Yakoruda ( ) 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 ...

n town located in the southwestern part of the country. A part of the

Blagoevgrad Province Blagoevgrad Province (, ''oblast Blagoevgrad'' or Благоевградска област, ''Blagoevgradska oblast''), also known as Pirin Macedonia or Bulgarian Macedonia (), (''Pirinska Makedoniya or Bulgarska Makedoniya'') is a province ('' ...

, it is the seat of

Yakuroda Municipality Yakoruda Municipality is a municipality in Blagoevgrad Province in southwestern Bulgaria. Demographics Of all the people who answered the question on their religion, 77% declared Muslim. Most of those Muslims are the so-called Pomaks, or Bulgari ...

which is the north-easternmost in the province. The town lies 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 ...

, along the

Mesta River The Nestos ( ), Mesta ( ) is a river in Bulgaria and Greece. It rises in the Rila Mountains and flows into the Aegean Sea near the island of Thasos. It plunges down towering canyons toward the Aegean Sea through mostly metamorphic formations. At ...

, 26 km west of the town of

Velingrad Velingrad ( ) is a town in Pazardzhik Province, Southern Bulgaria, located at the western end of Chepino Valley, part of the Rhodope Mountains. It is the administrative center of the homonymous Velingrad Municipality and one of the most po ...

. Yakoruda was proclaimed a town on 9 September 1964, having previously been officially classified as a village. A plurality of the residents are Muslim Bulgarians (

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 ...

), the rest being for the most part

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

. Notable natives are ''

Survivor BG ''Survivor BG'' is the Bulgarian version of the reality show ''Survivor'', broadcast and produced by bTV. Seasons overview Season 1 (2006) The show's first season was filmed on a deserted island in the Caribbean off the coast of the Dominica ...

'' season one runner-up

Ahmed Shuganov Ahmad () is an Arabic male given name common in most parts of the Muslim world. Other English spellings of the name include Ahmed. It is also used as a surname. Etymology The word derives from the root ( ḥ-m-d), from the Arabic (), from t ...

, Minister of Labour and Social Policy

Emiliya Maslarova Emilia Bashur (, née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name en ...

, and Dr. Anna Petrova-Mayor, Professor of Physics at

California State University Chico California State University, Chico (Chico State) is a public university in Chico, California. It was founded in 1887 as one of about 180 " normal schools" founded by state governments in the 19th century to train teachers for the rapidly growin ...

Honour

Yakoruda Glacier Yakoruda Glacier (, ) is a glacier on the west slopes of Dryanovo Heights, Greenwich Island (South Shetland Islands), Greenwich Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica situated west of Teteven Glacier and northwest of Murgash Glacier. ...

Greenwich Island Greenwich Island (variant historical names ''Sartorius Island'', ''Berezina Island'') is an island long and from (average ) wide, lying between Robert Island and Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. The island's surface ...

in the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands located in the Drake Passage with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the n ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

is named after Yakoruda.

Gallery

Yakoruda entrance.jpg, Entrance road to Yakoruda from Yundola View of yakoruda.jpg, View of Yakoruda central parts Yakoruda church.jpg, Yakoruda

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

and town

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

Yakoruda Lukoil.jpg, Yakoruda Lukoil gas station at the exit road to Yundola

External links

Unofficial website
Towns in Bulgaria Populated places in Blagoevgrad Province {{Blagoevgrad-geo-stub