Bratsigovo ( bg, Брацигово ) is a town in Southern Bulgaria. It is located in the

foothill Foothills or piedmont are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills and the adjacent topograp ...

s of the

Rhodope Mountains The Rhodopes (; bg, Родопи, ; el, Ροδόπη, ''Rodopi''; tr, Rodoplar) are a mountain range in Southeastern Europe, and the largest by area in Bulgaria, with over 83% of its area in the southern part of the country and the remainder in ...

, on the banks of the Umishka River in Pazardzhik oblast, and is close to the towns of

Peshtera Peshtera ( bg, Пещера , sometimes transliterated as ''Peštera''; rup, Peshtera) is a town in the Rhodope Mountains, southern Bulgaria. It is located in Pazardzhik Province near the towns of Batak and Bratsigovo. The town is the third lar ...

and Krichim.

Bratsigovo Hills Bratsigovo Hills ( bg, text=Брациговски хълмове, italic=yes, ‘Bratsigovski Halmove’ \bra-'tsi-gov-ski 'h&l-mo-ve\) is the chain of rocky hills rising to over 400 mTrinity Peninsula in Antarctica are named after the town. Some Aromanians live in Bratsigovo.

History

Bratsigovo-church-St-John-Precursor-belfry

Archeological evidence has shown that the area was inhabited by Thracians and later

Slavs Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...

. Historical records show the township was established at some point in the 16th-17th century, built over the ruins of an earlier settlement. The founders of the new town were Bulgarian emigrants from the western part of Aegean Macedonia, from the vicinity of Kostur.Митев, Йоно. История на Априлското въстание, София 1988, т. ІІ, с. 171. The population of Bratsigovo took an active part in the April Uprising of 1876. In 1950 Bratsigovo had a population of 3,364. (Source=Columbia-Lippincott Gazetteer) Web page: http://www.bratsigovo.bg/

Balneology

The town is developing as a balneological center, too. There is a cold mineral water spring (18-26 C) with the flow rate of 120 liters per minute at the distance of 500 metres west of it. There is a balneo-sanatorium built up here. The mineral water treats some skin diseases, the nervous system, kidney related diseases and others. There is a nice park and a country-houses zone around it.

Sources

Bulgarian Coastal Properties: Bratsigovo

References

Towns in Bulgaria Cities and towns in the Rhodopes Populated places in Pazardzhik Province Spa towns in Bulgaria Aromanian settlements in Bulgaria {{Pazardzhik-geo-stub