Krichim ( bg, Кричим ) is a town in

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Mac ...

, located in the southwestern part of Plovdiv Province close to Perushtitsa. It lies at the foot of the Rhodopes' northern slopes in the plains of Thrace, 20 km southwest of

Plovdiv Plovdiv ( bg, Пловдив, ), is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, standing on the banks of the Maritsa river in the historical region of Thrace. It has a population of 346,893 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is the c ...

. The river Vacha, an important tributary of the

Maritsa Maritsa or Maritza ( bg, Марица ), also known as Meriç ( tr, Meriç ) and Evros ( ell, Έβρος ), is a river that runs through the Balkans in Southeast Europe. With a length of ,Krichim Municipality. Inhabited since Early

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...

times as evidenced by the remains of two ancient fortresses on both banks of the river in the beginning of its gorge, Krichim was contested by the Byzantine Empire and the Bulgarian Empire during most of the Middle Ages. It was conquered by Tsar Ivan Asen II in 1230 and a stone inscription from this period is preserved, saying 'On this stone sat Tsar Asen, when he conquered Krichim'. During the early Bulgarian National Revival, the village was one of the few in the region to have a monastery school. Two monasteries, one of the Holy Theotokos and one of St Vrach, worked during the Ottoman rule and helped preserve the Bulgarian culture and language.

Demography

The town is populated by both

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canoni ...

Bulgarians and (Muslim) Turks as well as Pomaks (Muslim Bulgarians) and Muslim Roma. The

Sts. Cosmas and Damian Cosmas and Damian ( ar, قُزما ودميان, translit=Qozma wa Demyaan; grc-gre, Κοσμᾶς καὶ Δαμιανός, translit=Kosmás kai Damianós; la, Cosmas et Damianus; AD) were two Arab physicians in the town Cyrrhus, and were r ...

Church and the mosque coexist peacefully on either bank of the Vacha.

Religion

According to the latest Bulgarian census of 2011, the religious composition, among those who answered the optional question on religious identification, was the following:

Honour

Krichim Peak Krichim Peak ( bg, връх Кричим, vrah Krichim, ) is an ice-covered peak of elevation 500 m in Vidin Heights on Varna Peninsula, Livingston Island, an island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Surmounting Saedinenie Snowfield to ...

on Livingston Island in the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 195 ...

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

is named after Krichim.

References

Towns in Bulgaria Cities and towns in the Rhodopes Populated places in Plovdiv Province {{Plovdiv-geo-stub