Veliko Tarnovo
Veliko Tarnovo is a city in north central Bulgaria and the administrative centre of Veliko Tarnovo Province. It is the historical and spiritual capital of Bulgaria.
Often referred to as the "City of the Tsars", Veliko Tarnovo is located on the Yantra River and is famously known as the historical capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire, attracting many tourists with its unique architecture. The old part of the town is situated on three hills, Tsarevets, Trapezitsa, and Sveta Gora, rising amidst the meanders of the Yantra. On Tsarevets are the palaces of the Bulgarian emperors and the Patriarchate, the Patriarchal Cathedral, and also a number of administrative and residential edifices surrounded by thick walls.
Trapezitsa is known for its many churches and as the former main residence of the nobility. During the Middle Ages, the town was among the main European centres of culture and gave its name to the architecture of the Tarnovo Artistic School, painting of the Tarnovo Artistic School, and to literature. Veliko Tarnovo is an important administrative, economic, educational, and cultural centre of Northern Bulgaria.
Etymology
The most widespread theory for the name's origin holds that its original names of Tarnovgrad and Tarnovo come from the Old Bulgarian тръневъ or тръновъ, meaning "thorny". The suffix "grad" means "city" in Bulgarian and in many Slavic languages. In 1965, the word велико, meaning "great", was added to the original name in honour of the town's status as an old capital of Bulgaria. This also helps distinguish it from the town of Malko Tarnovo. In Ottoman Turkish, it was called طرنوه.Symbols
The anthem of the city is Shishman's song, dedicated to the last Bulgarian king of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom. The coat of arms of Tarnovo depicts a figure with three lions. Purple color was used for the flag of the city, because during the excavations in the church St. Forty Martyrs, purple clothes of rulers were found. There is also a key and a necklace of Veliko Tarnovo. The first known coat of arms of the city is from 1921 by Dimitar Bagrilov.Geography
Location
Veliko Tarnovo has an area of. The area which is assigned to the town is. It is located on the river Yantra. The town has always had a strategic position. It is located on main roads which connect West Balkans with Black Sea and East Europe with Middle East. In the East and North-East the town borders with the Arbanassi Bardo. North – with the Orlovets locality, to the west with the Kozludzha locality and to the south with the area Dalga laka.Relief
The relief of the Municipality of Veliko Tarnovo is diverse – plain-hilly and mountainous. It is situated at above sea level.Hydrography
The water catchment area of the river Yantra is. There are several springs in the area of the town. The main drinking source is the Yovkovtsi hydropower plant.Soils
The southern part of the city predominately features chernozem and gray forest soils. Repellents are also distributed – hummus-carbonate soils.Area
There are places around the town that keep their names for many years. Sini Vir is located to the west of the Cholakovtsi neighborhood in the Yantra River valley outside the town. Dervent is located in the Yantra River Gorge, near the Preobrazhenie Monastery. The Hill Golemyat duvar with the highest peak 363 m. It is located between Veliko Tarnovo and the village Prisovo.Hills
Veliko Tarnovo is situated on several hills. The Tsarevets, Trapezitsa, Momina krepost were the main centers of kings and boyars during the Second Bulgarian State, when the town was a capital. Sveta Gora hill was a spiritual and literary center, and part of the today's Rectorate of Veliko Tarnovo University. The Garga Bair hill lies north of Trapezitsa. On the Orlovets hill are the Varusha neighborhood and the Akatsion and Kartala districts, the highest point is above sea level. The Troshana Hill is located south of Sveta Gora and west of the Motela dam, and Veliko Tarnovo Hills is being built on it.Caves
There are about 50 caves and rock niches around Veliko Tarnovo. They are formed in limestones from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. They are located mainly around the Arbanassi hill and the rock crown in the Dervent gorge.Climate
Veliko Tarnovo has a humid continental climate, according to the Köppen climate classification, experiencing warm summers and cold, snowy winters. The average minimum temperature in the coldest month, January, is about, while the average maximum in August, the hottest month. The highest recorded temperature was, while the lowest was.Flora and fauna
Flora
The deciduous forests predominate in Veliko Tarnovo – beech, hornbeam, oak, cherry, lime, poplar, etc. There are woods of coniferous vegetation. They predominate fir tree, Pine, Abies grandis, Scots pine, Abies pinsapo and other. Near the river, the springs and the marshlands are seen: Green algae, Diatom and others. Over 25 types of mushrooms are encountered: Boletus edulis, Agaricus campestris, Macrolepiota procera, Chanterelle, among others.Fauna
The territory of the region has a rich variety of the animal world – 350 species of birds and 35 species of animals. Mammals include Hare, Fox, Deer, Wild boar, Hedgehogs, European ground squirrel. Birds include: Grey partridge, Crow, Common quail, Pheasant, White stork, Eurasian eagle-owl, Goose and others. Over 180 species of insects are encountered: Cockchafer, Grasshopper, Firefly and others. There are also reptiles: Turtles, Snakes, Lizards and others. Local fish include Wels catfish, European perch, Common carp, Common barbel.History
Prehistory and antiquity
Veliko Tarnovo is one of the oldest settlements in Bulgaria, with a history of more than five millennia. The first traces of human presence, dating from the 3rd millennium BC, were discovered on Trapezitsa Hill.First Bulgarian state
Tarnovo was a stronghold of the First Bulgarian Empire. A number of coins, specimens and ceramics from the First Bulgarian State were found on the hills on which the capital city of Tarnovgrad stretched. The city was important for the first Bulgarian state. There was an important military garrison in it. In the Holy Forty Martyrs Church specimens were found that historians believe are the work of Bulgars from Volga Bulgaria.Uprising of Asen and Peter
The Uprising of Asen and Peter began on 26 October 1185, the feast day of St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki, and ended with the restoration of Bulgaria with the creation of the Second Bulgarian Empire, ruled by the Asen dynasty. Old Tarnovo would serve as the capital.Medieval Bulgarian rule
Veliko Tarnovo, originally Tarnovgrad, grew quickly to become the strongest Bulgarian fortification and most prosperous city during the second half of the High and the Late Middle Ages and also most important political, economic, cultural and religious centre of the empire. In the 14th century, the city was described by Bulgarian cleric Gregory Tsamblak as "a very large city, handsome and surrounded by walls, with 12,000 to 15,000 inhabitants"., the fortress of Tsarevets being the primary fortress and strongest bulwark from 1185 to 1393, housing the royal and the patriarchal palaces.In the 14th century, as the Byzantine Empire weakened, Tarnovo claimed to be the Third Rome, based on its preeminent cultural influence in Southeastern Europe.
As the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire, Tarnovo was a quasi-cosmopolitan city, with many foreign merchants and envoys. Tarnovo is known to have had Armenian, Jewish and Roman Catholic merchant quarters, besides a dominant Bulgarian population. The discovery of three Gothic heads of statuettes indicates there may have also been a Catholic church.
Ottoman rule
The political upsurge and spiritual development of Tarnovo were halted when the Ottoman Empire captured the city on 17 July 1393. The siege lasted for three months, with the Bulgarian Patriarch Evtimiy leading the defence. Three years later, the Ottomans conquered the entire Bulgarian Empire.Bulgarian resistance against Ottoman rule remained centred in Tarnovo until the end of the 17th century. Two major anti-Ottoman uprisings – in 1598 and in 1686 – started in the city. Tarnovo was consecutively a district capital in the Rumelia Eyalet, in the Silistria Eyalet, and finally in the Danube Vilayet.
Tarnovgrad, along with the rest of present-day Bulgaria, remained under Ottoman rule until the 19th century, when national identity and culture reasserted themselves as a strengthening resistance movement. The goal of the establishment of an independent Bulgarian church and nation motivated the 1875 and 1876 uprisings in the city. On 23 April 1876, the April uprising marked the beginning of the end of the Ottoman occupation. It was soon followed by the Russo-Turkish War.
Third Bulgarian State
On 7 July 1877, Russian general Joseph Vladimirovich Gourko liberated Veliko Tarnovo, ending the 480-year rule of the Ottoman Empire. In 1878, the Treaty of Berlin created a Principality of Bulgaria between the Danube and the Stara Planina range, with its seat at the old Bulgarian capital of Veliko Tarnovo. Due to the capture of Tarnovo by Russian forces, the Muslim refugees fled to Anatolia.On 17 April 1879, the first National Assembly convened in Veliko Tarnovo to ratify the state's first constitution, known as the Tarnovo Constitution, resulting in the transfer of parliament from Tarnovgrad to Sofia, which today remains the Bulgarian capital.
In deference to the city's past, Tsar Ferdinand, of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, chose the Forty Holy Martyrs Church in Veliko Tarnovo as the place to declare the complete independence of Bulgaria on 5 October 1908.
In 1965, the city, then officially known as Tarnovo, was renamed Veliko Tarnovo to commemorate its rich history and importance.