Kardzhali

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Kardzhali
Map of Bulgaria, Kardzhali is indicated
Province
(oblast)		 Kardzhali
Population 50 851 (2005-12-14)
Altitude 275 m
Postal code 6600
Area code 0361
Geographic
coordinates		 41° 39' north,
25° 22' east
Time zone EET
(UTC+2; UTC+3 in summer)
Mayor Hasan Azis Ismail (MRF)

Kardzhali also Kurdzhali) (Bulgarian: Кърджали, Turkish: Kırcali) is a town in Bulgaria, capital of Kardzhali Province in the Eastern Rhodopes. Near the town is the noted Kardzhali Dam.

Contents

[edit] Geography

Kardzhali is located in the low eastern part of Rhodope Mountains, on both banks of the Arda River between the Kardzhali Dam to the west and the Studen Kladenets dam to the east. The town is 260 km southeast of Sofia. It has a crossroad position from Thrace to the Aegean Sea — part of European transportation route 9.

[edit] History

The location of Kardzhali has been inhabited since the Neolithic. Plenty of artifacts have been found during the archaeological excavations comprising ceramics and primitive tools. Most of them are now exhibited in the local museum of history.

Later Thracian tribes settled in the area developing a highly advanced civilization. They built many sanctuaries dedicated to the gods of Sun and Earth. Near the village of Nenkovo (northwest of Kardzhali) an artificial cave was found in 2001. It has the form of a woman's womb. Exactly at noon, when the sun is highest on the sky, a ray of light comes in through a stone slit forming a falitic shade in the cave. According to the Thracian beliefs this is the conception of the new Sun god. This cave is considered a complex astronomic facility (compared to Stonehenge in Great Britain) as the ray of light comes in the cave in a single day in the year. [1].

There are many stone castles and palaces the Thracians built in the region — Perperek, Ustra, Vishegrad. The most magnificent is Perperikon where a residence of a Thracian king was situated. The place is getting more popular as archaeological works are in progress and new artifacts are being discovered.

During the Byzantine period Kardzhali was the centre of a Christian eparchy — Achridos. The Monastery of John the Precursor (Bulgarian: Йоан Продром or Йоан Предтеча) was built in the 6th-8th century and is now a monument of medieval architecture.

The name Kardzhali is mentioned for the first time in Ottoman documents. It comes from the name of the Ottoman army leader Kardzha Ali (modern Turkish spelling: Kırca Ali), who conquered the region in the 14th century. Its old Bulgarian name, mentioned until the 17th century, was Žerkovo (Zherkovo).

The town developed because of its position on the trade roads during the Ottoman rule. However, it remained a small town with almost no industry. During the 18th century Turkish brigands used this remote town as a hide-away and supply point, and as a result such gangs came to be called "kurdzhali". The best known of these gangs was led by Pazvantoğlu Osman Pasha who ruled most of northeastern Bulgaria and the Danube estuary until 1807.

Kardzhali and its neighbourhood became part of the autonomous province of Eastern Rumelia under the stipulations of the Berlin Congress of 1878, but after the reunification of the Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia in 1885, was ceded back to the Ottoman Empire. Ottoman rule ended during the First Balkan War, with its occupation by the Bulgarian General Vasil Delov on 21 October 1912. The day has been celebrated yearly, since 1937, as a municipal holiday through concerts and commemorative events. Kardzhali was declared the centre of Kardzhali Province in 1949.

[edit] Demographics

Kardzhali has an ethnically mixed population of about 51,000 (2006 est.). In 1989 the population was estimated at 59,000.

Almost the entire population of Kardzhali was made up of Turks until 1913. Later, Bulgarian immigrants from Eastern and Western Thrace and Roma people settled in Kardzhali. Some Turks immediately moved to the Ottoman Empire in 1913, but the decline in the Turkish population was accelerated due to forced expulsion to Turkey (1913-1930) coupled with the surging numbers Bulgarian settlers from other areas of the country.

After 1990 the deteriorating economic conditions led many Bulgarians families to leave the area, as the economic government incentives that brought them there were no longer present, and many returned to their previous homes in Bulgaria. The economic crisis also affected the remaining Turkish population in the city, resulting in another wave of migration to Turkey.

Kardzhali is currently (2006) the region of Bulgaria with the highest relative proportion of ethnic Turks. As of 2003, the population of Kardzhali municipality consisted of 62% Turks, 31% Bulgarians and 3% Roma, among others [2]. The regional government today is primarily in the hands of the Turkish dominated Freedoms and Rights Movement political party. The province is represented in the National Assembly of Bulgaria by five deputies.

In December 1989 and January 1990 there were a series of demonstrations in Kardzhali against the liberalization of the anti-Turk laws, believed to be funded by the Bulgarian Socialist Party attempting to incite violent incidents. [3][4]

[edit] Economy

Formerly Kardzhali was a tobacco processing center, but for economic reasons some of the communist era industrial plants are no longer operative. The large deposits of lead and zinc ore in the area make the town an attractive location for the metallurgy and machine building industry.

Retail trade and services constitute the largest share of local production. The abundance of cultural and natural sights in the area also make it a promising area for tourism.

[edit] Culture and tourism

The Thracian town of Perperikon is located near the city on a rock high above the valley. It is interesting for the fact that it is cut in the rock.

The monastery of John the Precursor from 11th century is located in the Vesselchane Quarter of the town. It was renovated in 2000 and a new bell tower was built.[5]

The town clock is unique in Bulgaria because it sounds Bulgarian revolutionary songs every hour.

The Kardzhali Museum of History has one of the most extensive exhibitions in Southern Bulgaria. This includes pre-historic tools and ceramics from the Thracian cities of Perperikon and Tatul, Christian icons and ethnographic exhibits. It is located in the old konak (the Turkish town-hall built around 1870) with its period exterior architecture.

There are many open-air restaurants, offering a variety of drinks and cocktails in summer time on the dam. It is a popular place among fans of water sports and fishing.

The town has two drama theaters — "Dimitar Dimov" and "Kadrie Lyatifova", a puppet theater and a museum of history medrese, as well as an art gallery.

Five kilometers from Kardzhali, near the village of Zimzelen, is a small badlands, where a series of white pillars have eroded out of the volcanic tuff which are referred to as the "Kardzhali Pyramids". Ensembles have been given names based on resemblences. One is known as "The Mushrooms" and another as the "Stone Wedding". [6]

[edit] Dams

There are two large dams on the Arda River. Studen Kladenez Dam is on the east and Kurdzhali Dam is on the south. The reservoir of the Kurdzhali Dam was recently seeded artificially with European perch. The fish were taken from the Ovčarica (Ovcharitsa) dam.

The first historical moment of the dam was in the 1970s, when it was artificially seeded with sheatfish. Nowadays there are 100 kg representatives. Later, 45,000 carp were introduced into the dam as well.

[edit] Notable natives

[edit] Sister cities

Kardzhali participates in town twinning programs to improve international contacts:

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ (2 May 2001) Вестник Новинар Newspaper article in Bulgarian with photos
  2. ^ "Structure of the Population" Municipality of Kardzhali
  3. ^ Troxel, Luan (1992) "Socialist persistence in the Bulgarian elections of 1990-1991" East European Quarterly 26(4): pp. 407-421, p.414.
  4. ^ Neuburger, Mary (1997) "Bulgaro-Turkish encounters and the re-imaging of the Bulgarian nation (1878-1995)" East European Quarterly 31(1): pp. 1-21, p. 8
  5. ^ "Monestary Complex: St. John the Precursor" Kardzhali Museum of Historyin Bulgarian;
  6. ^ "The Stone Wedding near Kardzhali" All Bulgaria Vitual Guide

[edit] External links


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