Grivitsa ( bg, Гривица, ; also transliterated as ''Grivitza'' or ''Grivica'') is a village in Pleven Municipality,

Pleven Province Pleven Province ( bg, Област Плевен or Плевенска Област) is a province located in central northern Bulgaria, bordering the Danube river, Romania and the Bulgarian provinces of Vratsa, Veliko Tarnovo and Lovech. It i ...

, central northern

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 Macedo ...

. It is primarily known as the site of one of the key engagements in the Siege of Plevna during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878.

Geography

Located 9 kilometres east of Pleven at an average 208 metres above sea level and lying in the hilly basin of the

Vit River The Vit also Vid ( bg, Вит; la, Utus) is a river in central northern Bulgaria with a length of 188 km. It is a tributary of Danube. The source of the Vit is in Stara Planina, below Vezhen Peak at an altitude of 2,030 m, and it empties in ...

, Grivitsa has a population of 1,778 as of December 2009.Bulgarian National Statistical Institute - Bulgarian Settlements 1000-5000 inhabitants - December 2009
/ref> The railway line connecting

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

Varna Varna may refer to: Places Europe *Varna, Bulgaria, a city in Bulgaria **Varna Province **Varna Municipality ** Gulf of Varna **Lake Varna **Varna Necropolis *Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy *Varniai, a city in Lithuania * Varna (Šaba ...

and

Rousse Ruse (also transliterated as Rousse, Russe; bg, Русе ) is the fifth largest city in Bulgaria. Ruse is in the northeastern part of the country, on the right bank of the Danube, opposite the Romanian city of Giurgiu, approximately south of ...

runs through the village, as well as the main road from Pleven to Rousse, Nikopol and Pordim. The highest point of the Central Danubian Plain, the 304-metre-high ''Sredni vrah'' ( bg, Средни връх, "Middle Peak") is just to the east of the village. The soil is rich in

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

but suitable for agriculture. The area is also rich in

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

and quarries for its extraction have been built in several places.

History

The village's location has shifted several times, with the earliest known settlement being in the ''Ezero'' area to the south of modern Grivitsa, identified with the time after the Ottoman conquest of Bulgaria (14th-15th century). The

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pe ...

forced the locals to move to the present location. The legend surrounding the image's name asserts that the area between Trastenik and Slavyanovo, including Grivitsa, was the feud (''

vakıf A waqf ( ar, وَقْف; ), also known as hubous () or ''mortmain'' property is an inalienable charitable endowment under Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot of land or other assets for Muslim religious or charitable ...

'') of an Ottoman noble known as Trastenik Pasha, who was an avid dove- and bee-keeper. He is thought to have built a dove-cot and an apiary in the ''Rogultsi'' area near today's Grivitsa, and bred wood pigeons (known as гривяк, ''grivyak'' in Bulgarian). Gradually, the locals came to be known as ''grivatsi'' and the village as ''Grivitsa''. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, Grivitsa was the location of an important Ottoman position featuring several

redoubt A redoubt (historically redout) is a fort or fort system usually consisting of an enclosed defensive emplacement outside a larger fort, usually relying on earthworks, although some are constructed of stone or brick. It is meant to protect soldi ...

s and acting as part of the defensive fortifications of Pleven. The Battle of Grivitsa was part of the prolonged Siege of Plevna which resulted in the death of many

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

and particularly

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

soldiers: the losses of the Romanian units in this battle were the largest for the entire war. Grivitsa has a school built in 1916, as well as a park arranged in 1956 and a museum opened in 1967, both commemorating the events of 1877. A Romanian mausoleum with an

ossuary An ossuary is a chest, box, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce. A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years the ...

was built in 1892–1897 using funds collected by the Romanian people and opened in 1902.The mausoleum
/ref> In honour of the battle, several communes and neighbourhoods in Romania, as well as the Romanian NMS Grivița, bear the name ''Grivița'', a Romanian rendition of the village's name.

References

* ''This article is based on a translation of the article " Гривица" from the Bulgarian Wikipedia.'' {{coord, 43, 25, N, 24, 42, E, display=title Villages in Pleven Province Battles of the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)