Knezha (, ) is a town in

Pleven Province Pleven Province ( or Плевенска Област) is a province located in central northern Bulgaria, bordering the Danube river, Romania and the Bulgarian provinces of Vratsa, Veliko Tarnovo and Lovech. It is divided into 11 subdivisions ...

, Northern

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 center of the homonymous Knezha Municipality.

History

The town's name is most probably derived from the Slavic word ''

knyaz A , also , ''knjaz'' or (), is a historical Slavs, Slavic title, used both as a royal and noble title in different times. It is usually translated into English language, English as 'prince', 'king' or 'duke', depending on specific historical c ...

'' ("prince, duke"), most likely after a local ruler that defended the population in the area during the Ottoman rule of Bulgaria. Knezha is the third-largest town in the province, after

Pleven Pleven ( ) is the seventh most populous city in Bulgaria. Located in the northern part of the country, it is the administrative centre of Pleven Province, as well as of the subordinate Pleven municipality. It is the biggest economic center in ...

and

Cherven Bryag Cherven Bryag (, ) is a town in northern Bulgaria, a capital of the Cherven Bryag municipality, Pleven Province. It is situated on the right shore of the Zlatna Panega in river Iskar, 137 km northeast of Sofia, 53 km south-west of ...

, and is the administrative centre of a municipality. The town was located in Vratsa province until 2001, when a boundary change shifted the town into Pleven province. A local landmark is the

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

Christian cross The Christian cross, seen as representing the crucifixion of Jesus, is a religious symbol, symbol of Christianity. It is related to the crucifix, a cross that includes a ''corpus'' (a representation of Jesus' body, usually three-dimensional) a ...

constructed on a hill overlooking the town. The cross' construction was financed entirely by donations. It has

luminescent Luminescence is a spontaneous emission of radiation from an electronically or vibrationally excited species not in thermal equilibrium with its environment. A luminescent object emits ''cold light'' in contrast to incandescence, where an objec ...

lighting bodies attached to it and is illuminated in blue at night. The cross is similar to the larger Millennium Cross above

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

. Knezha also has a historical museum and an amateur

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

performing in the local community centre (''

chitalishte A ''chitalishte'' (, ) is a traditional Bulgarian public institution and building that fulfills several functions at once, such as a community centre, public library, and a theatre. It is also used as an educational institution, where people o ...

''). The Institute on Maize of the Agricultural Academy is based in Knezha; it was founded in 1924.

Notable people

Notable natives include weightlifter and Sydney 2000 Olympic

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

ist Galabin Boevski (b. 1974), Bulgaria international footballer Valentin Iliev (b. 1980), and

Bulgarian Army The Bulgarian Army (), also called Bulgarian Armed Forces, is the military of Bulgaria. The commander-in-chief is the president of Bulgaria. The Ministry of Defense is responsible for political leadership, while overall military command is in ...

general and long-time Chairman of the National Assembly of Bulgaria Ferdinand Kozovski (1892–1965).

Gallery

File:Knezha2TB.jpg File:Knezha3TB.jpg File:Knezha4TB.jpg

Climate

Knezha has a

continental climate Continental climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature (warm to hot summers and cold winters). They tend to occur in central and eastern parts of the three northern-tier continents (North America, Europe, and Asia), typi ...

( Dfb) with hot summers and cold winters, and relatively large temperature variations.

References

External links

Knezha municipality website

Website of the Eastern Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity in Knezha

Website of the Evangelical Church “Christians” in Knezha
{{Authority control Towns in Bulgaria Populated places in Pleven Province