Strelcha ( bg, Стрелча ) is a small

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 ...

n town with a population of 4,284 . The town lies 13 km to the east of Panagyurishte and 41 km to the north of

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 ...

. It is a capital of homonymous municipality, part of

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 ...

. It is situated in a valley in the southern skirts of the

Sredna Gora Sredna Gora ( bg, Средна гора ) is a mountain range in central Bulgaria, situated south of and parallel to the Balkan Mountains and extending from the Iskar to the west and the elbow of Tundzha north of Yambol to the east. Sredna Gora ...

mountain. The favourable

microclimate A microclimate (or micro-climate) is a local set of atmospheric conditions that differ from those in the surrounding areas, often with a slight difference but sometimes with a substantial one. The term may refer to areas as small as a few squ ...

, nature and mineral water springs, combined with the rich history and natural sights, have turned Strelcha into a national spa resort all around the year. Even if the town's tourism industry has decayed somewhat in the early post-communist period, its tourist product has started to revive in the last couple of years. Arguably, the most important sight in the town is the

Bulgarian Orthodox The Bulgarian Orthodox Church ( bg, Българска православна църква, translit=Balgarska pravoslavna tsarkva), legally the Patriarchate of Bulgaria ( bg, Българска патриаршия, links=no, translit=Balgarsk ...

Archangel Michael Church - Monument dedicated to the citizens of Strelcha that were killed during the

April Uprising The April Uprising ( bg, Априлско въстание, Aprilsko vastanie) was an insurrection organised by the Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire from April to May 1876. The regular Ottoman Army and irregular bashi-bazouk units brutally su ...

of 1876,

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and def ...

and

WW1 World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fighti ...

. Their names can be seen inscribed on both sides of the church. The rose gardens in Strelcha spread over 3,000 decares, as this is one of the biggest

rose oil Rose oil (rose otto, attar of rose, attar of roses, or rose essence) is the essential oil extracted from the petals of various types of rose. ''Rose ottos'' are extracted through steam distillation, while ''rose absolutes'' are obtained through ...

production regions in Bulgaria. The highest quality of rose oil is produced in the municipality. Besides roses, since the 1990s and 2000s Strelcha successfully cultivated lavender, from which first-class essential oil is extracted. Outside Strelcha, the road to the town of

Koprivshtitsa Koprivshtitsa ( bg, Копривщица, pronounced , from the Bulgarian word , ''kopriva'', meaning "nettle") is a historic town in the Koprivshtitsa Municipality in Sofia Province, central Bulgaria, lying on the Topolnitsa River among the ...

(24 km) has views of natural

rock formation A rock formation is an isolated, scenic, or spectacular surface rock outcrop. Rock formations are usually the result of weathering and erosion sculpting the existing rock. The term ''rock formation'' can also refer to specific sedime ...

s. Three kilometres to the southeast of Strelcha one can see the Zhaba Mogila ("Frog Mound") inside which archeologists have found a

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 ...

temple. The mound is one of the biggest in Bulgaria — its height is more than 20 m, while its diameter is about 80–90 m. The two chambers and the façade are built of large, masterly carved stone blocks, connected with iron conjunctures and covered with lead. The biggest of these blocks measures 2.6 m by 0.6 m. Their arrangement is regarded as flawless. A tunnel with a length of 75 m has been dug below the mound and is planned to be transformed into a museum. A second stone construction, believed to have served as a

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a sa ...

, has been found in the northwest part of the mound. It consists of three halls with a total area of 25 square metres. 2.5 km to the south of Strelcha one can see the remains of the Strelcha Fortress (''Kaleto'') believed to date back to the 9-10th century A.D. The fortress was built on the right bank of the Luda Yana River on a separate hill; the fortress walls surrounded by a rectangular space with a length of 140 m and a width of 50–60 m. Additionally, there are some preserved remains of several other fortresses to the south and southeast of Strelcha.

Honours

Strelcha Spur Strelcha Spur ( bg, рид Стрелча, ‘Rid Strelcha’ \'rid 'strel-cha\) is the rocky, partly ice-covered spur extending 5.3 km in south-southeast to north-northwest direction and 1.4 km wide, rising to 1572 m 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 ...

is named after the town. {{Authority control Towns in Bulgaria Populated places in Pazardzhik Province Spa towns in Bulgaria