Perushtitsa ( bg, Перущица ) or Perushtitza 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 ...

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

located in

Perushtitsa Municipality Perushtitsa ( bg, Перущица ) or Perushtitza is a Bulgarian town located in Perushtitsa Municipality, Plovdiv Province at the foot of the Rhodopes, 22 kilometers south of Plovdiv. The name ''Perushtitsa'' comes from the word ''Peristits ...

Plovdiv Province Plovdiv Province ( bg, Област Пловдив: ''Oblast Plovdiv'', former name Plovdiv okrug) is a province in central southern Bulgaria. It comprises 18 municipalities (общини, ''obshtini'', sing. общинa, ''obshtina'') on a ter ...

at the foot of the

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 ...

, 22 kilometers south of

Plovdiv Plovdiv ( bg, Пловдив, ), is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, standing on the banks of the Maritsa river in the historical region of Thrace. It has a population of 346,893 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is the c ...

. The name ''Perushtitsa'' comes from the word ''Peristitsa'', which in turn comes from the name of the God

Perun In Slavic mythology, Perun (Cyrillic: Перýн) is the highest god of the pantheon and the god of sky, thunder, lightning, storms, rain, law, war, fertility and oak trees. His other attributes were fire, mountains, wind, iris, eagle, f ...

. The town is famous throughout Bulgaria for the fight that took place there in 1876 during 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 ...

against the Ottoman reign. During the suppression of the uprising by Turkish irregulars, the majority of the residents were slaughtered. The French journalist Ivan de Woestyne, who visited the town in July 1876, reported for the newspaper

Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of reco ...

that out of a population of about 2000 only 150 elders and children were left.

Lady Strangford Lady Strangford, Emily Ann Smythe or Emily Anne Beaufort (1826 – 24 March 1887) was a British illustrator, writer and nurse. There are streets named after her and permanent museum exhibits about her in Bulgaria. She established hospitals and m ...

arrived from Britain later that year with relief for the people of Bulgaria following the massacres. She built a hospital at Batak and later other hospitals were built including at Perushtitsa. Perushtitsa is one of the few places in Bulgaria where Mavrud grapes are grown for a typical Bulgarian wine

Mavrud Mavrud (, from Greek, μαυρό ''(mavró)'', "black") is a red wine grape that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines, indigenous to the Balkan region. It's growing in some regions in Albania, Thrace region in Bulgaria, some re ...

. The remains of the Red Church date from the 5th or 6th century and are a symbol for the city of Perushtitsa. They are located 2 km northeast of Perushtitsa. There is a multi functiona
sports complex
"Perushtitsa" (with coordinates 42.061396,24553302) which can be used for 14 sports - basketball, handball, volleyball, football, badminton, table tennis, body building and others.

Gallery

File:Perushtitsa-war-monument.jpg, Wars victims monument in Perushtitsa, Bulgaria File:Perushtitsa-memorial.jpg, "The Monument of three generations" was erected in 1976 to mark the centennial of The April uprising. File:Perushtitsa-art-gallery.jpg, The art gallery of Perushtitsa. File:Perushtitsa-hill-view.jpg, Perushtitsa as seen from the heights. File:Perushtitsa-community-centre.JPG, House of culture “Prosveta” in Perushtitsa was founded in 1862 by Bulgarian revolutionary Peter Bonev. File:Perushtitsa-history-museum-and-memorial.JPG, Historical Museum of Perushtitca

References

Perushtitsa Municipality. The Red Church
{{Coord, 42, 03, N, 24, 33, E, region:BG_type:city, display=title Towns in Bulgaria Cities and towns in the Rhodopes Populated places in Plovdiv Province