Novi Han () is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in western

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 has a population of 3,205 as of 2022.

Geography

Novi Han is located in

Sofia Province Sofia Province () is a province (''oblast'') of Bulgaria. The province does not include Sofia in its territories, but Sofia remains the seat of its administration. The province borders on the provinces of Pernik, Kyustendil, Blagoevgrad, Paz ...

and has a territory of 47.558 km². It is part of

Elin Pelin Municipality Elin or Elín is a variation of Ellen and Helene used in Scandinavian and Celtic languages. Notable people with the name include: *Elin Andersdotter (died 1569), Swedish lady-in-waiting and political conspirator *Elin Brandell (1882–1963), Swe ...

. The village lies 24 km east of the national capital

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 ...

, just north of the

Trakia motorway The Trakia motorway (, ) or Thrace motorway, designated A1, is a motorway in Bulgaria. It connects the capital city of Sofia, the city of Plovdiv and the city of Burgas on the Black Sea coast. The motorway is named after the historical region of ...

. The municipal center

Elin Pelin Elin Pelin ( ) (8 July 1877 – 3 December 1949), born Dimitar Ivanov Stoyanov () was a Bulgarian writer. Stoyan Christowe called him "Bulgaria's leading writer". Biography He was born in the village of Bailovo, in Sofia District. He complet ...

is at 10 km in northern direction. It is along the first class I-8 road

Kalotina Kalotina ( ) is a village in the Dragoman Municipality, Sofia Province, in westernmost central Bulgaria. As of 2010, it has 270 inhabitants and the mayor is Lidia Bozhilova. The village is located at the border with Serbia, 55 km to the north ...

–Sofia–

Plovdiv Plovdiv (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, second-largest city in Bulgaria, 144 km (93 miles) southeast of the capital Sofia. It had a population of 490,983 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is a cultural hub ...

–

Kapitan Andreevo Kapitan Andreevo ( ) is a village near the Bulgaria—Turkey—Greece tripoint in Svilengrad municipality, Haskovo Province, southern Bulgaria. As of 2005 it has 948 inhabitants and the mayor is Dimitar Shiderov. Due to the proximity with Turkey, ...

. Novi Han is situated in the

Sofia Valley The Sofia Valley (), or Sofia Field (), is situated in central western Bulgaria. It is the second of the succession of the eleven Sub-Balkan valleys in direction west–east and is the largest of them in area and population. It is named after th ...

, at the northern foothills of the

Sredna Gora Sredna Gora ( ) is a mountain range in central Bulgaria, situated south of and parallel to the Balkan Mountains and extending from the river Iskar (river), Iskar to the west and the elbow of river Tundzha north of the city of Yambol to the east. ...

mountain range.

History

The village is situated on the strategic

Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

Via Militaris Via Militaris or Via Diagonalis was an ancient Roman road, starting from Singidunum (today the Serbian capital Belgrade), passing by Danube coast to Viminacium (near modern Kostolac), through Naissus (modern Niš), Serdica (modern Sofia), Phil ...

that connected Central Europe and

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

. There are remains of

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, ...

, Roman and medieval Bulgarian settlements in its vicinity. In 1670 on the place where the current village is located was constructed and Ottoman

caravanserai A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was an inn that provided lodging for travelers, merchants, and Caravan (travellers), caravans. They were present throughout much of the Islamic world. Depending on the region and period, they were called by a ...

as a major stop along the road, at one day march from Sofia. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

part of the equipment of

Radio Sofia Radio Bulgaria ( Bulgarian: Радио България, ''Radio Bǎlgarija''; BNR) is the official international broadcasting station of Bulgaria. History For almost seventy years the world service of the Bulgarian radio, formerly called Radi ...

was evacuated in Novi Han. The

1944 Bulgarian coup d'état The 1944 Bulgarian coup d'état, also known as the 9 September coup d'état (), was a coup that overthrew the government of Kingdom of Bulgaria on the eve of 9 September 1944. During the People's Republic of Bulgaria it was called using the pr ...

by the communists was publicly announced from the village.

Economy

Since 2008, the Bulgarian television network ⠀⠀NOVA⠀⠀ studios have been located in Novi Han. Some of its productions are filmed there, including the reality show '' Big Brother''. Some 7 km from the village a repository for radioactive waste is situated, constructed in the late 1950s and early 1960s to store waste from the activities of the

Bulgarian Academy of Sciences The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (abbreviated BAS; , ''Bŭlgarska akademiya na naukite'', abbreviated БАН) is the National Academy of Bulgaria, established in 1869. The Academy, with headquarters in Sofia, is autonomous and consists of a S ...

experimental nuclear reactor. Until 2006, it was managed by the Institute for Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy at the BAS. In 2006, the repository was reconstructed to meet modern requirements and was administratively transferred to the State Enterprise “Radioactive waste”. The control over the activity of the facility is carried out both by the enterprise and by the state control bodies — the Agency for Nuclear Regulation, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Environment and Water.

Citations

References

* {{Authority control Villages in Sofia Province