Mirkovo ( bg, Мирково, ) is a village in western

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

Sofia Province Sofia Province ( bg, Софийска област, translit=Sofiyska oblast) is a province (''oblast'') of Bulgaria. The province does not include Sofia in its territories, but Sofia remains its administrative center. The province borders on t ...

. It is the administrative centre of

Mirkovo Municipality Mirkovo ( bg, Мирково, ) is a village in western Bulgaria, part of Sofia Province. It is the administrative centre of Mirkovo Municipality, which lies in the central eastern part of Sofia Province. The village is located in the eastern part ...

, which lies in the central eastern part of Sofia Province. The village is located in the eastern part of the

Zlatitsa Zlatitsa ( bg, Златица ) is a town and the seat of the Zlatitsa Municipality in southern Bulgaria located in the Zlatitsa-Pirdop valley. It lies between Stara Planina to the north and Sredna Gora to the south at above sea level. It is si ...

–

Pirdop Pirdop ( bg, Пирдоп ) is a town located in South-West Bulgaria in Pirdop Municipality of Sofia Province in the southeastern part of the Zlatitsa - Pirdop Valley at 670 m above sea level. It is surrounded by the Balkan Range (also known as t ...

valley, 63 kilometres east of the capital

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

, at the southern foot of the 1,787-metre Etropolska Baba Peak in the

Etropole Etropole ( bg, Етрополе, ) is a town in western Bulgaria, part of Sofia Province. It is located close to the northern slopes of the Balkan Mountains in the valley of the Iskar River, from Sofia. History The area was first settled by the ...

part of 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 ...

. The surrounding area has been inhabited since the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

, with the

Thracians The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European languages, Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. ...

and

Romans 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 ...

populating it in Antiquity and the

Slavs Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...

and

Bulgars The Bulgars (also Bulghars, Bulgari, Bolgars, Bolghars, Bolgari, Proto-Bulgarians) were Turkic semi-nomadic warrior tribes that flourished in the Pontic–Caspian steppe and the Volga region during the 7th century. They became known as nomad ...

in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

, when it was part of the

First Bulgarian Empire The First Bulgarian Empire ( cu, блъгарьско цѣсарьствиѥ, blagarysko tsesarystviye; bg, Първо българско царство) was a medieval Bulgar- Slavic and later Bulgarian state that existed in Southeastern Europ ...

and

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 ...

. The village itself, however, was first mentioned in Ottoman registers in 1430 and 1751 as ''Mirkuva''; the name is thought to originate from the South Slavic personal name ''Mirko'' with the placename suffix -ovo. A monastical school was established in 1825, during the

Bulgarian National Revival The Bulgarian National Revival ( bg, Българско национално възраждане, ''Balgarsko natsionalno vazrazhdane'' or simply: Възраждане, ''Vazrazhdane'', and tr, Bulgar ulus canlanması) sometimes called the Bu ...

, and the locals took an active part in 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 ...

, participating in

hajduk A hajduk ( hu, hajdúk, plural of ) is a type of irregular infantry found in Central and parts of Southeast Europe from the late 16th to mid 19th centuries. They have reputations ranging from bandits to freedom fighters depending on time, p ...

bands and assisting the Russian forces as ''

opalchentsi ) , war=the Serbian-Turkish Wars (1876-1878) and the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 , image= , caption=The standard of the Bulgarian Opaltchentsi , active=1877-1878 , ideology= Bulgarian nationalism , leaders= Collective leadership , groups= , ...

'' in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78. The village

Bulgarian Orthodox The Bulgarian Orthodox Church ( bg, Българска православна църква, translit=Balgarska pravoslavna tsarkva), legally the Patriarchate of Bulgaria ( bg, Българска патриаршия, links=no, translit=Balgarsk ...

church of Saint Greatmartyr Demetrius was built in 1834 by the masters Minko and Delo.

Gallery

Image:MirkovoCentre_church_6-Rainov-IFB.JPG, Church of Saint Greatmartyr Demetrius (1834) Image:MirkovoCentre_hotel_14-Rainov-IFB.JPG, Hotel in the village centre Image:Mirkovo-Waterfall_3-Rainov-IFB.JPG, Small waterfall Image:Mirkovo-Village_9-Rainov-IFB.JPG, Old

timber-framed Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

farm buildings

External links

Mirkovo municipality page at Sofia Province website
Villages in Sofia Province {{Sofia-geo-stub