Sredna Gora ( bg, Средна гора ) is a mountain range in central

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 ...

, situated south of and parallel to the

Balkan Mountains The Balkan mountain range (, , known locally also as Stara planina) is a mountain range in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula in Southeastern Europe. The range is conventionally taken to begin at the peak of Vrashka Chuka on the border bet ...

and extending from the Iskar to the west and the elbow of Tundzha north of

Yambol Yambol ( bg, Ямбол ) is a town in Southeastern Bulgaria and administrative centre of Yambol Province. It lies on both banks of the Tundzha river in the historical region of Thrace. It is occasionally spelled ''Jambol''. Yambol is the ad ...

to the east. Sredna Gora is 285 km long, reaching 50 km at its greatest width. Its highest peak is

Golyam Bogdan Golyam Bodan, also known as Bogdan, is the highest peak (1604 m) in the Sredna Gora geographical area in Bulgaria. Location Golyam Bogdan is surrounded by forests on all sides. Looking from its elevation toward the South, and the North, there ...

at . The mountain is divided into three parts by the rivers Topolnitsa and Stryama — a western (''Ihtimanska Sredna Gora''), a central (''Sashtinska Sredna Gora'') and an eastern part (''Sarnena Gora'').

Geography

Location and limits

Sredna Gora is situated in central Bulgaria, south of and parallel to the

and north of the

Upper Thracian Plain The Upper Thracian Plain ( bg, Горнотракийска низина, ''Gornotrakiyska nizina'') constitutes the northern part of the historical region of Thrace. It is located in southern Bulgaria, between Sredna Gora mountains to the north ...

. It extends from the river Iskar in the west to the elbow of the river Tundzha north of the city of

in the east. The main orographic ridge extends from west to east, where the mountain range reaches a total length of 285 km; its maximum width from north to south is 50 km. The total area of Sredna Gora is 5,950 km². Its highest point is the summit of

at 1,604 m; the average elevation is 608 m. It is part of the Srednogorie mountain system that from west to east includes the mountain ranges of Greben (1,156 m in Bulgarian territory), Zavalska (1,181 m), Viskyar (1,136 m), Lyulin (1,256 m),

Vitosha Vitosha ( bg, Витоша ), the ancient ''Scomius'' or ''Scombrus'', is a mountain massif, on the outskirts of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Vitosha is one of the symbols of Sofia and the closest site for hiking, alpinism and skiing. Conven ...

(2,290 m), Plana (1,338 m) and Sredna Gora, as well as the heights of Bakadzhitsite and Hisar further east. To the north, Sredna Gora extends to eight of the eleven

Sub-Balkan valley The Sub-Balkan Valleys ( bg, Подбалкански котловини, Podbalkanski kotlovini) are row of 11 valleys running from the Bulgarian border with Serbia east to the Black Sea. They are separating the Balkan mountains from a chain of ...

s — from the southeastern limits of the

Sofia Valley The Sofia Valley ( bg, Софийска котловина, Sofiyska kotlovina), or Sofia Field ( bg, Софийско поле, Sofiysko pole, link=no), is a valley in central western Bulgaria bordering Stara Planina to the northeast, the Viskyar ...

in the west, eastwards through the valleys of Saranska, Kamarska, Zlatitsa–Pirdop, Karlovo,

Kazanlak Kazanlak ( bg, Казанлък , Thracian and Greek Σευθόπολις (''Seuthopolis''), tr, Kazanlık) is a Bulgarian town in Stara Zagora Province, located in the middle of the plain of the same name, at the foot of the Balkan mountai ...

, Tvarditsa and

Sliven Sliven ( bg, Сливен ) is the eighth-largest city in Bulgaria and the administrative and industrial centre of Sliven Province and municipality in Northern Thrace. Sliven is famous for its heroic Haiduts who fought against the Ottoman Turk ...

. The valleys of Karlovo and Kazanlak are also known as the Rose Valley. Its easternmost point is the elevation of Zaychi Vrah (256 m) along the southwestern limits of the Sliven Valley just southwest of the bend of the river Tundzha. Along its northern borders, Sredna Gora is linked to the Balkan Mountains through five north-south ridges — Negushevski Rid, Oporski Rid, Galabets, Koznitsa and Strazhata. To the west, the river Iskar and the Pancharevo Gorge separates Sredna Gora from Plana and the ridges Shipochanski Rid and Shumnatitsa link it to the Rila mountain range. From there, its southern limits follow the northern edge of the Konstenets–Dolna Banya Valley to the Momina Klisura Gorge of the river

Maritsa Maritsa or Maritza ( bg, Марица ), also known as Meriç ( tr, Meriç ) and Evros ( ell, Έβρος ), is a river that runs through the Balkans in Southeast Europe. With a length of ,Belovo. From Belovo begins its border with the Upper Thracian Plain, which roughly follows a line through the settlements of Vetren, Kalugerovo,

Blatnitsa Blatnitsa ( bg, Блатница) is a small village in the Strelcha municipality, western Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated ...

, Krasnovo,

Starosel Starosel ( bg, Старосел) is a village in central Bulgaria, Hisarya Municipality, Plovdiv Province. It lies at the foot of the Sredna Gora mountain range along the shores of Pyasachnik River. Starosel is known for the abundance of ...

, Chernichevo and reaching the river Stryama at the village of Pesnopoy. From there it continues further east close to the villages of Varben, Zelenikovo and Veren, from where the Chirpan Heights from a bulge in southern direction to the town of

Chirpan Chirpan ( bg, Чирпан, ) is a town on the Tekirska River in Stara Zagora Province of south-central Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Chirpan Municipality. As of 2021, the town had a population of 13,391 down fro ...

and then the mountain range continues eastwards near

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 ...

, Korten and Kamenovo, reaching the elevation of Zaychi Vrah northwest of

Division

Sredna Gora is divided in three parts by the rivers Topolnitsa and Stryama, both left tributaries of the Maritsa — Ihtimanska Sredna Gora to the west, Sashtinska Sredna Gora in the middle and Sarnena Sredna Gora to the east. ''Ihtimanska Sredna Gora'' is limited to the west by the valley of the Iskar, to the north by the valleys of Sofia, Saranska, Kamarska and Zlatitsa–Pirdop, to the east by the Topolnitsa, to the south by the Rila mountain range. It is subdivided in three sections — Vakarelsko–Belishki, Shipochansko–Eledzhiski and Ihitmanski. The first section includes the mountains of Lozen (1,190 m) which is the westernmost point of the whole mountain range, Vakarelska (1,090 m) and Belitsa (1,221 m). The river Gabra forms a small valley between Lozen and Vakarelska. Shipochansko–Eledzhiski section is located between the

Samokov Valley 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 ...

in the west and the Topolnitsa in the east and links with Rila and Konstenets–Dolna Banya Valley in the south. It includes the ridges of Shipochanski Rid (1,312 m), Shumnatitsa (1,392 m), Septemvriyski (1,275 m) and Eledzhik (1,186 m). Between these two sections is situated the Ihtiman Valley at an altitude of 650 m. ''Sashtinska Gredna Gora'' spans from the valley of the Topolnitsa in the west to the river Stryama in the east. It is limited to the north by the southern reaches of the Zlatitsa–Pirdop and Karlovo valleys, and to the south by the Upper Thracian Valley. It is subdivided in two sections — Bunaysko–Bogdanski and Panagyursko–Strelchanski. The former is the highest past of the mountain range and is located to the north. From west to east it includes the summits of Bratia (1,519 m), Bunaya (1,572 m) and Golyan Bogdan (1,604 m). In its middle is located the high altitude Koprivshtitsa Valley (1,000 m). The elevation lowers to the south into the valleys of the towns of Panagyurishte and Strelcha, as well as the middle courses of the rivers Luda Yana and Pyasachnik. ''Sarnena Sredna Gora'' is the lowest in the range, with most hilly terrain, spanning to the Stryama in the west to the Tundzha in the east. It is limited to the north by the southern reaches of the valleys of Karlovo, Kazanlak, Tvarditsa and Sliven; in the south it gradually descents to the Upper Thracian Plain. There are three sections — Bratanski, Kortenski and Chirpanski. The former is the highest in elevation, spans from the Stryama in the west to the Zmeyovski Pass (430 m) in the east and is dominated by the summit of Bratan (1,236 m). Kortenski section is located eastwards of the Zmeyovski Pass and reaches the easternmost point of the mountain range at Zaychi Vrah; its highest peak in Moruley (895 m). The third section is formed by the Chirpan Heights located south of Bratanski Section, which reaches a maximum heights of 651 m at Kitka.

Prehistoric mine

The

copper ore Following is a list of minerals that serve as copper ores in the copper mining Copper extraction refers to the methods used to obtain copper from its ores. The conversion of copper consists of a series of physical and electrochemical proces ...

used for the manufacture of the

Varna culture The Varna culture is a Chalcolithic culture of northeastern Bulgaria, dated ca. 4500 BC, contemporary and closely related with Gumelnița in southern Romania, often considered as local variants. It is characterized by polychrome pottery and ...

artifacts originated from Sredna Gora mines in the hamlet of Mechi Kladenets (Мечи кладенец) 8 km northwest of

. Varna culture flourished in 4400-4100 BC.

Honours

The Srednogorie Heights on

Graham Land Graham Land is the portion of the Antarctic Peninsula that lies north of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. This description of Graham Land is consistent with the 1964 agreement between the British Antarctic Place-names Committee an ...

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 ...

are named after the Srednogorie Mountain Complex.

Notes and references

External links

The Sredna Gora and the Valley of the Roses
{{Authority control Mountains of Bulgaria Landforms of Pazardzhik Province Landforms of Plovdiv Province Landforms of Sliven Province Landforms of Sofia Province Landforms of Stara Zagora Province