Klyuch (, "key"; also transliterated ''Кључ, Ključ, Kliuch, Kljuch'', etc.,

Medieval Greek Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the Ottoman co ...

: Κλειδίον, ''Kleidion,''

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

: Clidium) is a village in south-westernmost

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

Petrich Municipality Petrich Municipality is a municipality in Blagoevgrad Province in Southwestern Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the east ...

Blagoevgrad Province Blagoevgrad Province ( bg, област Благоевград, ''oblast Blagoevgrad'' or Благоевградска област, ''Blagoevgradska oblast''), also known as Pirin Macedonia or Bulgarian Macedonia ( bg, Пиринска Маке� ...

. It lies at , 455 metres above sea level. As of 2005, it has a population of 1,113 and the mayor is Hristo Markov. Klyuch lies at the northern foot of the

Belasitsa Belasica ( Macedonian and Bulgarian: , also translit. ''Belasitsa'' or ''Belasitza'', Ottoman Turkish: بلش Turkish: ''Beleş''), Belles ( el, Μπέλλες, ''Bélles'') or Kerkini (, ''Kerkíni'';), is a mountain range in the region of M ...

mountains, south of the Strumeshnitsa River, in the geographic region of Podgorie. The climate is transitional

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

, with a summer minimum and a winter maximum of precipitation. The village is famous for the

Battle of Kleidion The Battle of Kleidion ( grc-gre, Κλειδίον; or Clidium, after the medieval name of the village of Klyuch, "(the) key"; also known as the Battle of Belasitsa) took place on July 29, 1014, between the Byzantine Empire and the Bulgarian E ...

of 29 July 1014, in which

Tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East Slavs, East and South Slavs, South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''Caesar (title), caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" i ...

Samuil of Bulgaria Samuel (also Samuil; bg, Самуил, ; mk, Самоил/Самуил, ; Old Church Slavonic: Самоилъ; died October 6, 1014) was the Tsar (''Emperor'') of the First Bulgarian Empire from 997 to 6 October 1014. From 977 to 997, he was a ...

's forces were routed by

Byzantine Emperor This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as le ...

Basil II Basil II Porphyrogenitus ( gr, Βασίλειος Πορφυρογέννητος ;) and, most often, the Purple-born ( gr, ὁ πορφυρογέννητος, translit=ho porphyrogennetos).. 958 – 15 December 1025), nicknamed the Bulgar S ...

's army. After the battle, Basil ordered all 14,000 Bulgarian captives blinded, with a single soldier left one-eyed to guide every hundred blinded home. Five kilometres north of the village are the ruins of Samuil's Fortress, built between 1009 and 1013, and the Samuil's Fortress National Park-Museum, created in 1982 and featuring a bronze monument to Samuil. Klyuch is also famous for several alleged cases of

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...

, mostly popularized by the local Kiril Yakimov.

n international footballer

Spas Delev Spas Borislavov Delev ( bg, Спас Бориславов Делев; born 22 September 1989) is a Bulgarian professional footballer who currently plays as a winger for Ludogorets Razgrad and the Bulgarian national team. Club career Youth ca ...

(b. 1989) was born in Klyuch. He plays for Arda Kardzhali.

References

Villages in Blagoevgrad Province {{Blagoevgrad-geo-stub