Kula (, , ) is a town in northwestern

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 ...

. It is the administrative centre of Kula Municipality part of

Vidin Province Vidin Province () is the northwesternmost province of Bulgaria. It borders Serbia to the west and Romania to the northeast, and its administrative centre is the city of Vidin on the Danube river. The area is divided into 11 municipalities. As ...

. Located just east of the

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

n-Bulgarian border, it is the third largest town in the province after

Vidin Vidin (, ) is a port city on the southern bank of the Danube in north-western Bulgaria. It is close to the borders with Romania and Serbia, and is also the administrative centre of Vidin Province, as well as of the Metropolitan of Vidin (since ...

and

Belogradchik Belogradchik (; ) is a town in Vidin Province, northwestern Bulgaria, and is the administrative centre of the homonymous municipality. The town is situated in the foothills of the Balkan Mountains just east of the Serbian border and about 50&nb ...

. Kula lies 30 kilometres west of Vidin and 13 kilometres east of the border checkpoint at Vrashka Chuka. As of 2021, the town had a population of 2,400.Bulgarian National Statistical Institute - Bulgarian towns in 2021

History

Kula is the modern site of the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

fortress of ''

Castra Martis Castra Martis () was a Roman fortified garrison (castra) in Dacia which became a town and bishopric and remains a Latin Catholic titular see. History Castra Martis, named after the Roman god of war Mars (mythology), Mars, on the modern site of ...

'', the ruins of which can still be seen today, which also was a bishopric in the

Roman province The Roman provinces (, pl. ) were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was ruled by a Roman appointed as Roman g ...

Dacia Ripensis Dacia Ripensis () was the name of a Roman province in the northern Balkan peninsula, immediately south of the Middle Danube. Its capital was Ratiaria (modern Archar, Bulgaria). It was a district less urban than neighbouring Dacia Mediterranea ...

and remains a Latin Catholic

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbi ...

under the Latin name. The town has a museum exhibiting various tools and everyday items found in the fortress, as well as a miniature model of the Roman town. While within Danube Vilayer of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

, the town was called Adliye and

Yezdanşêr Yezdanşêr was a Kurdish leader, military officer and a relative of Bedir Khan Beg. He became shortly the Müteselim of Cizre and later led a revolt against the Ottoman Empire in the mid 1850s. After the revolt failed, he was exiled to Vidin, retu ...

became its

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

in the late 1860s. The most important local industry is the rubber and plastic processing factory.

Eponymy

Castra Martis Hill on

Livingston Island Livingston Island (Russian name ''Smolensk'', ) is an Antarctic island in the Southern Ocean, part of the South Shetland Islands, South Shetlands Archipelago, a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands north of the ...

in the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands located in the Drake Passage with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the n ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

is named after the fortress of Castra Martis.

References

Sources and external links

Website about Kula
{{Authority control Towns in Bulgaria Populated places in Vidin Province Kula Municipality, Bulgaria