Momchilovtsi ( bg, Момчиловци ) is a

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 ...

n village and ski resort in the Central

Rhodopes 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 ...

, about 15 km northeast of

Smolyan Smolyan ( bg, Смолян) List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, is a town and ski resort in the south of Bulgaria near the border with Greece. It is the administrative and industrial centre of the homonymous Smolyan Province. The town is built ...

. It has an ethnographic museum, an

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...

and a number of churches and chapels (24 in the village and the vicinity), the most famous of which is the SS.

Constantine Constantine most often refers to: * Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I * Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria Constantine may also refer to: People * Constantine (name), a masculine given na ...

and

Helen Helen may refer to: People * Helen of Troy, in Greek mythology, the most beautiful woman in the world * Helen (actress) (born 1938), Indian actress * Helen (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) Places * Helen, ...

Church built in 1836. The houses, mostly large 2 or 3-storey buildings, are amphitheatrically set at 1,352 m

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

. The village also has a kindergarten and a school. Local children can attend classes until the 8th grade, after which most of them continue their education in the nearby town Smolyan. A number of educational activities and concerts are organized by the local culture centre - 'chitalishte Svetlina' - on a regular basis.

Thracian The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied t ...

and

Roman 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 letter ...

artifacts have been discovered close to the village. It is thought that it was founded by exiles from Raykovo (now part of Smolyan) that sought to escape forcible conversion to Islam by the

Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

. The present village is named after Momchil Voyvoda, a medieval fighter against the Ottoman invasion that had a fortress in the area. Momchilvotsi is a large village compared to others in the Rhodopes, with 1,456 inhabitants and 550 houses, and has completely preserved its

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

character unlike many other villages in this mountainous part of the country. In the 2000s Momchilvotsi began to establish itself as a centre of tourism, more specifically

snowboarding Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympi ...

and village tourism, with small family hotels and sports facilities being established. The village's dairy production was the inspiration for the Chinese drinkable yogurt brand Momchilovtsi.

References

External links

Nikola Gruev's gallery of Momchilovtsi

Momchilovtsi at Visit.bg

Momchilovtsi at Rozhen.com

Mountain sport and tourism centre in Momchilovtsi
{{Authority control Villages in Smolyan Province