The Trigrad Gorge ( bg, Триградско ждрело, ) is a canyon of vertical

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

rocks in the

Rhodope Mountains 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 ...

. It is in

Smolyan Province Smolyan Province ( bg, Област Смолян, ''Oblast Smolyan''; former name Smolyan okrug) is a province in Southern-central Bulgaria, located in the Rhodope Mountains, neighbouring Greece to the south. It is named after its administrative ...

, one of the southernmost provinces of

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 gorge encloses the course of the Trigradska River, which plunges into the

Devil's Throat Cave Devil's Throat Cave, or Dyavolsko Garlo ( bg, Дяволското гърло ), is located in the western Rhodopes close to the village of Gyovren in Bulgaria, near its border with Greece. A popular tourist attraction, Devil's Throat branches ...

and further emerges as a large

karst Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...

spring. It later flows into the River

Buynovska The Buynovska ( bg, Буйновска река) is a river of Plovdiv Province, Bulgaria. It is one of the source rivers of the Vacha and is joined by the Trigrad Gorge The Trigrad Gorge ( bg, Триградско ждрело, ) is a canyon ...

. The gorge's west wall reaches in height, while the east one extends up to . Initially, the two walls are about 300 m apart, but the gorge narrows to about in the northern section. The gorge is from the village of Trigrad at

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

and has a total length of , of which the gorge proper comprises .

Honour

Trigrad Gap Trigrad Gap (Trigradska Sedlovina \tri-'grad-ska se-dlo-vi-'na\) is a saddle of 500 m height in the Delchev Ridge in the Tangra Mountains of eastern Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. The gap is bounded to the southwe ...

Livingston Island Livingston Island (Russian name ''Smolensk'', ) is an Antarctic island in the Southern Ocean, part of the South Shetlands Archipelago, a group of Antarctic islands north of the Antarctic Peninsula. It was the first land discovered south of 60 ...

in the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 195 ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

, is named after Trigrad settlement and gorge. Canyons and gorges of Bulgaria Landforms of Smolyan Province Rhodope Mountains Tourist attractions in Smolyan Province {{Smolyan-geo-stub