Buzludzha ( bg, Бузлуджа ) is a historical peak in the Central

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 ...

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 ...

. The mountain is located to the east of the

Shipka Pass Shipka Pass ( bg, Шипченски проход, ) (el. 1150 m./3820 ft.) is a scenic mountain pass through the Balkan Mountains in Bulgaria. It marks the border between Stara Zagora province and Gabrovo province. The pass connects the ...

near the town of

Kazanlak Kazanlak ( bg, Казанлък , Thracian and Greek Σευθόπολις (''Seuthopolis''), tr, Kazanlık) is a Bulgarian town in Stara Zagora Province, located in the middle of the plain of the same name, at the foot of the Balkan mountain ...

and is a site of historical importance. The peak is high. It was renamed to Hadzhi Dimitar (Хаджи Димитър) in 1942 but remains popularly known as Buzludzha. The summit is limestone and granite. Its slopes are covered with grassy vegetation; its foothills and the neighbouring peaks sustain

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 ...

forests. The peak's name derives from tr, buzlu 'icy'.

History

In 1868 it was the place of the final battle between

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

rebels led by

Hadzhi Dimitar Dimitar Nikolov Asenov ( bg, Димитър Николов Асенов ; 10 May 1840 – 10 August 1868), better known as Hadzhi Dimitar ( ), was one of the most prominent Bulgarian voivode and revolutionaries working for the Liberation of Bulg ...

and

Stefan Karadzha Stefan Karadzha (pronounced aɾadʒˈa bg, Стефан Караджа; born Stefan Todorov Dimov, Стефан Тодоров Димов; 11 May 1840 – 31 July 1868), was a Bulgarian national hero, a revolutionary from the national libe ...

and forces of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. On 31 July, Hadzhi Dimitar and a band of 30 ''chetniks'' fought a losing battle against 700 Ottoman troops; only four Bulgarians survived. Their action served as an inspiration for 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 ...

from the Ottomans ten years later; the decisive battle of that conflict was fought a few miles away at the Shipka Pass. The battle of Buzludzha inspired the renown Bulgarian poet and revolutionary

Hristo Botev Hristo Botev ( bg, Христо Ботев, ), born Hristo Botyov Petkov (Христо Ботьов Петков; – ), was a Bulgarian revolutionary and poet. Botev is considered by Bulgarians to be a symbolic historical figure and nationa ...

to write the poem "Hadzhi Dimitar": In 1891 the mountain was the site chosen for the first congress of the Bulgarian Social Democratic Workers Party (later the

Bulgarian Communist Party The Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP; bg, Българска Комунистическа Партия (БКП), Balgarska komunisticheska partiya (BKP)) was the founding and ruling party of the People's Republic of Bulgaria from 1946 until 198 ...

) led by

Dimitar Blagoev Dimitar Blagoev Nikolov (, mk, Димитар Благоев Николов; 14 June 1856 – 7 May 1924) was a Bulgarian political leader and philosopher. He was the founder of the Bulgarian left-wing political movement and of the first social- ...

. In 1944 the peak was the scene of fighting between Communist partisans and detachments of the Bulgarian Army when the latter were attacked whilst operating there. Following a desire for a national monument at the peak to commemorate these events (proposed as early as 1898) the

Buzludzha Monument The Monument House of the Bulgarian Communist Party (), also known as the Buzludzha Monument (), was built on Buzludzha Peak in central Bulgaria by the Bulgarian communist government and inaugurated in 1981. It commemorated the events of 1891, wh ...

was built between 1971 and 1981, by public subscription. The site has several other monuments to its history: A statue of Hadzhi Dimitar, a relief of the 1891 Congress, and a monument to the partisans who fought there in 1944. In 1974, TNT blasting was employed to remove more than 15,000 cubic metres of rock and create a level foundation for building the new memorial house. As a result, the peak was lowered by – from to its current height of .

Travel

Buzludzha can be reached by two side roads from the

:The Rough Guide to Bulgaria (2008) p. 297 either a road from

in the south or a road from

Gabrovo Gabrovo ( bg, Габрово ) is a town in central northern Bulgaria, the administrative centre of Gabrovo Province. It is situated at the foot of the central Balkan Mountains, in the valley of the Yantra River, and is known as an internationa ...

on the north side of the mountain.

In popular culture

In December 2020 British pop-singer

Rita Ora Rita Sahatçiu Ora (born Rita Sahatçiu; 26 November 1990) is a British singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence in February 2012 when she featured on DJ Fresh's single, "Hot Right Now", which reached number one in the UK. Her debut studi ...

shot her new music video ‘Big’ Ora on Buzludzha Peak with permission from the local government.

Citations

References

* {{cite book , ref={{harvid, Geographic Dictionary of Bulgaria, 1980 , title = Географски речник на България , trans-title = Geographic Dictionary of Bulgaria , last1 = Мичев (Michev) , first1 = Николай (Nikolay) , last2 = Михайлов (Mihaylov) , first2 = Цветко (Tsvetko) , last3 = Вапцаров (Vaptsarov) , first3 = Иван (Ivan) , last4 = Кираджиев (Kiradzhiev) , first4 = Светлин (Svetlin) , year = 1980 , language = bg , publisher = Наука и култура (Nauka i kultura) , location = София (Sofia)

Bibliography

Adrien Minard, ''Bouzloudja. Crépuscule d'une utopie'', Paris, Éditions B2, 2018.

External links

Buzludzha 3D
Mountains of Bulgaria Balkan mountains Landforms of Stara Zagora Province Place names of Turkish origin in Bulgaria