Sevlievo ( ) is a town in north-central

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 Gabrovo Province. Sevlievo is known as one of the wealthiest towns in Bulgaria owing to the well developed local economy, high employment rate and major foreign investments, such as the Ideal Standard Companies factory. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Sevlievo Municipality. In 2021, the population of the town was 19 363.

History

The earliest traces of occupation in the region date back to the late

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 ...

period (around the 8th century BC). Some

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, ...

tombs still survive. Hotalich Fortress is the last medieval town. It had been inhabited for more than 1,000 years and functioned as an important defensive center. Hotalich existed for centuries together with the settlement on the site of the contemporary town, known as ''Servi'' and ''Selvi''. Sevlievo city hall and center

In the middle of the 19th century, the development of crafts led to the concentration of large sums of money in the crafts' societies. Commercial trips across the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

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 ...

enriched general knowledge. In 1834 St Prophet Eliah Church was restored and in 1836 the medieval Batoshevo Monastery was rebuilt. In the mid-1850s, Kolyu Ficheto, a prominent master of the

Bulgarian National Revival The Bulgarian Revival (, ''Balgarsko vazrazhdane'' or simply: Възраждане, ''Vazrazhdane'', and ), sometimes called the Bulgarian National Revival, was a period of socio-economic development and national integration among Bulgarian pe ...

period, built the stone bridge over the Rositsa River. In 1844 the famous wealthy craftsman and merchant, Hadzhi Stoyan Nikolov, invested his own money in the building of a huge school. In 1870, under the direct guidance of

Vasil Levski Vasil Levski (, spelled in Reforms of Bulgarian orthography, old Bulgarian orthography as , ), born Vasil Ivanov Kunchev (; 18 July 1837 – 18 February 1873), was a Bulgarians, Bulgarian revolutionary who is, today, a Folk hero, national ...

, known as the "Apostle of Freedom", a revolutionary committee was created. It prepared the population of Sevlievo for 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 ...

in 1876. The

Bulgarians Bulgarians (, ) are a nation and South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and its neighbouring region, who share a common Bulgarian ancestry, culture, history and language. They form the majority of the population in Bulgaria, ...

from this region took an active part in the uprising. Ottoman occupation of the town ended 2 July 1877. As a major cultural institute, the local community center has existed for 127 years. The Mara Belcheva House of Culture became the new center of cultural events.

Geography

Climate

Sevlievo has a temperate climate with cold winters and hot summers.

Population

Twin towns — sister cities

Sevlievo is twinned with: *

Babruysk Babruysk (, ) or Bobruysk (, ; , ) is a city in Mogilev Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Babruysk District, though it is administratively separated from the district. It is situated on the Berezina, Berezina River. Bab ...

, Belarus *

Gevgelija Gevgelija (; ) is a town with a population of 15,685 located in the very southeast of North Macedonia along the banks of the Vardar River, situated at the country's main border with Greece (Bogorodica-Evzoni), the point which links the motorway f ...

, North Macedonia * Legionowo, Poland * Nanhai, China *

Valašské Meziříčí Valašské Meziříčí (; ) is a town in Vsetín District in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 23,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monum ...

, Czech Republic

References

External links

Sevlievo municipality – cities and villages, maps, information

Sevlievo municipality's home page

Pictures from Sevlievo

VisitSevlievo.com – Unofficial travel guide and on-line presentation of Sevlievo.

Karacakılavuz Belediyesi

Original source

Guide-bulgaria.com
("All text from Guide-Bulgaria.com is available for reproduction at external web sites if link to Guide-Bulgaria.com is added.") The article has been edited from the source version. {{Authority control Towns in Bulgaria Populated places in Gabrovo Province