Ognyanovo is a resort village with thermal mineral water springs in

Garmen Municipality Garmen Municipality ( bg, Община Гърмен) is situated in the southeastern part of Blagoevgrad Province in Southwestern Bulgaria. It is a rural municipality, composed of 16 villages. The administrative center is the village of Garmen, b ...

, in Blagoevgrad Province,

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 Macedo ...

Geography

The village is situated in the valley of

Mesta river Nestos ( ), Mesta ( ), or formerly the Mesta Karasu in Turkish (Karasu meaning "black river"), is a river in Bulgaria and Greece. It rises in the Rila Mountains and flows into the Aegean Sea near the island of Thasos. It plunges down towering c ...

in the skirts of the Dabrash part of the Rhodope Mountains. The village is 3 kilometers north of

Garmen Garmen ( bg, Гърмен) is a village in Blagoevgrad Province in Bulgaria and is the seat of Garmen Municipality. It is located in southwestern Bulgaria in the Western Rhodope Mountains in the Chech region 75 kilometers southeast of Blagoevgr ...

and together with Marchevo the three villages are almost merged. Ognyanovo is laying 72 kilometers southeast of

Blagoevgrad Blagoevgrad ( bg, Благоевград ) is а town in Southwestern Bulgaria, the administrative centre of Blagoevgrad Municipality and of Blagoevgrad Province. With a population of almost inhabitants, it is the economic and cultural centre ...

and 125 kilometers southeast of

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 h ...

History

The mineral water has been discovered in the Roman times. There are remains of Roman baths. Also a medieval village and a watching towert remains have been unearthed near the village. The Roman town

Nicopolis ad Nestum Nicopolis ad Nestum ( grc, Νικόπολις ἡ περὶ Νέσσον) or Nicopolis ad Mestum is a ruined Roman town in the province of Thracia (Thrace) near to the modern village of Garmen on the left bank of the Mesta river, in Garmen Muni ...

is just few kilometers south of the village. The village was named Fotovishta until 1934 and Ognenovo until 1966. It was mentioned for first time in the Ottoman documents as ''Hotovishta'' in 1478-1479 as Christian village with 1 Muslim and 53 non-Muslim households. In the 19th century people of

Pomak Pomaks ( bg, Помаци, Pomatsi; el, Πομάκοι, Pomáki; tr, Pomaklar) are Bulgarian-speaking Muslims inhabiting northwestern Turkey, Bulgaria and northeastern Greece. The c. 220,000 strong ethno-confessional minority in Bulgaria is ...

origin came from other Muslim villages. In 1835 was built the church "Assumption of Virgin Mary" ( bg, Успение Богородично, ). Some of the icons were painted by Dimitar Molerov. In 1859 was opened the first school. In 1908-1909 there were 103 Bulgarian households with 303 inhabitants and 40 pomak households with 200 inhabitants.Извори за българската етнография, Т.3. Етнография на Македония, Съставители: Маргарита Василева и Колектив, София, 1998, стр. 79. After 1912 year the village was gained from the Ottoman Turks and the region became part of Bulgaria. Refugees from Macedonia came to Fotovishta after parts of the region became part of Greece. In 1934 the village was renamed ''Ognenovo''. In 1966 the village was named with its present name ''Ognyanovo''.

Institutions

Ognyanovo is governed by Mayor. The current Mayor, since 2003 is Dimitria Gyurova. There is a post office. The health care is provided by two doctors - a general practitioner and a dentist, and also a pharmacy. The primary school "Peyo Yavorov" was opened in 1929 and initially was named after

Boris Sarafov Boris Petrov Sarafov (Bulgarian and mk, Борис Петров Сарафов) (12 June 1872 in Libyahovo, Salonica Vilayet, Ottoman Empire, present-day Bulgaria – 28 November 1907 in Sofia, Bulgaria) was a Bulgarian Army officer an ...

. In 1944 the school was renamed to "Asen Zlatarov". There is also a kindergarten and a community center with a public library. The amateur football club "Mineral" plays in the regional amateur league.

Mineral water

There are two groups of thermal mineral water springs. One of them, called "Miroto" is formed by 17 springs with temperature of 42°C. The remains of old Roman bath has been unearthed at that location. The other group of 7 springs are colder 16-40°C. The water is clear, colorless, with a slight smell of hydrogen sulfide.

Tourism

Ognyanovo-Delta-Hotel-Mineral-water-swimming--pools

There is a hotel, few guest-houses and a sanatorium. The village is not far from Kovachevitsa and Leshten - two villages with old preserved and reconstructed houses from the 19th and 20th centuries.

References

{{Garmen Municipality Villages in Blagoevgrad Province