Petrich ( bg, Петрич ) is a village in
Zlatitsa Municipality
The municipality of Zlatitsa ( bg, Община Златица ) is a municipality in Sofia Province, Bulgaria. It is made up of two disjoint areas: one consisting of the territory of the town of Zlatitsa and the neighbouring village of Karlievo, ...
, in
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 ...
, 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 ...
. The name of the village is pronounced with a stress on the last syllable, in contrast with the name of the town of
Petrich
Petrich ( bg, Петрич ) is a town in Blagoevgrad Province in southwestern Bulgaria, located in Sandanski–Petrich Valley at the foot of the Belasica Mountains in the Strumeshnitsa Valley. According to the 2021 census, the town has 26,778 ...
.
Geography
Petrich is located in Ihtimanska
Sredna Gora
Sredna Gora ( bg, Средна гора ) is a mountain range in central Bulgaria, situated south of and parallel to the Balkan Mountains and extending from the Iskar to the west and the elbow of Tundzha north of Yambol to the east. Sredna Gora i ...
in the forested valley of the river
Topolnitsa which flows through the village. The neighbourhood Brodyad is part of the village although it is located at several kilometers from the center.
History
The village took active part in the
April Uprising
The April Uprising ( bg, Априлско въстание, Aprilsko vastanie) was an insurrection organised by the Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire from April to May 1876. The regular Ottoman Army and irregular bashi-bazouk units brutally su ...
. On 23 April 1876
Georgi Benkovski
Georgi Benkovski ( bg, Георги Бенковски) (1843 – 12 May 1876) was the pseudonym of Gavril Gruev Hlatev (Гаврил Груев Хлътев), a Bulgarian revolutionary and leading figure in the organization and direction of the Bu ...
arrived in Petrich with his ''Flying Cheta''. The population helped by the villagers from
Smolsko and
Kamenitsa fought bravely against the
Ottoman regular and irregular army. One hundred and seventy-two rebels were killed in the fighting and dozens were captured and exiled. The event is commemorated annually with fireworks at the monument of the uprising which resembles a
bell
A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inter ...
and symbolizes the bells which were melted for bullets.
According to the
Treaty of Berlin of 1878 the border between the liberated
Principality of Bulgaria
The Principality of Bulgaria ( bg, Княжество България, Knyazhestvo Balgariya) was a vassal state under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire. It was established by the Treaty of Berlin in 1878.
After the Russo-Turkish War ende ...
and the autonomous
Eastern Rumelia
Eastern Rumelia ( bg, Източна Румелия, Iztochna Rumeliya; ota, , Rumeli-i Şarkî; el, Ανατολική Ρωμυλία, Anatoliki Romylia) was an autonomous province (''oblast'' in Bulgarian, ''vilayet'' in Turkish) in the Otto ...
followed the summit 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 ...
and went southwards between
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 ...
and
Dushintsi
Dushintsi ( bg, Душинци) is a village in western Bulgaria in the municipality of Breznik, Pernikdistrict. The village is situated in a mountainous region, nestled in the northeast mountainside of Golemi Vrah. It had not been mentioned in ...
eventually following the Topolnitsa river at Petrich.
Landmarks
* St Nikolay Church
* Monument to the fallen Russian soldiers in the
Liberation War
Wars of national liberation or national liberation revolutions are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) to establish separat ...
* Monument to the casualties of the Patriotic War (1944-1945)
Gallery
Image:Petrich-village-Bulgaria-bell-monument.jpg , The monument to the April Uprising
Image:Petrich-village-Bulgaria-church.jpg , St Nikolay Church
Image:Petrich-village-Bulgaria-brothers-mound.jpg , Common Mound
Image:Petrich-village-Bulgaria-ww2-monument.jpg , Monument to the casualties in the Patriotic War
Notes
{{Authority control
Villages in Sofia Province