Asenovo, Pleven Province

Asenovo (Bulgarian: Асеново) is a village in northern Bulgaria, part of Nikopol municipality, Pleven Province. It was founded in 1892 by Roman Catholic 203 households of Banat Bulgarians returning to Bulgaria from the Banat. They came mainly from the village of Vinga, but also from Dudeştii Vechi (Stár Bišnov), Konak and Breştea (Brešćа).

The village is located 24 km from Nikopol and 28 km from Pleven, on the main road between the two towns. It has an area of about 1.36 km². Asenovo's design features straight, narrow streets and 12,000 m² lots, each divided in four 3,000 m² yards. Most of the houses have a specific Banat Bulgarian architecture, being narrow and long towards the yard and having a more sharp-pointed roof than the typical Eastern Orthodox Bulgarian houses.

Asenovo is named after the medieval Bulgarian Asen dynasty. The village has a Catholic church (of the Holy Trinity) and a chitalishte (читалище, "community centre"), which was founded in 1927 and named after Petar Parchevich. It disposes of a large and a small hall and a library. Asenovo's Banat Folklore Group is known for winning a total of 18 gold medals at the 5th and 6th National Fair of Folk Art in Koprivshtitsa.

Primarily after World War I, some Eastern Orthodox Bulgarians also settled in Asenovo, but they are a minority.

As of 2009^[update] the village has a population of 325 inhabitants,^[1] mostly Roman Catholic by confession, and the mayor is Petar Ivanov of the Bulgarian Socialist Party.

References

1. ^ (English) Bulgarian National Statistical Institute - Bulgarian villages under 1000 inhabitants - December 2009

• Njagulov, Blagovest (1999). "Banatskite bǎlgari v Bǎlgarija" (in Bulgarian). Banatskite bǎlgari: istorijata na edna malcinstvena obštnost vǎv vremeto na nacionalnite dǎržavi. Sofia: Paradigma. ISBN 954-9536-13-0.