Panagyurishte
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| Province (oblast) |
Pazardzhik |
|---|---|
| Population | 20 938 (13/09/2005) |
| Altitude | 550 m |
| Postal code | 4500 |
| Area code | 0357 |
| Geographic coordinates |
42° 30' north, 24° 11' east |
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2; UTC+3 in summer) |
| Mayor | Geogri Gerginekov |
Panagyurishte (Bulgarian: Панагюрище) is a town in Pazardzhik Province, western Bulgaria. The town is situated in a small valley in Sashtinska Sredna Gora. It is 91 km far from Sofia, to the east, at 43 km north of Pazardzhik and at 37 km south of Zlatitsa. As of 2005 Panagyurishte has a population of 20,938 and the mayor is Georgi Gerginekov. The root of the name, "panagyur", is from Greek "πανηγήρι" (panagiri) and means a fair venue.
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[edit] History
Panagyurishte is primarily known for being the centre of the April Uprising against the Ottoman rule in Bulgaria in 1876. As the uprising was bloodily suppressed after ten days of declared freedom, the town was burnt down and completely destroyed by the Ottoman Turks.
[edit] Tourism
The Panagyurishte municipality has certain potential for an intensification of the cooperation with the Koprivshtitsa, Strelcha and Hisarya municipalities in the sphere of tourism. It is expedient in this respect to think of the foundation of an association of the municipalities whose settlements took part in the April Uprising. The Association of the National Revival Towns could also be used along these lines.
[edit] Economy
After the Second World War Panagyurishte was transformed into a large industrial centre. The Asarel Medet copper extracting and processing plant is by far the largest single employer in the municipality with over 2 500 workers and also the biggest plant in its kind in the Balkans. "Opticoelectron" is an optic producing plant, unique for the country (740 workers). Recently, a new similar plant, "Optix" was launched (370 workers). There are two big textile plants: "Ryton" (880 employees) and "Bultex" (680 employees). There is also a small plastics factory, "Bunai" with some 190 workers and a number of smaller enterprises.
[edit] Places of interest
The town has two big Eastern Orthodox churches, Sv. Georgi and Sv. Bogoroditsa, as well as several chapels. The type of architecture of Sv. Georgi with two symmetrical bell-towers can be rarely observed in the country. There are two museums: Historical Museum and Museum of Natural History. Although the town was severely destroyed by the Turks in 1876, there are several old houses which survived and have been reconstructed, including the House-Museums of Rayna Knyaginya and Marin Drinov. The enormous monument which commemorates the April Uprising dominates the sky-line of the town and can be seen from almost each neighbourhood. It is built on the top of a hill just above the central square and includes several granite compositions which encircle the main figure. It can be reached from the centre by numerous stairs. There are two theatre buildings, the Old Theatre and the New Theatre. The spacious park is situated in the north-eastern part of Panagyurishte with an artificial lake, playgrounds and the Orcho Voivoda Stadium.
There are several places of interest in the vicinity of the town. The resort village Panagyurski kolonii, literally "the colony of Panagyurishte" is located at 15 km north of the town. It is very popular with the local population, as many of the citizens have summer houses there. There is a ski run and dense beech forests rich in different species of berries and mushrooms. At 6 km to the east is the famous Oborishte locality where the plan of the April uprising was discussed and accepted by delegates from all over the province. Today there is a monument there which is popular tourist attraction.
[edit] Education and heathcare
The town has around schools and seven kindergartens. The two largest schools are the elementary "Prof. Marin Drinov" with more that 1,100 pupils and secondary "Nesho Bonchev". Other large schools include the Optical Technikal School, Mining Technical School, "20th April" elementary school, "Sv. sv. Cyril and Metodius" elementary school and others.
There is a huge hostital located in the very southern outskirts of the town on the western banks of the Luda Yana river. The highly trained personal includes surgens which can perform different operations in the hospital. The is also a large polyclinic in the centre as well as numerous privade doctor and dentist cabinets.
[edit] Municipality
The town is a centre of the Panagyurishte municipality which includes 9 villages: Popintsi, Oborishte, Banya, Bata, Elshitsa, Levski, Panagyurski kolonii, Poibrene and Srebrinovo, as well as the town itself.
[edit] Transport
There are roads leading to the north (Panagyurski kolonii), south (Popintsi), west (Oborishte) and east (Strelcha). The road to Popintsi, and then Pazardzhik has been recently improved and expanded. The only railway leads to Strelcha and Plovdiv. Panagyurishte has bus and railway station.
[edit] Panagyurishte Treasure
One frosty morning on the 8th of December 1949 three brothers – Pavel, Petko and Michail Deikovi worked together at the region of “Merul” tile factory near Panagyurishte. It’s about ten o’clock in the morning, when processing a new layer of clay they came across unusual glossy objects. With all of its magnificence a fabulous set of vessel glittered in front of the workers. When finally unearthed, it was found to consist of a phial and eight rhytons, one shaped like an amphora and the others like heads of women or animals. Dated to the turn of the fourth and third century BC, the find was sensational, not only for its weight in gold — over 6.146 kg of pure gold, but also for the originality of its forms. It is now a world famous Thracian treasure and one of the most valuable possessions of the National Historical Museum.
[edit] Famous citizens
Notable natives include historian and philologist Marin Drinov (1838–1906) and revolutionary Rayna Knyaginya (1856–1917).
In 1893 the Bulgarian writer Elin Pelin was enrolled in a school in Panagyurishte.
 Cities and towns in Bulgaria  |
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| Aytos | Asenovgrad | Blagoevgrad | Botevgrad | Burgas | Dimitrovgrad | Dobrich | Dupnitsa | Gabrovo | Gorna Oryahovitsa | Gotse Delchev | Harmanli | Haskovo | Karlovo | Karnobat | Kazanlak | Kardzhali | Kyustendil | Lom | Lovech | Montana | Nova Zagora | Panagyurishte | Pazardzhik | Pernik | Petrich | Pleven | Plovdiv | Razgrad | Rousse | Samokov | Sandanski | Sevlievo | Shumen | Silistra | Sliven | Smolyan | Sofia | Stara Zagora | Svishtov | Targovishte | Troyan | Varna | Veliko Tarnovo | Velingrad | Vidin | Vratsa | Yambol |
