Bistritsa () is a large village in the Pancharevo district of the

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 ...

n capital

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

, located at 15 km to the south of the city center. it has 5,315 inhabitants.

Geography

The village is situated at an altitude of 950 m on the northeastern foothills of the

Vitosha Vitosha ( ), the ancient ''Scomius'' or ''Scombrus'', is a mountain massif, on the outskirts of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Vitosha is one of the symbols of Sofia and the closest site for hiking, alpinism and skiing. Convenient bus lines and ...

mountain range facing the

Sofia Valley The Sofia Valley (), or Sofia Field (), is situated in central western Bulgaria. It is the second of the succession of the eleven Sub-Balkan valleys in direction west–east and is the largest of them in area and population. It is named after th ...

to the north. The rivers Yanchovska and Stara reka merge in the village to form the

Vitoshka Bistritsa Bistritsa or Vitoshka Bistritsa (), is a river in western Bulgaria, tributary of Iskar River. It flows from the eastern slopes of Golyam Rezen Peak on Vitosha Mountain, crossing Bistrishko Branishte Nature Reserve, where it forms a small but b ...

, which flows into the

Iskar Iskar may refer to: ;Bulgaria * Iskar (river), a river in western Bulgaria * Iskar Reservoir, situated on the Iskar River * Iskar (town), a town in the Iskar Municipality of the Pleven Province * Iskar Municipality * Iskar, Sofia, one of 24 munici ...

at Lake Pancharevo a few kilometers to the east. It falls within the transitional continental climatic zone with alpine influence from Vitosha. The soils are cinnamon forest. Administratively, Bistritsa is part of the Pancharevo district in the southern part of the

Sofia City Province Sofia City Province () is a province (''oblast'') of Bulgaria. Its administrative center is the city of Sofia, the capital of the country. The province borders on Sofia Province and Pernik Province. It consists of only one municipalities of B ...

. It has a territory of 52.964 km², or 4% of the province. The village lies between the Simeonovo neighbourhood of Sofia to the northwest, reaches the limits of the Sofia Ring Road to the north, the village of Pancharevo to the east, and the village of Zheleznitsa to the south. It is an affluent area for low-rise developments with several villa zones.

History

Bistritsa is among the oldest villages in the area of Vitosha. Its name was marked in maps of the

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 ...

as a fortress. There is a medieval monastery which was destroyed by the Ottomans during 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 late 14th century. Between 1936 and 1946 the church of the monastery was rebuilt. During these works a medieval grave has been excavated. It had been robbed and the only discovery was a copper coin from Emperor Ivan Shishman (r. 1371–1395).

Culture

The first school in the village was established in 1865. The Church of St George dates from 1883. Other Christian temples include the Church of St Archangel Michael, the Monastery of St Anna and St Joachim, and the Monastery of St Petka. The local cultural center, known in Bulgarian as a ''

chitalishte A ''chitalishte'' (, ) is a traditional Bulgarian public institution and building that fulfills several functions at once, such as a community centre, public library, and a theatre. It is also used as an educational institution, where people o ...

'', was founded in 1909 and was named after the medieval Bulgarian monarch and saint

Boris I Boris I (also ''Bogoris''), venerated as Saint Boris I (Mihail) the Baptizer (, ; died 2 May 907), was the ruler (knyaz) of the First Bulgarian Empire from 852 to 889. Despite a number of military setbacks, the reign of Boris I was marked wit ...

. Bistritsa is home to the famous " Bistritsa Babi" ("grannies"), a traditional folklore ensemble consisting of elderly women, their daughters and granddaughters, who have been classified as "living treasures" by UNESCO and have been included in Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity since 2008.

Citations

References

* * {{Authority control Villages in Sofia City Province