Bankya ( ) is a small town located on the outskirts of

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

in western

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

. It is administratively part of Greater

. The district is famous for the

mineral spring Mineral springs are naturally occurring springs that produce hard water, water that contains dissolved minerals. Salts, sulfur compounds, and gases are among the substances that can be dissolved in the spring water during its passage un ...

s and baths that have been used for medicinal purposes for hundreds of years. In 1969 the village of Bankya was proclaimed a town, and in 1979 it became part of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Bankya is 17 km west of capital Sofia. It is situated at the foot of Lyulin Mountain at an average elevation of around 630–750 meters. The first people to populate the region of Bankya were

Thracian The Thracians (; ; ) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Southeast Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied the area that today is shared between north-eastern Greece, ...

tribes, over 2,500 years ago. Archaeological excavations near the quarter of Ivanyane have unearthed remains of

Ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

buildings, walls and sewers, and bronze bracelets from the 4th–5th century. Bankya's economy depends mainly on tourism and balneological treatment. Bankya Bulgaria Jan 1995

Bankya was first mentioned as ''Banka'' in the 15th century. The former villages of Verdikal, Gradoman and Mihaylovo are part of the town itself, while Ivanyane and Klisura are part of the municipality. Bankya's name stems from the common noun ''bankya'', "hot spring", a diminutive of ''banya'' ("baths"). Bankya is the birthplace of the founder of GERB – Boyko Borisov, former

prime minister of Bulgaria The Prime Minister of Bulgaria () is the head of government of Bulgaria. They are oftentimes the leader of a political coalition in the Bulgarian parliament, known as the National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unica ...

Demographics

Places of interest

* "Vazov's Oak", Ivan Vazov's favourite resting place. * The Church of Martyrs Quiricus and Julietta, built in 1932 and inaugurated by bishop Stephen from Sofia. * The Mineral Baths in Bankya, built in 1907 – 1910 to the design of

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

architect Carl Hocheder.

Honour

Bankya Peak 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 ...

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

is named after the town.

References

{{authority control Districts of Sofia Spa towns in Bulgaria Towns in Bulgaria Populated places in Sofia City Province kk:Банкя