|
|
Plovdiv History in Brief
|
Plovdiv
is located on the banks of Maritsa River in the upper
Thracian lowlands.
The climate and the geographic location of the town have
contributed to its development and continued growth. Plovdiv
is a crossroads of international importance and links
the East with Europe, the Baltic with the Mediterranian,
the Black Sea with the Adriatic regions. The six picturesque
hills of the city impart a unique beauty to this town.
Plovdiv is one of the most ancient towns not only in Bulgaria
but in all Europe.
|
|
|
|
Plovdiv
was contemporary with Troy and is also more ancient than
Rome and Athens. Its first inhabitants were two Thracian
tribes, the Odrysae and the Bessae, who lived in the Maritsa
River Valley and the Rhodope Mountains. They established
a fortified settlement on three of the hills, and gave it
the name Evmolpia, or "melodious", taking this name after
the mythycal poet and musican Orpheus. |
| Another
legend tells us that the town was named after Evmolp, the
husband of the beautiful nymph Rodena. In 342 BC, Philip
of Macedon conquered the settlement, built a fortress with
massive walls around it, and changed the name to "Philippopolis",
or Philip`s City. Upon
the death of Alexander the Great, Philip`s son, the freedom-loving
Thracians revolted against their Macedonian leaders. Macedonian
rule ended after only half a century. Seuthes III, the tsar
of the Odrysae, restored the Thracian Kingdom. |
|
Over
two centuries the Romans conquered Thrace. Up to 72 BC
they took possession of the whole Maritsa River Valley,
including Philipopolis. They renamed the town Trimontium,
a town on three hills. They quickly realized the strategic
location of the town and undertook major building projects:
stone-paved roads, public buildings, churches, baths,
staduims and theathres. The town went beyond the outline
of the three hills and extended into the surrounding valley.
At the end of the 4th Century AD, with the decline of
the Roman Empire, the Bulgarian region was separated into
two parts. Plovdiv became a part of the Eastern Roman
Empire, beginning the
so-called Byzantine period of the history of Trimontium.
The town had many names during this period - Ulpia, Flavia,
Julia. Around the 6th Century, migrating Slavic tribes
began to filter into the city, gradually changing the
ethnic structure of the whole region. They took up the
Thracian name of the town, Pulpudeva, modifying it to
Puldin and Ploudin.
|
|
|
|
In
the times of the first and second Bulgarian Kingdom, Plovdiv
was the subject of straggles between the Byzantine Empire
and the young Bulgarian state. Situated between these two
opposing powers, it changed allegance several times. In
the 14th Century, when the Turks conquered the Maritsa River
Valley, Plovdiv came under the domination of the Ottoman
Empire and lost the importance it once had. The fortifications
were destroyed and many vestiges of the city`s ancient past
faded away. The Turks changed not only the name of the town,
to Filibe, but also its architecture. They
built mosques, inns and baths. |
|
On the threshold of the Orient, Philibe sprang up as a busy
economic centre, a town of craftsmen and merchants. One
of the oldest clock towers built during the Turkish occupation
in Eastern Europe is located on Sahat Tepe (the hill with
the TV transmitters on top). The clock is working even nowadays. |
|
In
the 1800`s, a national revival awoke the Bulgarian spirit
and helped Plovdiv foster a new Bulgarian history with
its contribution to the national culture and struggle
for an independent Bulgarian church.
In 1850 the well-known enlightener Nayden Gerov established
the first class school. Hristo G. Danov founded the first
Bulgarian publishing house in 1855.In 1887 the Turkish
government officially recognised the independence of the
Bulgarian church, and thereby the existence of the Bulgarian
nation. Before 1870 the Bulgarians were referred to only
as "Christians" but now they were "Bulgarians". Plovdiv
was famous for many cultural and educational events, and
many non-clerical schools were established there.
|
| The
independence of the church and the establishment of natinal
educational institutions became heralds of the victory of
the Bulgarian national revolution for at least two reasons:
they put an end to the assimilation of the Bulgarian population
and led to formal international recognition of the Bulgarian
nation. The eternal city has aways inspired the greatest
intellectual and spirital leaders of the Bulgarian nation.
The citizens of Plovdiv took an important role in the struggle
for church independence and against Ottoman rule. |
|
|
|
At
the end of the Russian-Turkish war of liberation, Russia
and Turkey signed the treaty of San Stefano on March 3,
1878. Bulgaria was to be established as an autonomous principality
with an elected prince. With the exception of Constantinople,
Adrianople and Salonika, the new principality included all
the territory between the Danube on the north, the Black
Sea on the east, the Aegean Sea on the south, and Lake Ohrid
and beyond in the west. The cosmopolitan town of Plovdiv
was declared the capital of the newly recognised principality.
|
| The
subsequent Berlin Treaty ruined the hopes of the Bulgarian
people for a united and free country. Bulgaria was divided
into parts - the Kingdom of Bulgaria, with Sofia as its
capital, and the province of East Romelia, with Plovdiv
as its capital. Sofia grew more powerful as a political
centre, but Plovdiv still remains the second largest city
in Bulgaria after the capital Sofia. After the second world
war was established very close relationship with USSR and
many monuments were built in honor of the USSR. One of them,
the monument of the Russian soldier "Aljosha", remain
at the top of a hill in Plovdiv. Plovdiv city is an important
industrial, commercial, cultural and communications center.
|
<< Back to Plovdiv Home Section
|
|
|
