of this upsurge was the anti-Ottoman Chiprovtsi Uprising of 1688. After the suppression of the uprising, some of the town's population fled to Habsburg-ruled lands; those unable to flee were killed or enslaved by the Ottomans. (Full article...)

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Did you know (auto-generated)

... that Tsvetana Jermanova survived imprisonment in two forced labour camps in communist Bulgaria?
... that one of the highest death rates in the Holocaust was in Bulgarian-occupied Greece, where 97 percent of Jews were killed in less than a month?

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Gallery

Image 1Danube river in Bulgaria
Image 2Razgrad is a city in East Bulgaria.
Image 3Varna lake is a salt lake near Black sea.
Image 4A beach in Bulgaria.
Image 5Sofia is the biggest city in Bulgaria.
Image 6Maritsa is a river in South Bulgaria.
Image 7Rila is a mountain in West Bulgaria

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Credit: sali_gyovren

The village of Gyovren in the municipality of Devin, Bulgaria. The population of Gyovren is mainly ethnic Turks, as well as a few Romani families. Devin is a popular tourist attraction, with many hot springs and spa resorts.

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More did You Know?

...that the chitalishte (community centre) in Novo Selo (pictured), constructed in 1930, is also a memorial to locals who perished in war?

...that Hadzhi Dimitar was one of the most prominent Bulgarian voivods and revolutionary workers for the Liberation of Bulgaria from Ottoman rule?