Perushtitsa ( ) or Perushtitza is a

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 ...

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

located in

Perushtitsa Municipality Perushtitsa ( ) or Perushtitza is a Bulgarian town located in Perushtitsa Municipality, Plovdiv Province at the foot of the Rhodopes, 22 kilometers south of Plovdiv. The name ''Perushtitsa'' comes from the word ''Peristitsa'', which in turn co ...

Plovdiv Province Plovdiv Province (: ''Oblast Plovdiv'', former name okrug, Plovdiv okrug) is a provinces of Bulgaria, province in central southern Bulgaria. It comprises 18 municipalities (общини, ''obshtini'', sing. общинa, ''obshtina'') on a territ ...

at the foot of the

Rhodopes 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 ...

, 22 kilometers south of

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 ...

. The name ''Perushtitsa'' comes from the word ''Peristitsa'', which in turn comes from the name of the God

Perun In Slavic paganism, Slavic mythology, Perun () is the highest god of the Pantheon (religion), pantheon and the god of sky, thunder, lightning, storms, rain, law, war, fertility and oak trees. His other attributes were fire, mountains, wind, ir ...

. The town is famous throughout Bulgaria for the fight that took place there in 1876 during the

April Uprising The April Uprising () was an insurrection organised by the Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire from April to May 1876. The rebellion was suppressed by irregular Ottoman bashi-bazouk units that engaged in indiscriminate slaughter of both rebels ...

against the Ottoman reign. During the suppression of the uprising by Turkish irregulars, the majority of the residents were slaughtered. The French journalist

Ivan de Woestyne Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was the Bul ...

, who visited the town in July 1876, reported for the newspaper

Le Figaro () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It was named after Figaro, a character in several plays by polymath Pierre Beaumarchais, Beaumarchais (1732–1799): ''Le Barbier de Séville'', ''The Guilty Mother, La Mère coupable'', ...

that out of a population of about 2000 only 150 elders and children were left.

Lady Strangford Emily Ann Smythe, Viscountess Strangford or Emily Anne Beaufort RRC, (1826 – 24 March 1887) was a British illustrator, writer and nurse. There are streets named after her and permanent museum exhibits about her in Bulgaria. She established ho ...

arrived from Britain later that year with relief for the people of Bulgaria following the massacres. She built a hospital at

Batak Batak is a collective term used to identify a number of closely related Austronesian peoples, Austronesian ethnic groups predominantly found in North Sumatra, Indonesia, who speak Batak languages. The term is used to include the Karo people ( ...

and later other hospitals were built including at Perushtitsa. Perushtitsa is one of the few places in Bulgaria where Mavrud grapes are grown for a typical Bulgarian wine

Mavrud Mavrud (, from Greek, μαυρό ''(mavró)'', "black") is a red wine grape that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines, indigenous to the Balkan region. It is grown in some regions of Albania, in the Thrace region of Bulgaria, ...

. The remains of the Red Church date from the 5th or 6th century and are a symbol for the city of Perushtitsa. They are located 2 km northeast of Perushtitsa. There is a multi functiona
sports complex
"Perushtitsa" (at coordinates 42.061396,24553302) which can be used for 14 sports - basketball, handball, volleyball, football, badminton, table tennis, body building, and others.

Gallery

File:Perushtitsa-war-monument.jpg, Wars victims monument in Perushtitsa, Bulgaria File:Perushtitsa-memorial.jpg, "The Monument of three generations" was erected in 1976 to mark the centennial of The April uprising. File:Perushtitsa-art-gallery.jpg, The art gallery of Perushtitsa. File:Perushtitsa-hill-view.jpg, Perushtitsa as seen from the heights. File:Perushtitsa-community-centre.JPG, House of culture “Prosveta” in Perushtitsa was founded in 1862 by Bulgarian revolutionary Peter Bonev. File:Perushtitsa-history-museum-and-memorial.JPG, Historical Museum of Perushtitca

References

Perushtitsa Municipality. The Red Church
{{Coord, 42, 03, N, 24, 33, E, region:BG_type:city, display=title Towns in Bulgaria Cities and towns in the Rhodopes Populated places in Plovdiv Province