Mezdra ( ) is a town in northwestern

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 ...

, part of

Vratsa Province Vratsa Province ( ''Oblast Vraca'', former name Vraca okrug) is a Bulgarian province located in the northwestern part of the country, between Danube river in the north and Stara Planina mountain in the south. It is named after its main town: ...

. It is located on the left bank of the Iskar River, just north of its gorge through the

Balkan Mountains The Balkan mountain range is located in the eastern part of the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It is conventionally taken to begin at the peak of Vrashka Chuka on the border between Bulgaria and Serbia. It then runs f ...

History

Although the area around it has been inhabited continuously since

prehistoric Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...

times, Mezdra remained a small village of 86 residents (1881 census) and continued to decline (76 residents in 1888) until 1893, when the construction of the

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 ...

Varna Varna may refer to: Places Europe *Varna, Bulgaria, a city ** Varna Province ** Varna Municipality ** Gulf of Varna ** Lake Varna **Varna Necropolis * Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy * Varna (Šabac), a village in Serbia Asia * Var ...

railway began, with workers from all around the country arriving to update the infrastructure. As the village became an important railway junction with the opening of the railway on 20 February 1897, its population grew substantially. Mezdra had a population of 311 in 1900 and 1,015 in 1920. Although it formally remained a village until proclaimed a town on 31 August 1950, Mezdra acquired the appearance of a small town through the work of architects who studied in

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...

and established the Western European style in the village. Today, Mezdra is a town of approximately 10,896 residentsBulgarian National Statistical Institute - Bulgarian towns in 2009
and serves as a vital rail link between Sofia and northern/western regions of Bulgaria (including the Sofia-Varna route, linking the capital with Bulgaria's 3rd largest city and popular Black Sea destination). Industries include stone cutting, brickmaking and beer production.

Mezdra Point Mezdra Point (, ‘Nos Mezdra’ \'nos 'mez-dra\) is the ice-free northeast entrance point of Brauro Cove on the northwest coast of Snow Island (South Shetland Islands), Snow Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. It is situated 1.41&n ...

on Snow Island 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 Mezdra.

Geography

Municipality

Mezdra is also the seat of Mezdra municipality (part of Vratsa Province), which includes the following 27 villages: * Bodenets * Brusen * Darmantsi * Dolna Kremena * Eliseyna * Gorna Beshovitsa * Gorna Kremena * Ignatitsa * Kalen * Krapets * Kreta * Lik *

Lyutibrod Lyutibrod () is a village in Mezdra Municipality in Vratsa Province, western Bulgaria. As of 2007 it has a population of 452. The village is situated in the northern end of the Iskar Gorge, on the right bank of the river of the same name. On t ...

* Lyutidol * Moravitsa * Oselna * Oslen Krivodol * Ochindol * Rebarkovo * Ruska Bela * Staro Selo * Tipchenitsa * Tsakonitsa * Tsarevets * Varbeshnitsa * Zlidol * Zverino

Notable people

* Ceci Krasimirova (born 1980), fashion modeler

Twin towns – sister cities

* Mammola, Italy

Gallery

File:Mezdra-church-St-George-1.jpg, Church of St George File:Mezdra-fortress-1.jpg, Ruins of the ancient and medieval Mezdra Fortress File:Mezdra-war-memorial-1.jpg, War memorial File:Mezdra-Railway-station.jpg, Railway station

References

External links

Mezdra municipality website
Populated places in Vratsa Province {{Vratsa-geo-stub