Blagoevgrad Province (, ''oblast Blagoevgrad'' or Благоевградска област, ''Blagoevgradska oblast''), also known as Pirin Macedonia or Bulgarian Macedonia (), (''Pirinska Makedoniya or Bulgarska Makedoniya'') is a province (''

oblast An oblast ( or ) is a type of administrative division in Bulgaria and several post-Soviet states, including Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Historically, it was used in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The term ''oblast'' is often translated i ...

'') of southwestern

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 borders four other Bulgarian provinces to the north and east, the Greek region of Macedonia to the south, and

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

to the west. The province has 14 municipalities with 12 towns. Its principal city is

Blagoevgrad Blagoevgrad ( ) is List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, а town in Southwestern Bulgaria, the administrative centre of Blagoevgrad Municipality and of Blagoevgrad Province. With a population of almost inhabitants, it is the economic and cultura ...

, while other significant towns include Bansko, Gotse Delchev, Melnik,

Petrich Petrich ( ) is a town in Blagoevgrad Province in southwestern Bulgaria, located in Sandanski–Petrich Valley at the foot of the Belasica Mountains in the Strumeshnitsa Valley. According to the 2021 census, the town has 26,778 inhabitants. ...

Razlog Razlog ( ) is a town and ski resort in Razlog Municipality, Blagoevgrad Province in southwestern Bulgaria. It is situated in the Razlog Valley and was first mentioned during the reign of Byzantine emperor Basil II. The municipality The municip ...

Sandanski Sandanski ( ; , formerly known as Sveti Vrach, , until 1947) is a town and a recreation center in southwestern Bulgaria, part of Blagoevgrad Province. Named after the Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary Yane Sandanski, it is situated in Sanda ...

, and Simitli.

Geography

The province has a territory of and a population of 323,552 (). It is the third largest in

after

Burgas Burgas (, ), sometimes transliterated as Bourgas, is the second largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast in the region of Northern Thrace and the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, fourth-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia, Plovdiv, an ...

and Sofia Provinces and comprises 5.8% of the country's territory. Blagoevgrad Province includes the mountains, or parts of,

Rila Rila (, ) is the highest mountain range of Bulgaria, the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, and Southeast Europe. It is situated in southwestern Bulgaria and forms part of the Rila–Rhodope Mountains, Rhodope Massif. The highest summit is Musala at an e ...

(highest point of the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

— Musala summit, 2925 m), Pirin (highest point — Vihren summit, 2914 m), the Rhodopes, Slavyanka, Belasitsa, Vlahina, Maleshevo, Ograzhden, and Stargach. There are two major rivers — Struma River and Mesta River — with population concentrations along their valleys, which are also the main transport corridors.

Climate

The climate varies from temperate continental to

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

in the southernmost parts. Natural resources are timber, mineral springs, coal, construction materials, including

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

and

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

. The beautiful and preserved environment is widely considered an important resource. A number of national parks and protected territories care for the biodiversity. Arable land is 38.8% and forests constitute 52% of the province's territory.

History

The

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans, Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan states of Kingdom of Greece (Glücksburg), Greece, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Montenegro, M ...

of 1912–1913 saw the annexation of the area to the Bulgarian state. Before the wars, it had been under Ottoman rule for over five centuries.

Municipalities

The Blagoevgrad province (област, ''oblast'') contains 14 municipalities (singular: община, ''obshtina'' - plural: общини, ''obshtini''). The following table shows the names of each municipality in English and

Cyrillic The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking countries in Southeastern Europe, Ea ...

, the main town (in bold) or village, and the population of each as of 2011.

Economy

The region is characterized with diversified economic branch structure:

food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for Nutrient, nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or Fungus, fungal origin and contains essential nutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, protein (nutrient), proteins, vitamins, ...

and

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

processing industries,

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

transport Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

and

communications Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether Intention, unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not onl ...

textile industry The textile industry is primarily concerned with the design, production and distribution of textiles: yarn, cloth and clothing. Industry process Cotton manufacturing Cotton is the world's most important natural fibre. In the year 2007, th ...

, timber and furniture industries, iron processing and machinery industry, construction materials industry, as well as pharmaceuticals, plastics, paper and shoes production. Approximately 10% of the population is unemployed (close to the national average). There are 4 major hospitals in the province. With its railway line and road connection, the region forms the heart of the land-based trading route between northern Greece,

and

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. Since the early 2000s the province enjoys a mini boom in trade from thousands of Greek day-trippers from across the border, purchasing cheaper goods and services (dental, opticians, etc.). Since the early 1990s, the region has also attracted Greek manufacturers who moved their production line from

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, especially to

. It was an important tourist destination during the communist years for East Germans and is slowly picking up again. The unique town of Melnik was once a wealthy centre built on the back of exiled

phanariot Phanariots, Phanariotes, or Fanariots (, , ) were members of prominent Greeks, Greek families in Fener, Phanar (Φανάρι, modern ''Fener''), the chief Greek quarter of Constantinople where the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, Ecume ...

s from

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

. Now it is a centre for wine production and offers eco-tourism. Infrastructure remains relatively underdeveloped, especially regarding road and rail communications. It remains an important target for potential EU funding. There are two major infrastructural projects in the region. The Struma motorway, which is planned to connect the capital

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 ...

with the Greek border and the port of

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

, is going to run through the valley of the Sruma River, and will be ready in a few years. The second project is the airport of Bansko. The cost is currently estimated at around €30,000,000.

Culture, education and monuments

Historical and archaeological monuments include the ruins of antique

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, ...

and Roman settlements,

Early Christian Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the historical era of the Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Christianity spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and be ...

basilicas, medieval

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

and Bulgarian towns, monasteries and fortresses, as well as many preserved buildings and whole villages — examples of the architecture from the Ottoman period (like Melnik, the Rozhen Monastery and Bansko). A theatre, a library with 345,000 tomes, and an opera house are situated in the provincial centre,

. There are art galleries in Bansko, Blagoevgrad and

. Many small cultural institutions, '' chitalishta'', are dispersed around the province. The Pirin State Ensemble is the most prominent among the numerous folklore and music bands. There are 10 museums in the province that preserve the rich historical, ethnographic and archaeological heritage. Cultural events include the Theatre Festival in Blagoevgrad, the Jazz Festival in Bansko and the Melnik Evenings of Poetry. The

Southwestern University Southwestern University (Southwestern or SU) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Georgetown, Texas. Formed in 1873 from a revival of collegiate charters granted in 1840, Southwester ...

and the American University in Bulgaria are situated in Blagoevgrad; the latter is the second largest American university campus in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and is located in the former headquarters of the communist party. Annually the city draws around 10,000 students from the country and abroad. The number of schools in the province is 182.

Notable people from Blagoevgrad Province

A number of the province's towns were renamed in honor of major figures such as

(after

Yane Sandanski Yane Ivanov Sandanski (, ; Originally spelled in Reforms of Bulgarian orthography, older Bulgarian orthography as (Yane Ivanov Sandanski); 18 May 1872 – 22 April 1915) was a Macedonian Bulgarians, Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary and leader ...

). * Paisiy Hilendarski (1722–1773) * Neofit Rilski (1793–1881) * Georgi Izmirliev (1851–1876) * Boris Sarafov (1872–1907) *

(1872–1915) * Nikola Vaptsarov (1909–1942) * Georgi Pirinski (1948) *

Rosen Plevneliev Rosen Asenov Plevneliev (, born 14 May 1964) is a Bulgarian politician who served as the 4th President of Bulgaria from 2012 to 2017. Affiliated with the GERB party, he previously served as Minister of Regional Development and Public Works fro ...

(1964)

Demographics

The province had a

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 323,552 according to the 2011

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

, of which were

male Male (Planet symbols, symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or Egg cell, ovum, in the process of fertilisation. A male organism cannot sexual repro ...

and were

female An organism's sex is female ( symbol: ♀) if it produces the ovum (egg cell), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete (sperm cell) during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females and ...

.Bulgarian National Statistical Institute - 2011 census

/ref>
/ref>Population by 01.02.2011 by Area and Sex
fro
Bulgarian ''National Statistical Institute'': Preliminary results of Census 2011
/ref>

Ethnic groups

Total population (2011 census): 323 552
Ethnic groups (2011 census): Identified themselves: 283,556 persons: *Bulgarians: 251,097 (88,55%) * Turks: 17,027 (6,0%) * Romani: 9,739 (3,43%) *Others and indefinable: 5,693 (2,01%) *Unspecified: 40,524 (this figure is not included in the percentage.) The ethnic Bulgarian population in the province also has a regional Macedonian identity, distinct from the ethnic Macedonian identity of Macedonians in the

Republic of North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

. According to the 2011 Bulgarian census, there were 561 ethnic Macedonians (0.2%) in the Blagoevgrad Province, out of a total of 1,654 Macedonians in the entire country. During the same year, a total of 429 citizens of the

resided in the province. Since registering a permanent residence in Bulgaria is a requirement for becoming naturalized in Bulgaria, a total of 18,000 Macedonian nationals were registered as residents in the Blagoevgrad Municipality alone by 2017. They are citizens of the

, but have also Bulgarian citizenship, based on declared Bulgarian ethnic origin; their number in the whole of the province is higher. However, the vast majority of these people do not permanently reside in the Blagoevgrad Province.

Languages

Mother tongues in the province according to 2001 census:Population to 01.03.2001 by District and Mother Tongue
fro

306,118 Bulgarian (), 19,819 Turkish (), 9,232 Romani () and 6004 others and unspecified ().

Religion

Religious adherence in the province according to 2001 census:Religious adherence in Bulgaria - census 2001
Most

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

in the province are Bulgarian Muslims, also called Pomaks. That makes Blagoevgrad Province together with Smolyan Province and the area around Velingrad one of the few places where Bulgarian Muslims make up the majority of the Muslims while in

general most Muslims are from Turkish background.

Sport

Blagoevgrad Province is currently one of the best-represented provinces in Bulgarian football, with 3 teams playing in the Bulgarian A PFG (second only to

with 4) — FC Vihren Sandanski, PFC Belasitsa Petrich and PFC Pirin 1922 Blagoevgrad. One more team from the province, PFC Pirin Blagoevgrad (as distinct from Pirin 1922), began the 2005/06 season in the highest Bulgarian division, but disbanded shortly afterwards due to financial problems. Owing to the alpine features and accessible location, the northern and eastern regionof Blagoevgrad Province is also a centre of winter sports. The main centre is Bansko which is becoming a leading skiing resort at European level with rapidly rising property prices.

Gallery

Image:8 1106150965.jpg, Tevno Vasilashko Lake in Pirin Image:Tevno ezero i Kamenica.jpg, Kamenitsa Peak and lake Tevno ezero in Pirin Image:VrahSinanitsa.jpg, Sinanitsa Peak in Pirin Image:Edelvais.jpg, Edelweisses under the Koncheto ridge in Pirin Image:Djengal_Peak_03735.JPG, Dzhengal Peak in Pirin up-close in late April Image:BG-Pirin-Vihren.jpg, Vihren Peak in Pirin mountain Image:The Chronicle of Ioannis Skylitzis Bulagar Defeat.jpg, The defeat of the army of Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria in the medieval Battle of Kleidion Image:Bulgarien-Roschen-2-1996.jpg, The Rozhen Monastery from the outside Image:Bansko-church-lite.jpg, The Church of the Holy Trinity in Bansko Image:General_Ivan_Tsonchev_Revolutionary_Band.jpg, Genеral Ivan Tsonchev's revolutionary band Image:Boris_Sarafov's_revolutionary_band.jpg, Lieutenant Boris Sarafov's revolutionary band Image:Petrich STA50206.JPG, Monument to the perished Bulgarian soldiers during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Image:Razlog Kapustin ifb.jpg, Bansko Ski Zone as seen from

Image:Gr Petrich nosht 1.jpg,

at night

References

Sources

* ''Who are the Macedonians?'' by Hugh Poulton. London: 1995.

External links

Blagoevgrad Province — information on all of cities and villagesMunicipality of BlagoevgradMunicipality of Gotse Delchev

Municipality of Sandanski

Municipality of PetrichOfficial website of BanskoPirin National ParkRila National ParkNeofit Rilski Southwestern UniversityAmerican University in BulgariaPirin Folk song and dances State EnsembleHistorical and Architectural Reserve Village Kovachevitsa

Bansko Ski ZoneBeautiful Blagoevgrad OnlineKordopulova House in Melnik

Radio Blagoevgrad online, regional station of the Bulgarian National Radio

Informative site about South-Western Bulgaria

Struma Daily newspaper of South-Western Bulgaria Village Dabrava - Blagoevgrad
* {{Authority control Provinces of Bulgaria