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