Dimitrovgrad ( bg, Димитровград ) is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

in Haskovo Province,

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

. It is along the Maritsa River in the

Thrace Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to ...

region, close to the provincial capital, Haskovo. Dimitrovgrad is the

administrative centre An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located. In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, Lu ...

of Dimitrovgrad Municipality.Bulgarian National Statistical Institute - towns in 2009

/ref>
/ref> Founded in 1947, Dimitrovgrad is a

planned city A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...

built by the

People's Republic of Bulgaria The People's Republic of Bulgaria (PRB; bg, Народна Република България (НРБ), ''Narodna Republika Balgariya, NRB'') was the official name of Bulgaria, when it was a socialist republic from 1946 to 1990, ruled by the ...

following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. The recently established

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

government designed the town as a socialist model city and a modern industrial center. Dimitrovgrad is named for the first communist leader of Bulgaria,

Georgi Dimitrov Georgi Dimitrov Mihaylov (; bg, Гео̀рги Димитро̀в Миха̀йлов), also known as Georgiy Mihaylovich Dimitrov (russian: Гео́ргий Миха́йлович Дими́тров; 18 June 1882 – 2 July 1949), was a Bulgarian ...

Geography

It is located 220 km from the capital

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

and 15 km from the regional town of Haskovo. The nearest Bulgarian port is

Burgas Burgas ( bg, Бургас, ), sometimes transliterated as ''Bourgas'', is the second largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast in the region of Northern Thrace and the fourth-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia, Plovdiv, and Varna, with a pop ...

- 205 km, and the Greek port of Alexandroupoli on the Aegean Sea is about 190 km. through Makaza. Dimitrovgrad is a transport hub for Pan-European corridors 4, 8 and 9.

History

Dimitrovgrad was planned by the

, the

communist state A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Comint ...

that came to power following

. Construction of the city began on May 10, 1947, with most of the labor provided by youth volunteers who arrived from around Bulgaria. The establishment of Dimitrovgrad was officially announced on 2 September 1947, by

, the leader of the People's Republic of Bulgaria. The three villages of Rakovski, Mariyno and Chernokonyovo were merged to form Dimitrovgrad. Construction of the town continued intensively for several more years. The main practical reason behind the new city was to create a modern industrial centre for Bulgaria. there was also an ideological foundation for building it. The widespread destruction in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whi ...

caused by World War II and the rise of

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

-backed communist states in the region (known as the

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...

) led to numerous cities being built or rebuilt using new socialist planning styles. The original buildings in Dimitrovgrad were built in architectural styles popularly known as "Soviet Empire" or " Stalin

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...

", with facades of the earliest often monumental, with plinths, large

columns A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression membe ...

and small decorative

balconies A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. Types The traditional Maltese balcony is ...

. Over time, as the town expanded, buildings were built featuring less ornamentation in the newer

Modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

architectural style. In 1970, the first celebration of the national

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meani ...

festival 'Penio Penev' took place, and that tradition continues to the present. In 1980, the biennial Bulgarian theatrical poster was held for the first time. In 1987, the museum house Penio Penev was opened. In 1992, shortly after the

collapse of communism The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Natio ...

in Bulgaria, the monument to Georgi Dimitrov was removed by the authorities. This move proved very unpopular with the local residents, and in 2012 a plan was adopted by Dimitrovgrad city council to restore the statue and re-mount it by 2013. http://www.dnevnik.bg/bulgaria/2012/06/29/1856367_dimitrovgrad_vrushta_pametnika_na_patrona_si_v_aleia - Restoration of the Georgi Dimitrov monument in Dimitrovgrad] So far this has not happened.

Tourism

Architecture in Dimitrovgrad is similar to that of the Roman Empire: It has spacious streets and large parks. It is one of the greenest cities in Bulgaria. There are three large parks with about 15 lakes, dozens of species of rare trees, shrubs and flowers, sculptures, gazebos and fountains. The town is also home to th
People's Astronomical Observatory and Planetarium "Jordano Bruno"
This is the first planetarium and second observatory (after the one in

Stara Zagora Stara Zagora ( bg, Стара Загора, ) is the sixth-largest city in Bulgaria, and the administrative capital of the homonymous Stara Zagora Province. Name The name comes from the Slavic root ''star'' ("old") and the name of the medieva ...

) in Bulgaria https://dariknews.bg/novini/bylgariia/liubopitnata-istoriia-na-pyrviia-planetarium-na-balkanskiia-poluostrov-snimki-2244249

Population

The population of Dimitrovgrad during the first decade after its foundation averaged about 34,000. In the following decades it started growing, mostly because of migrants from rural areas, reaching its peak between 1985 and 1992, when it exceeded 50,000. Since then, particularly during the 1990s, the population declined rapidly due to the poor economic situation in the region that lead to a new migration to the country's capital

and abroad.

Notable people

Atanas Kapralov, poet * Nadezhda Aleksieva (b. 1969), biathlete * Krassimira Banova, basketball player, European champion * Atanas Vishanov, artist *

Vasil Gyuzelev Vasil Todorov Gyuzelev ( bg, Васил Тодоров Гюзелев, born 19 October 1936) is a Bulgarian historian who studies Bulgaria during the Middle Ages. Biography Gyuzelev was born in the village of Rakovski (today part of Dimitrov ...

, professor, historian * Joanna Kristeva, author, psychologist * Emil Dimitrov, football player *

Doncho Donev Doncho Donev ( Bulgarian: Дончо Донев; born 24 January 1967) is a retired Bulgarian professional footballer who played as a forward for several clubs and the Bulgarian national team. Donev is the current president of the Bulgarian Foo ...

, football player * Found Klinchev, musician *

Vanya Kostova Vanya Kostova Kostova (Ваня Костова Костова; 18 April 1957 – 6 May 2021) was a Bulgarian singer active from 1980 until 2021. Between 1981 and 1986 she was a member of Tonika SV. One of the songs won the television contest " ...

, singer * Duet Mania, singers * Hristo Markov, world and Olympic champion in triple jump, athletics * Zdravko Neychev, artist *

Rumen Radev Rumen Georgiev Radev ( bg, Румен Георгиев Радев ; born 18 June 1963) is a Bulgarian politician and former major general who is the current president of Bulgaria since 22 January 2017. Radev previously served as higher comman ...

, President of the Republic of Bulgaria (2017-) * Vezhdi Rashidov, artist, Minister of Culture (2009–13, 2014–17) * Krassimir Rusev, chess player * Vasil Sgurev, academician, cybernetician *

Elin Topuzakov Elin Kalinov Topuzakov ( bg, Елин Калинов Топузаков; born 5 February 1977 in Dimitrovgrad) is a Bulgarian former football defender and now manager. He is nicknamed ''Balls'' ( bg, Топчо / Topcho) because of his last na ...

, football player * Petko Churchuliev, artist * Gergana, Bulgarian pop-folk singer * Vladislav Panev, politician and economist

Twin towns – sister cities

Dimitrovgrad is twinned with: *

Blida Blida ( ar, البليدة; Tamazight: Leblida) is a city in Algeria. It is the capital of Blida Province, and it is located about 45 km south-west of Algiers, the national capital. The name ''Blida'', i.e. ''bulaydah'', is a diminutive ...

, Algeria * Darkhan, Mongolia * Dimitrovgrad, Russia *

Eisenhüttenstadt Eisenhüttenstadt (literally "ironworks city" in German; , dsb, Pśibrjog) is a town in the Oder-Spree district of the state of Brandenburg, Germany, on the border with Poland. East Germany founded the city in 1950. It was known as Stalinstadt ( ...

, Germany * Grosseto, Italy * Jiaojiang (Taizhou), China * Kalamaria, Greece * Kazincbarcika, Hungary * Nowa Huta (Kraków), Poland * Yuzhne, Ukraine

References

External links

Official website of Dimitrovgrad municipality

Portal website of Dimitrovgrad

Website of National Community Center "Vasil Levsky 2003", Dimitrovgrad
{{Authority control Socialist planned cities Populated places in Haskovo Province Populated places established in 1947 Georgi Dimitrov 1947 establishments in Bulgaria