Lesnovo ( bg, Лесново) is a village in Central Western Bulgaria, part of
Elin Pelin Municipality
Elin or Elín is a variation of Ellen and Helene used in Scandinavian and Celtic languages.
Prominent people
*Elin Andersdotter (d. 1569), Swedish lady-in-waiting and political conspirator
* Elin Brandell (1882–1963), Swedish journalist
*Elí ...
, Sofia Province. it has 1,829 inhabitants. The village came into existence in the 16-17th centuries. Lesnovo has a three-domed Eastern Orthodox church of 'St. Archangel Michael', a rare design in Bulgaria, dating back to the early 20th century; it also features pointed arches. Lesnovo Airport, a small newly-constructed private air strip, located on the South-Easterntern outskirts of the village has compromised the rural peace and quiet of this part of the countrysid
Lesnovo lies in the Eastern Sofia Valley, between the
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 ...
to the North and Sredna Gora Mountains to the South-East. The Lesnovo River, a tributary to the
Iskar Iskar may refer to:
;Bulgaria
* Iskar (river), a river in western Bulgaria
* Iskar Reservoir, situated on the Iskar River
* Iskar (town), a town in the Iskar Municipality of the Pleven Province
* Iskar Municipality
* Iskar, Sofia, one of 24 muni ...
, flows to the North of the village. The village's name is derived from the Russian word 'les' (Russian: лес, meaning 'forest') with the Bulgarian suffix of ' -ovo', changed, when Bulgaria was being re-constructed as the spit and image of Russia during all these years of Russian rule from Moscow since the Second World War, from the previous Ottoman name 'Ormanlı' and its Bulgarian version 'Ormanliya', the word 'orman' meaning 'forest' in Turkish, the Ottoman Turks being the rulers of these parts until the tenth consecutive Russo-Turkish war of 1878.
Lesnovo has a community centre (' chitalishte') called 'Immortality' decorated with a monument to the local Bulgarian villagers who died in the 'Great Patriotic', so called, Soviet Communist/Bolshevic War against the Nazis during the Second World War. There is also, a commemorative plaque there on the water fountain in the centre of the village which reads: 'To all those who fell in the struggle against Fascism and Capitalism'. The village boasts a school founded in 1879, too.
Lesnovo Hill
Lesnovo Hill ( bg, хълм Лесново, ‘Halm Lesnovo’ \'h&lm le-'sno-vo) is the mostly ice-covered hill rising to 1286 mAntarctica is named after the village.
Gallery
Image:Church Lesnovo 1.jpg, Church
Image:Church Lesnovo 3.jpg, Church
Image:Chitalishte Lesnovo1.jpg,
Kukeri
Kukeri ( bg, кукери; singular: kuker, кукер) are elaborately costumed Bulgarian men, who perform traditional rituals intended to scare away evil spirits. This Bulgarian tradition has been practiced since Thracian times and is of a Thr ...
Image:Lesnovo center.JPG, Village centre
Image:Lesnovo Airfield.JPG, Airfield