Omurtag ( ) is a town at the eastern foot of

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

in northeastern

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

Targovishte Province Targovishte Province (, transliterated ''Oblast Tǎrgovište'', former name Targovishte okrug) is a province in northeastern Bulgaria, named after its main city - Targovishte. As of December 2009, it had a population of 129,675. Municipaliti ...

, situated at 525 m above sea level. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous

Omurtag Municipality Omurtag Municipality () is a Municipalities of Bulgaria, municipality (''obshtina'') in Targovishte Province, Northeastern Bulgaria, located in the so-called Fore-Balkan area north of the Stara planina mountain. It is named after its administrative ...

. As of February 2011, the town had a population of 7,369.Bulgarian National Statistical Institute – Targovishte Province – Census 2011
A notable natives are Aleksandar Aleksandrov, one of the two

Bulgarian cosmonauts Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

, and Viktor Yosifov, captain of the

Bulgaria men's national volleyball team The Bulgaria men's national volleyball team represents the country in international competitions and friendly matches. It is controlled by the Bulgarian Volleyball Federation. History The team's achievements include winning the Balkan Champ ...

History

000400gmtma2ddkfm1dzc2 - Omurtag city hall

The area around the modern town has been inhabited since the

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

. Part of

Justinian I Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...

's defensive system in the 6th century, the region gained importance as part of the

First Bulgarian Empire The First Bulgarian Empire (; was a medieval state that existed in Southeastern Europe between the 7th and 11th centuries AD. It was founded in 680–681 after part of the Bulgars, led by Asparuh of Bulgaria, Asparuh, moved south to the northe ...

due to the proximity to the capitals

Pliska Pliska ( , ) was the first capital of the First Bulgarian Empire during the Middle Ages and is now List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, a small town in Shumen Province, on the Ludogorie plateau of the Danubian Plain (Bulgaria), Danubian Plain, 20 ...

and

Preslav The modern Veliki Preslav or Great Preslav (, ), former Preslav (; until 1993), is a city and the seat of government of the Veliki Preslav Municipality (Great Preslav Municipality, new Bulgarian: ''obshtina''), which in turn is part of Shumen P ...

and the passes of Stara Planina. The first written evidence of the modern town dates from the 17th century, when it was mentioned as the

kaza A kaza (, "judgment" or "jurisdiction") was an administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire, administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. It is also discussed in English under the names district, subdistrict, and juridical district. Kazas co ...

centre ''Osman Pazarı'' in Ottoman tax registers. The settlement was a centre of craftsmanship and trade. Osman Pazarı was liberated from Ottoman rule on 27 January 1878 by

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n troops under Johann Casimir Ehrnrooth during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78. Most of the Turkish inhabitants of the town left and were replaced by Bulgarians from around Tran and

Kyustendil Kyustendil ( ) is a town in the far west of Bulgaria, the capital of the Kyustendil Province, a former bishopric and present Latin Catholic titular see. The town is situated in the southern part of the Kyustendil Valley, near the borders of ...

. Omurtag acquired its present name in 1934, named after the Bulgarian

khan Khan may refer to: * Khan (surname), including a list of people with the name * Khan (title), a royal title for a ruler in Mongol and Turkic languages and used by various ethnicities Art and entertainment * Khan (band), an English progressiv ...

Omurtag Omurtag (or Omortag) (died 831) also known as Murtag or Murtagon (; Веселин Бешевлиев, Първобългарски надписи. 2ed. София 1992. Chapter: VI. Възспоменателни надписи, Inscriptio) was a ...

. On 24 February 2020 during strong winds knocked down the minaret of the 1874 mosque. The building itself survived with only minor damage to the roof, but the minaret was completely destroyed. As of 2021 the mosque is still under reconstruction. Historical Museum - Omurtag

Population

Culture

* Culture center "Father Paisii"

Education

*Primary School "Simeon Velchev" *Primary School "Hristo Smirnenski" *High School of Transport and Light Industry

Sport

*FC Levski Omurtag

Notable people

* Aleksandr Panayotov Aleksandrov – retired Bulgarian cosmonaut * Daki Yordanov – Bulgarian botanist and university lecturer, academician of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. *

Dimitar Petkov Dimitar Nikolov Petkov () (2 November 1858, Tulcea – 11 March 1907, Sofia) was a leading member of the Bulgarian People's Liberal Party and the country's Prime Minister from 5 November 1906 until he was assassinated in Sofia the following ye ...

– Bulgarian teacher, leading member of the Bulgarian People's Liberal Party

References

External links

Official municipality cite
{{DEFAULTSORT:Omurtag (Town) Towns in Bulgaria Populated places in Targovishte Province