Perushtitsa ( bg, Перущица ) or Perushtitza is a
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 ...
n
town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an o ...
located in
Perushtitsa Municipality,
Plovdiv Province
Plovdiv Province ( bg, Област Пловдив: ''Oblast Plovdiv'', former name Plovdiv okrug) is a province in central southern Bulgaria. It comprises 18 municipalities (общини, ''obshtini'', sing. общинa, ''obshtina'') on a ter ...
at the foot of the
Rhodopes, 22 kilometers south of
Plovdiv
Plovdiv ( bg, Пловдив, ), is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, standing on the banks of the Maritsa river in the historical region of Thrace. It has a population of 346,893 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is the ...
.
The name ''Perushtitsa'' comes from the word ''Peristitsa'', which in turn comes from the name of the God
Perun
In Slavic mythology, Perun (Cyrillic: Перýн) is the highest god of the pantheon and the god of sky, thunder, lightning, storms, rain, law, war, fertility and oak trees. His other attributes were fire, mountains, wind, iris, eagle, f ...
.
The town is famous throughout Bulgaria for the fight that took place there in 1876 during the
April Uprising against the
Ottoman reign. During the suppression of the uprising by
Turkish irregulars, the majority of the residents were slaughtered. The French journalist
Ivan de Woestyne, who visited the town in July 1876, reported for the newspaper
Le Figaro
''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of r ...
that out of a population of about 2000 only 150 elders and children were left.
Lady Strangford arrived from Britain later that year with relief for the people of Bulgaria following the massacres. She built a hospital at
Batak
Batak is a collective term used to identify a number of closely related Austronesian ethnic groups predominantly found in North Sumatra, Indonesia, who speak Batak languages. The term is used to include the Karo, Pakpak, Simalungun, Tob ...
and later other hospitals were built including at Perushtitsa.
Perushtitsa is one of the few places in Bulgaria where Mavrud grapes are grown for a typical Bulgarian wine
Mavrud.
The remains of the
Red Church date from the 5th or 6th century and are a symbol for the city of Perushtitsa. They are located 2 km northeast of Perushtitsa.
There is a multi functiona
sports complex"Perushtitsa" (with coordinates 42.061396,24553302
) which can be used for 14 sports - basketball, handball, volleyball, football, badminton, table tennis, body building and others.
Gallery
File:Perushtitsa-war-monument.jpg, Wars victims monument in Perushtitsa, Bulgaria
File:Perushtitsa-memorial.jpg, "The Monument of three generations" was erected in 1976 to mark the centennial of The April uprising.
File:Perushtitsa-art-gallery.jpg, The art gallery of Perushtitsa.
File:Perushtitsa-hill-view.jpg, Perushtitsa as seen from the heights.
File:Perushtitsa-community-centre.JPG, House of culture “Prosveta” in Perushtitsa was founded in 1862 by Bulgarian revolutionary Peter Bonev.
File:Perushtitsa-history-museum-and-memorial.JPG, Historical Museum of Perushtitca
References
Perushtitsa Municipality. The Red Church
{{Coord, 42, 03, N, 24, 33, E, region:BG_type:city, display=title
Towns in Bulgaria
Cities and towns in the Rhodopes
Populated places in Plovdiv Province