Chirpan (, ) is a town on the Tekirska River in

Stara Zagora Province Stara Zagora (), formerly known as the Stara Zagora okrug, is a province of south-central Bulgaria. It is named after its administrative and industrial centre—the city of Stara Zagora—the sixth-biggest town in the country. The provin ...

of south-central

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 the administrative centre of the homonymous Chirpan Municipality. As of 2021, the town had a population of 13,391, down from 15,109 in 2013. Chirpan is located north of the Maritsa River on the Chirpan highlands, southeast of the Sredna Gora mountains. The town is a centre for

wineries A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the cultivation and production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feat ...

and

viticulture Viticulture (, "vine-growing"), viniculture (, "wine-growing"), or winegrowing is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine ...

History

The modern town is the successor of the

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 ...

settlement of Sherampol and re-emerged in the beginning of the 15th century, its current name likely being derived from the Roman one. Upon his return from the Council of Sardica, Saint Athanasius established the first Christian monastery in Europe circa 344 near modern-day Chirpan in Bulgaria. There has been extensive archaeological excavation at the Karasura (Carasura) site. During the Ottoman rule of Bulgaria, Chirpan () was known for its craftsmen and agriculture. The town suffered badly from an earthquake on 18 April 1928. Chirpan was the birthplace of

Ottoman Turkish Ottoman Turkish (, ; ) was the standardized register of the Turkish language in the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extensively, in all aspects, from Arabic and Persian. It was written in the Ottoman Turkish alphabet. ...

soldier Abdülkerim Nadir Pasha, and the Bulgarian poet Peyo Yavorov, whose native house is now a museum. Chirpan was the home of painter George Danchov. His house in the centre of the town is an excellent example of

Bulgarian National Revival The Bulgarian Revival (, ''Balgarsko vazrazhdane'' or simply: Възраждане, ''Vazrazhdane'', and ), sometimes called the Bulgarian National Revival, was a period of socio-economic development and national integration among Bulgarian pe ...

architecture.

Climate

Economy

There are 18,859 (2021) people in the municipality, two thirds of whom live in the town. 53% of the land is in cultivation, with major crops from wheat, sunflowers, cotton, grapes, and fruit trees. There is a 139 hectare

Natura 2000 Natura 2000 is a network of nature protection areas in the territory of the European Union. It is made up of Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas designated under the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, respectiv ...

Special Protection Area A special protection area (SPA) is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union (EU) have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and cer ...

for preservation of avian habitat along the Tekirska River.

Honour

Chirpan Peak Chirpan Peak (, ) is an ice-covered peak forming the western extremity of Bowles Ridge on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica overlooking Perunika Glacier to the west and south. The peak is named after the town of Chirp ...

Livingston Island Livingston Island (Russian name ''Smolensk'', ) is an Antarctic island in the Southern Ocean, part of the South Shetland Islands, South Shetlands Archipelago, a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands north of the ...

in the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands located in the Drake Passage with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the n ...

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 Chirpan.

Notable people

Georgi Danchov Georgi Danchov () (1846–1908) was a Bulgarian Renaissance artist, photographer, illustrator, cartoonist, comics artist, caricaturist and a revolutionary. He was one of the closest associates of Vasil Levski and the author considered the most ...

, revolutionary * Ivan Dimov, actor * Ivan Kolev (wrestler) * Peyo Yavorov, poet * Stoyan Zaimov, revolutionary

Notes

References

* Diamante, Vincenzo (1975) ''Bulgaria: storia, vita, folclore e tutte le informazioni utili al turista'' Valmartina, Firenze
OCLC 3841667
(in Italian); * Kondarev, Nikola (1987) ''Istoriia na Chirpan i Chirpansko'' Izd-vo na Otechestveniia front, Sofia
OCLC 19857260
(in Bulgarian);

External links

* * * *
N. Spassov, D. Geraads, L. Hristova, G.N. Markov, G. Merceron, T. Tzankov, K. Stoyanov, M. Böhme, A. Dimitrova. «A hominid tooth from Bulgaria: The last pre-human hominid of continental Europe»
(Azmaka) Towns in Bulgaria Populated places in Stara Zagora Province {{StaraZagora-geo-stub