Debren is a village in

Garmen Municipality Garmen Municipality () is situated in the southeastern part of Blagoevgrad Province in Southwestern Bulgaria. It is a rural municipality, composed of 16 villages. The administrative center is the village of Garmen, but the most populated village i ...

, in

Blagoevgrad Province 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 ('' ...

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 ...

.Guide Bulgaria
, Accessed May 5, 2010 It is situated in the Dabrash part of the

Rhodope Mountains The Rhodopes (; , ; , ''Rodopi''; ) are a mountain range in Southeastern Europe, and the largest by area in Bulgaria, with over 83% of its area in the southern part of the country and the remainder in Greece. Golyam Perelik is its highest peak ...

2.5 kilometers southeast of

Garmen Garmen () is a village in Blagoevgrad Province in Bulgaria and is the seat of Garmen Municipality. It is located in southwestern Bulgaria in the Western Rhodope Mountains in the Chech region 75 kilometers southeast of Blagoevgrad and 127 kilomet ...

and 110 kilometers southeast of

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 ...

History

The village has a very long history. There are two stone-made Roman bridges in the old village, that existed until 1968 year, when the whole village was moved from its previous mountainous location to a new one - lower and closer to the

Mesta river The Nestos ( ), Mesta ( ) is a river in Bulgaria and Greece. It rises in the Rila Mountains and flows into the Aegean Sea near the island of Thasos. It plunges down towering canyons toward the Aegean Sea through mostly metamorphic formations. At ...

, where the land is arable. The old village is now almost deserted, but there still is an old church and an old mosque, both still in relatively good condition. There are also some inhabited houses, but most of the buildings are in ruins. The village was mentioned first by the modern name in 1660 in Ottoman documents. In the 19th century the village was described as a Muslim village inhabited with people of

Pomak Pomaks (; Macedonian: Помаци ; ) are Bulgarian-speaking Muslims inhabiting Bulgaria, northwestern Turkey, and northeastern Greece. The strong ethno-confessional minority in Bulgaria is recognized officially as Bulgarian Muslims by th ...

origin. The new village was built with central water supply and sewerage and straight streets with two story houses.

Economy and transportation

The village is connected with

by a third class asphalt road, that connects Garmen with

Hadzhidimovo Hadzhidimovo ( ) is a small town and the centre of Hadzhidimovo Municipality in Blagoevgrad Province, south-western Bulgaria. It is located in the southernmost part of Bulgaria, bordering on Greece in the Chech (region), Chech region. Geography ...

and

Satovcha Satovcha (, old version: ''Satovitsa'', ''Svatovitsa'') is a village in Southwestern Bulgaria. It is the administrative center of the Satovcha Municipality in Blagoevgrad Province. Geography The village of Satovcha is located in the Western Rh ...

. The road, connecting the old and the new village is unpaved. The village has bus connections with Garmen, Gotse Delchev, Blagoevgrad, Sofia, Satovcha and Hadzhidimovo. The agriculture is the most important source of income, especially tobacco growing. There aren't any industrial subjects in the village.

Education and health care

There is a primary school "St Kliment Ohridski". Its new building was opened in 2004 year. There is a kindergarten "Nikola Vaptsarov" and a community center "Paisii Hilendarski" with a public library and local folklore dancing formations for men and women. A medical doctor and a dentist provide health care in Debren. The nearest hospital is in

Gotse Delchev Georgi Nikolov Delchev (; ; 4 February 1872 – 4 May 1903), known as Gotse Delchev or Goce Delčev (''Гоце Делчев''),Originally spelled in older Bulgarian orthography as ''Гоце Дѣлчевъ''. - Гоце Дѣлчевъ. ...

References

{{Garmen Municipality Villages in Blagoevgrad Province