Bregare ( bg, Брегаре , ) is a village in central northern

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

, part of

Dolna Mitropoliya Dolna Mitropoliya ( bg, Долна Митрополия , "Lower Bishopric"; also transliterated as Dolna Mitropolia, Dolna Mitropolija) is a town in Pleven Province of northern Bulgaria, the administrative center of Dolna Mitropoliya municipalit ...

municipality,

Pleven Province Pleven Province ( bg, Област Плевен or Плевенска Област) is a province located in central northern Bulgaria, bordering the Danube river, Romania and the Bulgarian provinces of Vratsa, Veliko Tarnovo and Lovech. It is ...

. Bregare lies on the left bank of the

Iskar River The Iskar ( bg, Искър, ; la, Oescus) is a right tributary of the Danube. With a length of 368 km it is the longest river that runs entirely within Bulgaria.Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

, at an elevation of around .

Geography

The village of Bregare is located on the left bank of the

Iskar River The Iskar ( bg, Искър, ; la, Oescus) is a right tributary of the Danube. With a length of 368 km it is the longest river that runs entirely within Bulgaria.Danube River The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

. The altitude is 39 m. The land is divided into two parts: hilly, called "Pole" and flat - "Ormanja". To the northwest of the village many sloping slopes rise 40–70 m above it, and to the southeast, above the right bank of the Iskar River, the slopes are steeper and rise higher - up to 80–90 m above the village. The village is built in a relative plain, descending with a slope of 1/400 from southwest to northeast. The climate is temperate continental.

History

The village was settled by

Balkan Mountains The Balkan mountain range (, , known locally also as Stara planina) is a mountain range in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula in Southeastern Europe. The range is conventionally taken to begin at the peak of Vrashka Chuka on the border betw ...

colonists from

Vratsa Province Vratsa Province ( bg, Област Враца ''Oblast Vraca'', former name Okrug, Vraca okrug) is a Bulgarian province located in the northwestern part of the country, between Danube river in the north and Stara Planina mountain in the south. I ...

after the

Liberation of Bulgaria The Liberation of Bulgaria is the historical process as a result of the Bulgarian Revival. In Bulgarian historiography, the liberation of Bulgaria refers to those events of the Tenth Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) that led to the re-establishmen ...

in 1878. Prior to that, following the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

and more specifically the

Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855) The siege of Sevastopol (at the time called in English the siege of Sebastopol) lasted from October 1854 until September 1855, during the Crimean War. The allies ( French, Sardinian, Ottoman, and British) landed at Eupatoria on 14 September ...

, the Ottoman government settled

Crimean Tatars , flag = Flag of the Crimean Tatar people.svg , flag_caption = Flag of Crimean Tatars , image = Love, Peace, Traditions.jpg , caption = Crimean Tatars in traditional clothing in front of the Khan's Palace ...

and

Circassians The Circassians (also referred to as Cherkess or Adyghe; Adyghe and Kabardian: Адыгэхэр, romanized: ''Adıgəxər'') are an indigenous Northwest Caucasian ethnic group and nation native to the historical country-region of Circassia in ...

in the area. They lived in dugouts and adobe houses, but were forced out of the country in 1878. After the Liberation, around 100 families of settlers from Kunino colonized the area; other Bulgarian colonists soon arrived. The colonists included 83 Banat Bulgarian families from

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

who arrived in 1894. The

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

church of

Archangel Michael Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), also ...

was built in 1912–1915 and inaugurated in 1920; according to accounts of elderly people, the architect was from Macedonia. The village also has a small

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

Banat Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of T ...

ian") church of the Holy Mother of God serving the Banat Bulgarian community. The Father Paisius school's current building was opened in 1934.

Honour

Bregare Point in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

is named after the village.

Notable people

* Georgi Dimitrov Mihailov – member of the 38-th National parliament.

Gallery

File:Ban-tsurkva.jpg, Roman Catholic ("Banatian") church File:Bregare daskalo.jpg, School in Bregare File:Gurkobik.jpg, A commission from the Vratsa Chamber of Agriculture examin the bull Gurko in the village of Bregare, 1939.

References

{{reflist Villages in Pleven Province