Sitovo () is a small mountain village in

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

, southern

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

. It has 61 inhabitants as of 2024.

Geography

The village is situated on the northern part of the central

Rhodope Mountains The Rhodopes (; , ; , ''Rodopi''; ) 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 Greece. Golyam Perelik is its highest peak ...

. The river Dormusheva reka, the largest tributary of the Parvenetska reka of the

Maritsa Maritsa or Maritza ( ), also known as Evros ( ) and Meriç ( ), is a river that runs through the Balkans in Southeast Europe. With a length of ,

drainage, runs through the village. About three kilometers downstream to the north of the village is the Sitovo Waterfall. There is a water spring near the village. Administratively, Sitovo is situated in

Rodopi Municipality Rodopi municipality () is situated in the Plovdiv Province, southern Bulgaria. the population is 33,111. It occupies parts of the Upper Thracian Plain to the south of Plovdiv and the northernmost slopes of the central Rhodope Mountains, Rhodopi ...

in the southern part of

. The village has a territory of 35.509 km². It is accessible via a road that diverts at the Sitovo Waterfall from the third class III-862 road that links the city of

Plovdiv Plovdiv (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, second-largest city in Bulgaria, 144 km (93 miles) southeast of the capital Sofia. It had a population of 490,983 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is a cultural hub ...

with the

spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa health treatments are known as balneotherapy. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters and hot springs goes back to pre ...

village of Mihalkovo. The closest settlements include the villages of

Lilkovo Lilkovo is a mountain village in southern Bulgaria. It is one of the highest settlements in Bulgaria. It is also one of the largest villages by land area in the Rhodope Mountains. Geography Lilkovo is located in the central part of the Rhodope M ...

to the southwest, Boykovo to the north, and Kosovo, Plovdiv Province to the east. The provincial center Plovdiv is located about 35 km to the north.

History and culture

The area of the villages has been settled for at least 2 thousand years and was inhabited by the

Thracian The Thracians (; ; ) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Southeast Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied the area that today is shared between north-eastern Greece, ...

tribe

Bessi The Bessi (; , or , ) or Bessae, were a Thracian tribe that inhabited the upper valley of the Hebros and the lands between the Haemus and Rhodope mountain ranges in historical Thrace. Geography The exact geographic location of the Bessi is ...

and the part of the Thracian Odrysian kingdom. From that period dates the yet untranslated Sitovo inscription, situated on the wall of a rock shelter in the vicinity of the village, and dated to between 300 and 100 BCE. Close to Sitovo is also located the ancient rock sanctuary and fortress Studa Grada. During the Middle Ages the region was part of the

First First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and

Second Bulgarian Empire The Second Bulgarian Empire (; ) was a medieval Bulgarians, Bulgarian state that existed between 1185 and 1422. A successor to the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Tsars Kaloyan of Bulgaria, Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II ...

s, as well as the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

, before it was conquered by the Ottomans during the course of the

Bulgarian–Ottoman wars The Bulgarian–Ottoman wars were fought between the kingdoms remaining from the disintegrating Second Bulgarian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire, in the second half of the 14th century. The wars resulted in the collapse and subordination of the ...

in the second half of the 14th century. After the

Liberation of Bulgaria The Liberation of Bulgaria is the historical process as a result of the Bulgarian Revival. In Bulgarian historiography, the liberation of Bulgaria refers to those events of the Tenth Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) that led to the re-establishme ...

in 1878 it was initially part of the autonomous province of

Eastern Rumelia Eastern Rumelia (; ; ) was an autonomous province (''oblast'' in Bulgarian, ''vilayet'' in Turkish) of the Ottoman Empire with a total area of , which was created in 1878 by virtue of the Treaty of Berlin (1878), Treaty of Berlin and ''de facto'' ...

until the

Unification of Bulgaria The Unification of Bulgaria () was the act of unification of the Principality of Bulgaria and the province of Eastern Rumelia in the autumn of 1885. It was co-ordinated by the Bulgarian Secret Central Revolutionary Committee (BSCRC). Both had ...

in 1885. One of the first schools in that region of the Rhodope Mountains was constructed in Sitovo in 1834. There are two churches in the village, the Church of St Petka in the center built in 1848 and the Church of the Virgin Mary on the peak above Sitovo, constructed several years after the first one. There many preserved old houses with

Bulgarian National Revival The Bulgarian Revival (, ''Balgarsko vazrazhdane'' or simply: Възраждане, ''Vazrazhdane'', and ), sometimes called the Bulgarian National Revival, was a period of socio-economic development and national integration among Bulgarian pe ...

architecture. The main village fair is held on 15 August.

Gallery

File:Sitovo E1.jpg , A view of the village File:Sitovo E33.jpg , Rooftops of Sitovo File:Sitovo E71.jpg , The belfry of the Church of St Petka

Citations

External links

* {{Rodopi Municipality Villages in Plovdiv Province