Dolna Banya, also Dolna Banja or Dolna Bania ( bg, Долна баня) is a town located in

Sofia Province Sofia Province ( bg, Софийска област, translit=Sofiyska oblast) is a province (''oblast'') of Bulgaria. The province does not include Sofia in its territories, but Sofia remains its administrative center. The province borders on t ...

in southwestern

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 ...

. 75 km from

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 Plovdiv, Dolna Banya is located by the north-eastern slopes of the Rila Mountains, 18 and 30 km respectively from the ski resorts of

Borovets Borovets ( bg, Боровец ), known as Chamkoria ( ) until the middle of the 20th century, is a popular Bulgarian mountain resort situated in Sofia Province, on the northern slopes of Rila, at an altitude of 1350 m. Borovets is located app ...

and

Samokov Samokov ( bg, Самоков ) is a town in Sofia Province in the southwest of Bulgaria. It is situated in a basin between the mountains Rila and Vitosha, 55 kilometres from the capital Sofia. Due to the suitable winter sports conditions, Sam ...

. Dolna Banya is a resort town, known for its hot mineral waters, with temperatures of 56.3 C. The area surrounding the town is largely agricultural, and there are skiing and hiking trails in the nearby mountains. Dolna Banya is a small lively town. The square has a vegetable market, bakery, and two bars. The inside of the town's Bulgarian Orthodox church is covered in murals, and the churchyard located next to a stream. The local stadium is named

Vasil Levski Vasil Levski ( bg, Васил Левски, spelled in old Bulgarian orthography as , ), born Vasil Ivanov Kunchev (; 18 July 1837 – 18 February 1873), was a Bulgarian revolutionary who is, today, a national hero of Bulgaria. Dubbed t ...

, a tribute to the leader of Bulgaria's liberation from the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

and the national stadium of the same name in Sofia. Dolna Banya is accessible by road, and a daily bus runs from the Sofia bus depot through other villages in the area. However, buses run more frequently from Sofia to Kostenets (8 km from Dolna Banya). From Kostenets transportation is available every 30 minutes to Dolna Banya. Trains also run about every hour between Sofia and Kostenets. In June 2005, Ibar Golf Club announced that a 20m Euro golf course would be constructed in Dolna Banya. Construction began in the fall of 2005 and is set for completion in 2007. It is expected to be the only golf course in Eastern Europe to meet PGA standards.

Demography

According to the 2011 census, Dolna Banya has 4,522 inhabitants.

Ethnic groups

Most inhabitants are ethnic

Bulgarians Bulgarians ( bg, българи, Bǎlgari, ) are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and the rest of Southeast Europe. Etymology Bulgarians derive their ethnonym from the Bulgars. Their name is not completely unders ...

(81.7%), followed by a large Roma minority (17.6%).

Education

The city provides its inhabitants, and those of the surrounding villages, education through two municipal schools
Neofit Rilski
is an elementary, middle and a high school that, as of 2019-20, has over 420 students. It was founded in 1851 with just a single class of students and a single teacher. The core of the current edifice was built in 1879, shortly after the

Liberation of Bulgaria The Liberation of Bulgaria is the historical process as a result of the Bulgarian Revival. In Bulgarian historiography, the liberation of Bulgaria refers to those events of the Tenth Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) that led to the re-establishme ...

, and was later expanded as the number of classes grew.
Hristo Botev
is a vocational high school in Dolna Banya. As of 2019-20, the school has about 100 students.Thе school was founded in 1925, and currently offers courses related to the hospitality industry, as well as a woodworking and sewing courses. In Dolna Banya, there is also a kindergarten named after the cosmonaut

Yuri Gagarin Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin; Gagarin's first name is sometimes transliterated as ''Yuriy'', ''Youri'', or ''Yury''. (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space. T ...

Religion

According to the latest Bulgarian census of 2011, the religious composition, among those who answered the optional question on religious identification, was the following: Most inhabitants belong to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church (88%). There is also a very large Protestant minority (8%), especially part of the ethnic

Roma people The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sign ...

. There are two major temples in Dolna Banya - an Orthodox Christian church and an Evangelical church.

Gallery

File:Dolna-Banya-from-Clock-Tower.jpg, Main square - view from the town clock-tower File:Dolna-banya-municipality.jpg, Dolna Banya Municipality Hall File:Neofit Rislki School in summer, Dolna Banya.jpg, Neofit Rilski School in summer, 2014. File:Dolna-banya-museum.jpg, Dolna Banya Museum (view from the clock-tower) File:Old-bath-from-dolna-banya.jpg, The antique bath, built around 1700 on top of Ancient Roman ruins

References

External links

* {{Sofia Province Towns in Bulgaria Populated places in Sofia Province