Lyaskovets ( bg, Лясковец ) is a town in 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 Macedon ...

, located in

homonym In linguistics, homonyms are words which are homographs (words that share the same spelling, regardless of pronunciation), or homophones (equivocal words, that share the same pronunciation, regardless of spelling), or both. Using this definition, ...

ous municipality of

Veliko Tarnovo Province Veliko Tarnovo ( bg, Област Велико Търново, Oblast Veliko Tǎrnovo) is a province in the middle of the northern part of Bulgaria. Its capital city, Veliko Tarnovo, is of historical significance as it is known as the capital of ...

, 10 km northeast of

Veliko Tarnovo Veliko Tarnovo ( bg, Велико Търново, Veliko Tărnovo, ; "Great Tarnovo") is a town in north central Bulgaria and the administrative centre of Veliko Tarnovo Province. Often referred as the "''City of the Tsars''", Veliko Tarnovo ...

, 2 km southeast of

Gorna Oryahovitsa Gorna Oryahovitsa ( bg, Горна Оряховица ) is a List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, town in northern Bulgaria, situated in Veliko Tarnovo Province, from Veliko Tarnovo. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Gorna Orya ...

and 5 km south of the

Yantra River The Yantra ( bg, Янтра ) is a river in northern Bulgaria, a right tributary of the Danube. It is long (the third longest Bulgarian tributary of the Danube, after Iskar and Osam), and has a watershed of . Its average discharge at the mouth ...

, north 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 ...

. Its name comes from the word ''leska'' ('

hazel The hazel (''Corylus'') is a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae,Germplasmgobills Information Network''Corylus''Rushforth, K. (1999). ...

') or ''leshnik'' ('hazelnut'), because the tree was abundant in the area. As of December 2009, the town has a population of 10,314 inhabitants.Bulgarian National Statistical Institute - towns in 2009

Lyaskovets Peak Lyaskovets Peak ( bg, връх Лясковец, vrah Lyaskovets, ) is the easternmost peak of Friesland Ridge in the Tangra Mountains, eastern Livingston Island and has an elevation of 1,473 m. The peak is bounded by Catalunyan Saddle on the we ...

, in the sub-Antarctic, is named after the town.

Geography

Lyaskovets Monastery (Petropavlovski monastery) is located on a hill southwest of town.

History

The area around the town has been inhabited since the 4th millennium BC, but grew as an important Bulgarian settlement in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

, during the

Second Bulgarian Empire The Second Bulgarian Empire (; ) was a medieval Bulgarians, Bulgarian state that existed between 1185 and 1396. A successor to the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Tsars Kaloyan of Bulgaria, Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II ...

, because of its proximity to the capital fortress of Veliko Tarnovo. The SS Peter and Paul Monastery helped its development as a religious centre, and Lyaskovets took the form of five neighbourhoods named after their respective churches (for which the town is still famous):

St Athanasius Athanasius I of Alexandria, ; cop, ⲡⲓⲁⲅⲓⲟⲥ ⲁⲑⲁⲛⲁⲥⲓⲟⲩ ⲡⲓⲁⲡⲟⲥⲧⲟⲗⲓⲕⲟⲥ or Ⲡⲁⲡⲁ ⲁⲑⲁⲛⲁⲥⲓⲟⲩ ⲁ̅; (c. 296–298 – 2 May 373), also called Athanasius the Great, ...

St Basil Basil of Caesarea, also called Saint Basil the Great ( grc, Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, ''Hágios Basíleios ho Mégas''; cop, Ⲡⲓⲁⲅⲓⲟⲥ Ⲃⲁⲥⲓⲗⲓⲟⲥ; 330 – January 1 or 2, 379), was a bishop of Cae ...

St George Saint George (Greek language, Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin language, Latin: Georgius, Arabic language, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christians, Christian who is venerated as a sa ...

St Demetrius Saint Demetrius (or Demetrios) of Thessalonica ( el, Ἅγιος Δημήτριος τῆς Θεσσαλονίκης, (); bg, Димитър Солунски (); mk, Свети Димитрија Солунски (); ro, Sfântul Dumitru; sr ...

and

St Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra, ; la, Sanctus Nicolaus (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Myra in Asia Minor (; modern-da ...

. These neighbourhoods were established at different time by settlers, and grew to merge as one. After the Ottoman conquest of Bulgaria in the 14th century, Lyaskovets, together with the neighbouring villages of Gorna Oryahovitsa, Dolna Oryahovitsa and Arbanasi, was formally regarded as autonomous (i.e. not part of the

rayah A raiyah or reaya (from , a plural of "countryman, animal, sheep pasturing, subjects, nationals, flock", also spelled ''raiya'', ''raja'', ''raiah'', ''re'aya''; Ottoman Turkish رعايا ; Modern Turkish râiya or reaya; related to the Arabi ...

) according to a 1538 decree of

Selim II Selim II ( Ottoman Turkish: سليم ثانى ''Selīm-i sānī'', tr, II. Selim; 28 May 1524 – 15 December 1574), also known as Selim the Blond ( tr, Sarı Selim) or Selim the Drunk ( tr, Sarhoş Selim), was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire ...

. Though this was confirmed by later decrees, such as one by

Mahmud II Mahmud II ( ota, محمود ثانى, Maḥmûd-u s̠ânî, tr, II. Mahmud; 20 July 1785 – 1 July 1839) was the 30th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 until his death in 1839. His reign is recognized for the extensive administrative, ...

in 1810, Lyaskovets ( tr, Leskofça) developed as a centre of revolutionary activity, and three armed uprisings set off from the monastery in the 18th and 19th century. Lyaskovets was bloodlessly liberated by the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...

in June 1877 due to the flight of the Ottoman garrison in the town after having heard that Veliko Tarnovo was captured, and became part of the

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 ...

. The former village was proclaimed a town on 15 March 1880. During the 18th century, the local inhabitants decided to produce vegetables on a large scale, mainly potatoes, tomatoes, okra, peas, eggplants, carrots, peppers and okra. This is the main reason why Lyaskovets has a unique museum dedicated to vegetable production and gardening. The museum has a rich inventory of the tools of local farmers from past centuries. Optimal organization plans of a garden, tools, work habits, and documents that state proper distribution of labor are also shown in the museum. An

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

in 1913 with a

Richter magnitude The Richter scale —also called the Richter magnitude scale, Richter's magnitude scale, and the Gutenberg–Richter scale—is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Francis Richter and presented in his landmark 1935 ...

of 7.0 destroyed many of the brick buildings in the town, including all five churches, which were later reconstructed. The earthquake claimed seven victims and injured over 30.

Education

*Primary school "Tzani Ginchev" *Primary school "Nikola Kozlev" *High school "Maxim Raikovich" Chitalishte Napredak,Lyaskovets

Economy

In the town one of the biggest factories is the company Arkus AD. It began as a machine factory and today is producing military products. FMA AD is one factory for packing metal sheets for the needs of the country and the industry. It had some factories for fireplaces, carpet, wines and others.

Municipality

Lyaskovets is also the seat of Lyaskovets municipality (part of Veliko Tarnovo Province), which includes the following 5 villages: *

Dobri Dyal Dobri Dyal is a village in Northern Bulgaria. The village is located in Lyaskovets Municipality, Veliko Tarnovo Province. Аccording to the numbers provided by the 2020 Bulgarian census, Dobri Dyal currently has a population of 1101 people with a ...

(Добри дял) *

Dragizhevo Dragizhevo is a village in Northern Bulgaria. The village is located in Lyaskovets Municipality, Veliko Tarnovo Province. Аccording to the numbers counted by the 2020 Bulgarian census, Dragizhevo currently has a population of 921 people with a per ...

(Драгижево) * Dzhulyunitsa (Джулюница) * Kozarevets (Козаревец) *

Merdanya Merdanya is a village in Northern Bulgaria. The village is located in Lyaskovets Municipality, Veliko Tarnovo Province. Аccording to the numbers provided by the 2020 Bulgarian census, Dzhulunitsa currently has a population of 602 people with a per ...

(Мерданя)

Gallery

Monument in Lyaskovets.jpg, Monument of the heroes from the wars School in Lyaskovets.jpg, Monument in Lyaskovets-2.jpg,

References

External links

Lyaskovets municipality website - new version in Bulgarian only

Lyaskovets municipality website - in English

The town of Lyaskovets and villages in the municipality

Nikola Gruev's photo gallery of the SS Peter and Paul Monastery
{{Veliko Tarnovo Province Towns in Bulgaria Populated places in Veliko Tarnovo Province