Brestovitsa ( bg, Брестовица) is a village in the Rodopi Municipality, southern Bulgaria. The village has a population of 3,718. The village is famous for its grape-growing and wines. There is a recreation villa zone mainly owned by citizens of Plovdiv.

Geography

The village is situated at 18 km to the south-west of the municipal center

Plovdiv Plovdiv ( bg, Пловдив, ), is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, standing on the banks of the Maritsa river in the historical region of Thrace. It has a population of 346,893 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is the c ...

. It is located on the northern foothills 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 geographic border with the Upper Thracian Plain at an altitude of 297 m. The forests around the village cover an area of 2,500 ha. The relief is rugged with woods, meadows, ravines and rounded peaks. The village is characterized with transitional continental climate. The main soil types are cinnamon forests soil, the light brown forest soil and the mountain-meadow soil. The highest point in the village lands is at 930 m in the Bryanovshtitsa area. The region has large biological variety. Most of the tree species common in the European temperate zone are presented. Forests occupy 2/3 of the village lands and 1/5 of them are artificially made – mainly pine and

fir Firs (''Abies'') are a genus of 48–56 species of evergreen coniferous trees in the family (biology), family Pinaceae. They are found on mountains throughout much of North America, North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa. The ...

. The most common species among the deciduous trees are hornbeam,

hazel The hazel (''Corylus'') is a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae,Germplasmgobills Information Network''Corylus''Rushforth, K. (1999). ...

, oak,

beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...

, elm, lime tree, dogwood and

crataegus ''Crataegus'' (), commonly called hawthorn, quickthorn, thornapple, Voss, E. G. 1985. ''Michigan Flora: A guide to the identification and occurrence of the native and naturalized seed-plants of the state. Part II: Dicots (Saururaceae–Cornacea ...

and among the coniferous are several species of pine, fir and

juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' () of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from the Arcti ...

. Around 5% of the forests are used for timber industry and the rest 95% have specific ecological purpose. The fauna is also very rich and includes species such as

hare Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores, and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The ge ...

fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

, wolf, wild boar, golden jackal, European badger, roe deer, deer, mouflon as well as many bird species including eagles and owls.

History

The village exists since the 12th century. In the village lands have been discovered traces of a pre-historic settlement. Votive tablets with the Thracian horseman, silver coins and other objects have been discovered. There are also the remains of the St Nicolas Monastery constructed during the cultural apogee of the

Second Bulgarian Empire The Second Bulgarian Empire (; ) was a medieval Bulgarians, Bulgarian state that existed between 1185 and 1396. A successor to the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Tsars Kaloyan of Bulgaria, Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II ...

during the 14th century. The monastery was destroyed during forceful Islamization in 1666. Some of the monastery books are still preserved in the episcopal library in Plovdiv including two gospels from the 15th and 17th centuries. There is a theory that the St Nicolas Monastery used to be a literate center. The village was mentioned for the first time in an Ottoman register from 1576 with the name Birestuviche.

Religion

The Church of St Theodore of Tyron was constructed on the place of an older edifice which was destroyed during a flooding in 1848. The new church was inaugurated on 25 August 1851. It was large enough to accommodate the whole population of the village in that time. The icons were created by the painter Dimitar Zograf and his son Nikola Zograf from the town of Samokov.

Education

The first school in the village was built for several months in 1835 although education had begun in 1800 in a small building with one room. The modern school named after the prominent Bulgarian poet and revolutionary Hristo Botev includes three buildings. The '' chitalishte'' ''Saznanie'' (Consciousness) was built in 1873 by Bulgarian patriots. During its existence it became the cultural center of the village preserving its authentic traditions. The folk formations have interests in all aspects of the Bulgarian folklore. They perform and study traditional songs and dances from all over the country especially from Thrace. There are currently four ensembles in the chitalishte.

Sports

The sports movement in Brestovitsa has its beginning in the 1920s when several gymnastics and football clubs were established. In 1982 a new sports hall with 250 seats was built and is used by the village school. Vanja Gesheva-Tsvetkova, the first Bulgarian with three medals in one Olympiad began her sports career in Brestovitsa.

Gallery

File:Brestovitsa-view.jpg , A view to the village File:Brestovitsa-war-monument.jpg , A monument to the fallen in the "resistance against fascism" File:Brestovitsa-church.jpg , The Church of St Theodore of Tyron File:Mavrud.jpg , Mavrud red wine from Brestovitza wine cellar

Notes

External links

Radio and television in Brestovitsa
{{Rodopi Municipality Villages in Plovdiv Province