Novo Selo ( bg, Ново село, "New village") is a village in northwesternmost

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 Vidin Province. It lies on the right (south) bank of the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

and is the administrative centre of a municipality with the same name. As of December 2017 Novo Selo has a population of 970 and the mayor is Georgi Stoenelov. It lies at , 45 m above sea level. The village is located 25 km north-northwest of the provincial centre Vidin and 12 km east of the

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

n border at the Timok River mouth, with

Mehedinți County Mehedinți County () is a county ( ro, județ) of Romania on the border with Serbia and Bulgaria. It is mostly located in the historical province of Oltenia, with one municipality (Orșova) and three communes ( Dubova, Eșelnița, and Svinița) ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

directly across the Danube to the north. The main occupation in Novo Selo is

vine A vine (Latin ''vīnea'' "grapevine", "vineyard", from ''vīnum'' "wine") is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselv ...

growing. According to the travel notes of the Italian traveller Count

Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli Count Luigi Ferdinando Marsili (or Marsigli, Lat. ''Marsilius''; 10 July 1658 – 1 November 1730) was an Italian scholar and eminent natural scientist, who also served as an emissary and soldier. Biography Born in Bologna, he was a member ...

, the village was founded around 1700 and was initially named ''Prosǎnǎc'' (Просънъц). Due to the plague and a fire the villagers abandoned the village only for their descendants to return in 1772 to found the modern Novo Selo. After the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

a local government was set up and a ''knez'' (mayor) and councillors were elected. Following the Liberation of Bulgaria in 1878 Novo Selo became part of Vidin District, and has since 1 January 1979 been the seat of a municipality also including the villages of

Florentin Florentin or Florentín (from Latin ''Florentinus'') can be a given name or surname. It is found as a given name among Romanian, German, French and Spanish speakers. The latter also use it as a surname. People Given name * Florentin Crihălmea ...

Negovanovtsi Negovanovtsi ( bg, Неговановци) is a village located in Novo Selo Municipality, part of Vidin Province, Northwestern Bulgaria. The population of the village is 529 at the end of 2017. File:Vidin Museum - Negovanovtsi - Medieaval necr ...

, Vinarovo and Yasen. The construction of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church of St Nicholas in the village, a cultural monument, began in 1825, during the Ottoman era. The bells were shipped from

Pest Pest or The Pest may refer to: Science and medicine * Pest (organism), an animal or plant deemed to be detrimental to humans or human concerns ** Weed, a plant considered undesirable * Infectious disease, an illness resulting from an infection ** ...

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

. The Zemedelets '' chitalishte'' (community centre) was built in 1930; it is also a memorial to all locals who perished in the wars. The

Cyril and Methodius Cyril (born Constantine, 826–869) and Methodius (815–885) were two brothers and Byzantine Christian theologians and missionaries. For their work evangelizing the Slavs, they are known as the "Apostles to the Slavs". They are credited wit ...

School dates to 1939. Another landmark is the characteristic

clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure which house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another buildi ...

from 1931, which is a symbol of Novo Selo. Novo Selo also has a small river port, a beach and an

orphanage An orphanage is a Residential education, residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the Childcare, care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parent ...

. Novo Selo is also known for its typical vernacular, sharing features with the

Serbian dialects The dialects of Serbo-Croatian include the vernacular forms of Serbo-Croatian as a whole or as part of its standard varieties: Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin and Serbian. They are part of the dialect continuum of South Slavic languages that ...

to the west and the Torlakian vernacular to the south, as well as showing lexical influences from

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

. Novo Selo's motto, in the local vernacular, is ''Mi smo si mi'' (Ми смо си ми), "We are (just) ourselves".

Population

As of December 2017 Novo Selo has a population of 970 people, down from its peak of 4,535 people in 1934. Most inhabitants are ethnic

Bulgarians Bulgarians ( bg, българи, Bǎlgari, ) are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and the rest of Southeast Europe. Etymology Bulgarians derive their ethnonym from the Bulgars. Their name is not completely understo ...

(93%), with a large "Vlach" (

) minority (who declared themselves as Bulgarians) and a few

Romani people The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sig ...

(7%). An overwhelming majority of the population of the village identify themselves as

Christians 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 ...

(95%). Most inhabitants identified as

Orthodox Christians Orthodoxy (from Greek: ) is adherence to correct or accepted creeds, especially in religion. Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical councils in Antiquity, but different Churc ...

belonging to the

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

. ImageSize = width:400 height:200 PlotArea = left:50 right:20 top:25 bottom:30 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = late Colors = id:linegrey2 value:gray(0.9) id:linegrey value:gray(0.7) id:cobar value:rgb(0.2,0.7,0.8) id:cobar2 value:rgb(0.6,0.9,0.6) DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:0 till:5000 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:500 start:0 gridcolor:linegrey ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:250 start:0 gridcolor:linegrey2 PlotData = color:cobar width:20 align:left bar:1934 from:0 till:4534 bar:1946 from:0 till:4318 bar:1956 from:0 till:3393 bar:1965 from:0 till:3157 bar:1975 from:0 till:2503 bar:1985 from:0 till:1961 bar:1992 from:0 till:1898 bar:2001 from:0 till:1484 bar:2011 from:0 till:1015 PlotData= textcolor:black fontsize:S bar:1934 at: 4535 text: 4535 shift:(-14,5) bar:1946 at: 4318 text: 4318 shift:(-14,5) bar:1956 at: 3393 text: 3393 shift:(-14,5) bar:1965 at: 3157 text: 3157 shift:(-14,5) bar:1975 at: 2503 text: 2503 shift:(-14,5) bar:1985 at: 1961 text: 1961 shift:(-14,5) bar:1992 at: 1898 text: 1898 shift:(-14,5) bar:2001 at: 1484 text: 1484 shift:(-14,5) bar:2011 at: 1015 text: 1015 shift:(-14,5) The

Bulgarian language Bulgarian (, ; bg, label=none, български, bălgarski, ) is an Eastern South Slavic language spoken in Southeastern Europe, primarily in Bulgaria. It is the language of the Bulgarians. Along with the closely related Macedonian la ...

spoken in Novo Selo has many similarities with the neighbouring

Serbian language Serbian (, ) is the standardized variety of the Serbo-Croatian language mainly used by Serbs. It is the official and national language of Serbia, one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina and co-official in Montenegro and Kos ...

and

Romanian language Romanian (obsolete spellings: Rumanian or Roumanian; autonym: ''limba română'' , or ''românește'', ) is the official and main language of Romania and the Moldova, Republic of Moldova. As a minority language it is spoken by stable communi ...

Gallery

Image:Novo Selo, Vidin Province location in Bulgaria.png, Location in Bulgaria Image:Novo selo (Oblast Vidin) - Sv. Nikola.jpg, The Church of St Nikola Image:Novo Selo (Vidinsko) - 4itali6te cropped.jpg, The community centre Image:Novo Selo (Vidinsko) - Pristani6te.jpg, View of the Danube from Novo Selo Image:Местността_"Кладенец_Питаров",_Ново_село,_област_Видин.jpg, Field in Novo Selo Image:Поле_в_местността_"Чадъре",_с._Ново_село,_област_Видин.jpg, Field in Novo Selo

References

{{commonscat, Novo selo, Vidin Province Villages in Vidin Province