Peshtera ( bg, Пещера , sometimes transliterated as ''Peštera''; rup, Peshtera) is a town in the Rhodope Mountains, southern

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 located in

Pazardzhik Province Pazardzhik Province ( bg, Област Пазарджик ''Oblast Pazardzhik'', former name Pazardzhik okrug) is a province in Southern Bulgaria, named after its administrative and industrial centre - the city of Pazardzhik. The territory is ...

near the towns of Batak and Bratsigovo. The town is the third largest in the province after

Pazardzhik Pazardzhik ( bg, Пазарджик ) is a city situated along the banks of the Maritsa river, southern Bulgaria. It is the capital of Pazardzhik Province and centre for the homonymous Pazardzhik Municipality. The Tatars founded Pazardzhik i ...

and

Velingrad Velingrad ( bg, Велинград ) is a town in Pazardzhik Province, Southern Bulgaria, located at the western end of Chepino Valley, part of the Rhodope Mountains. It is the administrative center of the homonymous Velingrad Municipality a ...

and is the forty-fifth largest in Bulgaria. It is the administrative center of the municipality Peshtera. According to the 2021 census, Peshtera has a population of 15,175 inhabitants. At about 5 km to the south, along the road to Batak, is one of the most visited caves in Bulgaria — Snezhanka. Near the town is located the

Peshtera Hydroelectric Power Station The Peshtera Hydro Power Plant (before 1992: Kimon Georgiev Hydro Power Plant) is an active underground hydro power plant in Peshtera, Bulgaria, part of the Batak Hydropower Cascade. It has 5 individual Pelton turbine The Pelton wheel or Pelto ...

. The town is well known for producing the alcohol beverage

mastika Mastika or mastiha is a liqueur seasoned with mastic, a resin with a slightly pine or cedar-like flavor gathered from the mastic tree, a small evergreen tree native to the Mediterranean region. In Greece, mastiha ( el, μαστίχα) or masti ...

under the brand ''Peshterska''.

Geography

Peshtera (461 m asl) is located in the foothills of the Rhodope Mountains, at 18 km from Pazardzhik and 38 km from Plovdiv and 125 km from the national 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 ...

. The local climate is temperate and sudden temperature fluctuations are uncommon. Peshtera average annual temperature is 12.6 °C. Rainfall is relatively high – from 670 to 680 L/m² year.

Population

The population of Peshtera includes several ethnic communities. Bulgarians are prevailing, but there are also Turks, Roma and

Aromanians The Aromanians ( rup, Armãnji, Rrãmãnji) are an ethnic group native to the southern Balkans who speak Aromanian, an Eastern Romance language. They traditionally live in central and southern Albania, south-western Bulgaria, northern and ...

. The latter ones have established an Aromanian cultural organization in Peshtera and have their own cultural tradition in the town. The number of Roma in the municipality is approximately 4,000. Different ethnic groups in the town have always lived in harmony and tolerance. Peshtera presents an example of integration and understanding of all ethnic groups.

History

The first traces of human presence in the area date from the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

. The

Thracian The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied ...

tribe of the Bessi inhabited the area in Antiquity and the settlement in the Peshtera Valley emerged in the fourth century BC. The earliest piece of writing documenting the town's name dates from 1479, when Peshtera was part of the

fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form ...

of a certain Mustafa in 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) ...

. During the

Bulgarian National Revival The Bulgarian National Revival ( bg, Българско национално възраждане, ''Balgarsko natsionalno vazrazhdane'' or simply: Възраждане, ''Vazrazhdane'', and tr, Bulgar ulus canlanması) sometimes called the Bu ...

, many churches, bridges, fountains, schools and houses were built. The first secular school in Peshtera was opened in 1848, while the Nadezhda ('hope') community centre emerged in 1873. Many local residents took part in the armed struggle for 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 ...

. Peshtera was liberated during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 on 6 January 1878. In 1876, the town had 800 households, of which 500 Bulgarian, 60 Aromanian and about 250 Turkish and Romani. The first official Bulgarian census in 1880 stated 758 households and 3,871 inhabitants, of which 2,618 Bulgarians, 856 Turks, 341

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...

(mostly Aromanians counted as such), 53 Roma and a single Karakachan. Five years later, in 1885, Peshtera had a population of 4,704 and 876 households.

Economy

Industry is the most important sector of the town's economy. The two largest factories are "Biovet Peshtera", producing antibiotics and medicines, and "Vinprom Peshtera", producing alcoholic beverages. A number of smaller plants produce metal constructions, footwear and food.

Gallery

File:Peshtera-court-hall.jpg, Peshtera court hall File:Peshtera--downtown.jpg, Peshtera downtown File:Peshtera-Culture-House.jpg, Peshtera Culture club

Chitalishte A ''chitalishte'' (, . Derives from the verb "чета" - "to read" or "читател" - "reader") is a typical Bulgarian public institution and building that fulfills several functions at once, such as a community centre, library, and a theat ...

"Development" File:Peshtera-central-square.jpg, Peshtera central square File:Peshtera-townhall.jpg, Peshtera town hall File:Church-and-History-museum-of-Peshtera.jpg, Saint Petka church and History museum of Peshtera File:Old-clock-tower-of-Peshtera.jpg, 17th century-old clock tower and new mosque File:Peshtera-townscape.jpg, Town-scape from the Clock-tower

Honour

Peshtera Glacier The Peshtera Glacier (Bulgarian ''Lednik Peshtera'') is a glacier on the Rozhen Peninsula, Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica situated southwest of Ruen Icefall and north of Charity Glacier. The head of the glacier i ...

Livingston Island Livingston Island (Russian name ''Smolensk'', ) is an Antarctic island in the Southern Ocean, part of the South Shetlands Archipelago, a group of Antarctic islands north of the Antarctic Peninsula. It was the first land discovered south of 60 ...

in the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 1 ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

is named after Peshtera.

References

{{Authority control Towns in Bulgaria Cities and towns in the Rhodopes Populated places in Pazardzhik Province Aromanian settlements in Bulgaria