Trastenik ( , also transliterated ''Trǎstenik'') is a town in central northern

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

, part of

Dolna Mitropoliya Dolna Mitropoliya ( , "Lower Bishopric"; also transliterated as Dolna Mitropolia, Dolna Mitropolija) is a town in Pleven Province of northern Bulgaria, the administrative center of Dolna Mitropoliya municipality. It is about 10 km northwest ...

municipality,

Pleven Province Pleven Province ( or Плевенска Област) is a province located in central northern Bulgaria, bordering the Danube river, Romania and the Bulgarian provinces of Vratsa, Veliko Tarnovo and Lovech. It is divided into 11 subdivisions ...

. It lies 18 kilometres northwest of

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. It is the biggest economic center in ...

and 30 kilometres south of the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

, between the Vit and

Iskar Iskar may refer to: ;Bulgaria * Iskar (river), a river in western Bulgaria * Iskar Reservoir, situated on the Iskar River * Iskar (town), a town in the Iskar Municipality of the Pleven Province * Iskar Municipality * Iskar, Sofia, one of 24 munici ...

rivers. Although several ancient mounds and traces of

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

settlement dating to the 1st-2nd century have been discovered by archaeologists, the earliest written data regarding modern Trastenik dates to the 15th century. The town has an

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

church, the Church of the

Dormition of the Theotokos The Dormition of the Mother of God is a Great Feast of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches (except the East Syriac churches). It celebrates the "falling asleep" (death) of Mary the '' Theotokos'' ("Mother ...

, built between 1880 and 1886, as well as a community centre (''

chitalishte A ''chitalishte'' (, ) is a traditional Bulgarian public institution and building that fulfills several functions at once, such as a community centre, public library, and a theatre. It is also used as an educational institution, where people o ...

'') named after

Neofit Rilski Neofit Rilski () or Neophyte of Rila (born Nikola Poppetrov Benin; 1793 – January 4, 1881) was a 19th-century Bulgarian monk, teacher and artist, and an important figure of the Bulgarian National Revival. Biography He was born in the south ...

. In Ottoman Turkish, it was known as ''Tirsinik'' under Ottoman rule and was the hometown of Ahi of Niğbolu, who was an Ottoman poet (1473-1517), and Ismail Aga of Tirsinik (?-1806), who was a regional power holder (''Ayan'') in

Rusçuk Ruse (also transliterated as Rousse, Russe; ) is the fifth-largest city in Bulgaria. Ruse is in the northeastern part of the country, on the right bank of the Danube, opposite the Romanian city of Giurgiu, approximately south of Bucharest, Ro ...

. During the Ottoman rule, the town was a small village known as Marashka Trastenik, famous for paying its taxes in horses. There is an annual festival held in the town on January 20 to celebrate a legend of the day that the horse population, which had been decimated by disease, was replenished by an old mare past her breeding prime, allowing the village to pay its tax. There is a historical place called Manafski Grobište.

References

Towns in Bulgaria Populated places in Pleven Province {{Pleven-geo-stub