Leskovdol (Bulgarian: Лесковдол) is a mountain village in Bulgaria located in Western Stara Planina in Svoge municipality, 45 kilometers north from Sofia. It is believed that the village was founded after the building of the nearby Seven Altars Monastery. Its population is 104 people, fewer than 10 of which are children below the age of 18.[1] Leskovdol is divided into a number of hamlets, each one consisting of 10 to 20 houses or barns. Near the village are located Trastena hut (Bulgarian:Хижа Тръстена), Izdremets peak, the Kom - Emine long-distance footpath and the Lakatnik rocks.
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One of the theories is that the name of the village comes from the stones which could be found here - Leska (Bulgarian: Леска). The stone is used as a decoration for the enclosures and the walls of local houses and in the past was used as a foundation for the adobe made houses. The other theory is that Leskov comes from the bulgarian word Leska (Bulgarian: Леска) which means hazel tree. The Bulgarian word dol is translated in English as small valley. It is not known what is in fact the village name - Leskov dol or Leskovdol, but nowadays many people have adopted the merged version. Also on most of the maps and in official documents the name is written Leskovdol.[2]
It is believed that the village appeared on the map between the years 1000 and 1300. The legend of the founding of the nearby monastery states that 7 brothers from Bessarabia setteled in the mountains around the monastery and brought their families with them. One of the brothers setteled in the lands of Leskovdol with his family and founded the village. This is just a legend [3] but so far no evidences about the village's history are found.
It is known [4] that around the time of khan Krum on the northern hills above the village was located a fortress called Vetrilova vodenitsa. It is not known when exactly was the fortress built but it is known that it was repaired during the time of khan Krum for his march to conquer Serdica. Today on the meadows above Leskovdol, near Izdremets peak, can be found numerous scattered stones, rocks and also parts of the foundations of the fortress. Near the village also passed the ancient roman road from Vratsa to Serdica.
20 people from the village perished in the wars that took place between 1912 and 1918. Their names are inscripted into a memorial plaque on one of the walls of the village church.
The landscape is steep, typical for the Western Stara Planina region. Leskovdol is situated in the Murgash part, from 700 to 1200 meters above sea level. Forests cover a large percentage of the territory. Wide meadows can be seen mainly in the higher parts. No big rivers flow through the village although there are many small streams. All of them merge with a small river which flows into the Iskar and is called Redinska.
Today the village with all of its hamlets lies on the slopes of the Stara planina[5] on over 26,2 square kilometers.
The flora is dominated by oaks, elms, birches and many fruit tree species from the broad-leaved trees & pines and firs from the conifers. The flora is typical for this part of the region. The fauna in the region is represented by species of birds, bugs, mammals and reptiles typical for Stara Planina. There can also be seen, but rarely, wolves, foxes and hedgehogs. Domestic animals such as sheep, goats, pigs, chickens, cattle, cows, donkeys and honey bees can also be seen in almost every yard because local people take care of them for their products.
The village is divided into a number of hamlets. Leskovdol also neighbours the village of Redina and Svoge's neighbourhood of Drenov. Due to Leskovdol's closeness to Svoge some of the houses at the beginning of the road are part of Drenov. Also close to Leskovdol's village hall and shop there is an intersection where the road to Leskovdol crosses a dirt road to Redina's most remote hamlets and another dirt road leading to Leskovdol's hamlets Klyuch, Popov kladenets, Ladomeritsa & Livada.
Some of the hamlets' names are: Klyuch, Selishteto, Arto, Kokeleni babki, Startsa, Razmeritsa, Draganov Tok, Svinareva, Livada, Ravnishteto, Popov kladenets, Ladomeritsa.
There is a single school - "Hristo Botev" but it shut down years ago. The local children go to the nearby town of Svoge to continue their education. The first village school was build on the banks of Redinska river but was destroyed in the 1940s. Soon after the existing school was built in Selishteto hamlet.
Nowadays the village has no functioning schools or chitalishta. Years ago Leskovdol had a folklor ensemble which performed national dances & songs from Bulgaria and from the Svoge region. The traditions here are close to the ones typical for the Svoge and Sofia regions.
While under Ottoman rule Bulgaria's population mainly lived in the mountain regions in small villages. At the beginning of the 20th century the population was at least 800 people and continued to enlarge. The migration towards the cities and the lowering fertility rate are the biggest problems that kept Leskovdol from growing. Today the permanent population is 87 residents and an additional 17 people who declare to live in Leskovdol but at the moment reside in another place. (data from 15.09.2011). The population is expected to keep declining. Most of the people (around 60% [6]) are retired. In summer a lot of people, mainly from Sofia, come to their villas for the typical summer break for adults and students.
Most of the old houses in the village were build using adobe, rocks, wood and roof tiles. In the late 1960s people from around the country bought parcels in the village's hamlets and started building a second type of houses - villas and bungalows - which they used as a residence for their summer vacations. The villas are built with modern building material and thus creating a mixed look of the village with both typical and new houses forming the background. According to the 2001 census there were 128 local houses, 26 of which abandoned, and 619 villas.
People from the village either work in Svoge and Sofia or take care of their own small gardens and animal farms. Woodcutters are also often seen in the higher parts of the mountain. There is a small bar and a shop next to the village hall. They are open every tuesday, thursday and saturday.
The entire population consists of christians. There are two cemeteries - one nearby the village hall, and the other is in the hamlet Selishteto. The church is also there. It was built during the period between the two world wars. There are no priests since the 1970s. There is also an outdoor semantron.
There are two monasteries close to Leskovdol. One is the Seven Altars Monastery and the other is the Batuliya monastery "Sveti Nikola" which is located about 20 kilometers south east from the village.
Leskovdol can be reached from the main road Sofia - Mezdra just before entering Svoge. The only asphalt road is mostly in a good condition but only reaches the center of the village. Apart from that road all the others are dirt roads. There are two charter buses to the village from Svoge every day - one in the morning and another in the afternoon. On Thursday there is an additional bus around noon.[7]
Almost all the houses have electricity and water supply although in the summer due to mass usage some of the houses receive lower voltage and not enough water. There are no telephone lines except a telephone post in the village hall. The postal code is 2268 and the post is delivered only to the village hall. The three Bulgarian mobile operators have complete coverage in Leskovdol. The village hall shut down in the summer of 1999 due to the continuing diminution of the population.[8]