Granitsa (, ; also transliterated ''Granica'' or ''Granitza'') is a village in southwestern

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 ...

, part of

Kyustendil Municipality Kyustendil Municipality is a municipality in Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria. The administrative centre is Kyustendil. Demography Religion According to the latest Bulgarian census of 2011, the religious composition, among those who answered the o ...

, Kyustendil Province. Granitsa lies in a hilly valley in the eastern

Osogovo Osogovo ( Bulgarian/ Macedonian: ), or Osogovska Planina or Osogovski Planini (Осоговска Планина or Осоговски Планини), is a mountain range and ski resort between the south-western part of Bulgaria ( Kyustendil Pr ...

mountains. It is bisected by a ravine, the bed of a rivulet which goes almost dry in the summer and autumn. Granitsa includes several neighbourhoods: Yakimova, Dzhoneva, Gorchovska, Efendiyska and Antova. The village was first mentioned in

Vladislav the Grammarian Vladislav the Grammarian ( Bulgarian and ; 1456–79) was a Bulgarian Orthodox Christian monk, scribe, historian and theologian active in medieval Bulgaria and Serbia, regarded as part of both the Bulgarian and Serbian literary corpus. His coll ...

's account of 1448: . At the time, the sons of the local Bulgarian noble ('' bolyarin'') and later monk Jacob (Yakov) from

Krupnik Krupnik ( Polish, Belarusian) or Krupnikas ( Lithuanian) is a traditional sweet alcoholic drink similar to a liqueur, based on grain spirit (usually vodka) and honey, popular in Lithuania and Poland. In Poland it is grouped in the nalewka categ ...

settled in

Saint Luke Luke the Evangelist was one of the Four Evangelists—the four traditionally ascribed authors of the canonical gospels. The Early Church Fathers ascribed to him authorship of both the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. Prominent figu ...

's Monastery above Granitsa. The three brothers Joasaph (Yoasaf), David and Theophanes (Teofan) reconstructed the deserted and plundered

Rila Monastery The Monastery of Saint John of Rila, also known as Rila Monastery ("Sveti Ivan Rilski" (), is the largest and most famous Eastern Orthodox monastery in Bulgaria. It is situated in the southwestern Rila Mountains, south of the capital Sofia in th ...

in 1453–1466. In 1469, they initiated the return of Saint

John of Rila Saint John of Rila, also known as Ivan of Rila (; – 18 August 946), was the first Bulgarian hermit. He was revered as a saint while he was still alive. The legend surrounding him tells of wild animals that freely came up to him and birds that ...

's remains from

Veliko Tarnovo Veliko Tarnovo (, ; "Great Tarnovo") is a city in north central Bulgaria and the administrative centre of Veliko Tarnovo Province. It is the historical and spiritual capital of Bulgaria. Often referred to as the "''City of the Tsars''", Velik ...

to the monastery. The village's name is derived from the dialectal word ''granítsa'', "a sort of branched

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

", from the Bulgarian word ''granka'', "offshoot, offset". Granitsa was also mentioned in Ottoman tax registers of 1576 as ''Graniçe''. In the 19th century, most of the land in the village was the property of Turkish (Liman Ağa, Daut Beg) and

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish (Sari Bohor) farm owners from Kyustendil. Landmarks in and around the village include the

Bulgarian National Revival The Bulgarian Revival (, ''Balgarsko vazrazhdane'' or simply: Възраждане, ''Vazrazhdane'', and ), sometimes called the Bulgarian National Revival, was a period of socio-economic development and national integration among Bulgarian pe ...

-time Church of Saint

Elijah Elijah ( ) or Elias was a prophet and miracle worker who lived in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of King Ahab (9th century BC), according to the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible. In 1 Kings 18, Elijah defended the worsh ...

(1856–1857) and the residential defensive

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

known as the Granitski House (1856), both built by Master Milenko. The Granitsa Monastery of Saint Luke lies to the southwest and may date to the 10th century; reconstructed in 1948, it is a fully active

Bulgarian Orthodox The Bulgarian Orthodox Church (), legally the Patriarchate of Bulgaria (), is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox jurisdiction based in Bulgaria. It is the first medieval recognised patriarchate outside the Pentarchy and the oldest Slavic Orthod ...

monastery. Also southwest of Granitsa are the ruins of the eponymous

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

fortress from 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 ...

, probably a defensive station on the Velbazhd-

Štip Štip ( ) is the largest urban agglomeration in the eastern part of North Macedonia, serving as the economic, industrial, entertainment and educational focal point for the surrounding municipalities. As of the 2021 census, the city of Štip had ...

road. Another landmark is the Venerable

Beech Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...

Forest, a

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...

established in 1995 and covering .

Gallery

File:Granica.6.JPG, Typical house in the village centre File:Granicka.kula.2.JPG, Granitski House or Tower (1856) File:Sv.Iliya.Granitca.3.JPG, Church of Saint Elijah (1856–1857) File:Granica.3.JPG, Monuments to the war victims

References

* * {{Kyustendil Municipality Villages in Kyustendil Province