Mogilitsa (; also ''Mogilitza'', ''Mogilica'', meaning "hillock") is a village in 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 ...

in southernmost

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

Smolyan Smolyan () is a List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, town and ski resort in the south of Bulgaria near the border with Greece. It is the administrative and industrial centre of the Smolyan Province. The town is built along the narrow valley of t ...

municipality,

Smolyan Province Smolyan Province (, ''Oblast Smolyan''; former name Smolyan okrug) is a province in Southern-central Bulgaria, located in the Rhodope Mountains, neighbouring Greece to the south. It is named after its administrative and industrial centre — the ...

. As of September 2005, it has a population of 483. Mogilitsa lies at , 1,041 m

above mean sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

, near the border with

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

and the upper course of the river

Arda Arda or ARDA may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Arda (Middle-earth), fictional world in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien * Arda (band), a Russian heavy metal band People * Arda (name) Places *Arda (Maritsa), a river in Bulgaria and Greece *A ...

, 35 kilometres southeast of Smolyan. Mogilitsa is famous for '' Agushevi konatsi'' (Агушеви конаци), the 19th-century winter estate of a rich Ottoman feudal lord, Agush

Agha (title) Agha (; ; ; "chief, master, lord") is an honorific title for a civilian or officer, or often part of such title. In the Ottoman times, some court functionaries and leaders of organizations like bazaar or the janissary units were entitled to the ...

who belongend to the

Pomaks 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 ...

, and his three sons. Built in 1825-1872 by local Bulgarian masters, the castle-like complex consists of three buildings with a separate yard surrounded by a common wall with a richly decorated tower in the southeastern corner. The estate has a total of 221 windows, 86 doors and 24 chimneys and is situated near the banks of the Arda. Paşmaklı

was the main city of Ahiçelebi,

, until 1912 de facto independent. Northwest of the village lie the ruins of an old fortress, possibly from

Thracian The Thracians (; ; ) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Southeast Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied the area that today is shared between north-eastern Greece, ...

times. Three kilometres to the east of Mogilitsa is

Uhlovitsa Uhlovitsa () is a show cave in the Blue Pools Area (Bulgarian: Mестността „Сините вирове“, or ''Mestnostta "Sinite virove"'') in the Smolyan Province of the Rhodope Mountains, southern Bulgaria. The cave is close to Mogil ...

, one of the twenty caves in the vicinity of the village, which features water cascades and small underground lakes.

Gallery

Image:Mogilitsa IFB 1.jpg, Agushevi konatsi Image:Mogilitsa IFB 2.jpg, Agushevi konatsi Image:Mogilitsa IFB 3.jpg, Agushevi konatsi

References

* * Villages in Smolyan Province {{Smolyan-geo-stub