Novi Pazar (, "new marketplace") is a town in

Shumen Province Shumen Province (, transliterated ''Oblast Shumen'', former name Shumen okrug) is a province in northeastern Bulgaria named after its main city Shumen. It is divided into ten municipalities with a total population, as of December 2009, of 194,0 ...

, northeastern

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 ...

, located in a hollow between the Shumen,

Ludogorie The Ludogorie () or Deliorman (; and Bulgarian: lud - "mad", "crazy" and gora - "forest"), is a region in northeastern Bulgaria stretching over the plateau of the same name. Major cities in the region are Targovishte, Razgrad, Dulovo, Novi P ...

and Provadiya plateaus, on the banks of the Kriva Reka ("twisting river"). It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Novi Pazar Municipality. As of December 2009, the town had a population of 12,673.Bulgarian National Statistical Institute - Bulgarian towns in 2009
/ref>
/ref>
/ref>

History

The town may have been first mentioned in 1444 in a document by the German writer

Michael Beheim Michael Beheim (also Michel Behaim, Beham or Behm, 1416 – c.1472) was a wandering singer from the modern-day German state Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state ...

before the

Battle of Varna The Battle of Varna took place on 10 November 1444 near Varna in what is today eastern Bulgaria. The Ottoman army under Sultan Murad II (who did not actually rule the sultanate at the time) defeated the Crusaders commanded by King Władysła ...

, although this is disputed. As part 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 ...

, Novi pazar (''Yeni pazar'') belonged to the

Silistra Silistra ( ; ; or ) is a town in Northeastern Bulgaria. The town lies on the southern bank of the lower Danube river, and is also the part of the Romanian border where it stops following the Danube. Silistra is the administrative center of the ...

sanjak A sanjak or sancak (, , "flag, banner") was an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans also sometimes called the sanjak a liva (, ) from the name's calque in Arabic and Persian. Banners were a common organization of nomad ...

'' and later the Pravadi ''

kaza A kaza (, "judgment" or "jurisdiction") was an administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire, administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. It is also discussed in English under the names district, subdistrict, and juridical district. Kazas co ...

''. It became a ''kaza'' centre in the 17th century and grew to become a rich and lively town in the 17th and 18th century. A new

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

was built in 1763, a

Turkish bath A hammam (), also often called a Turkish bath by Westerners, is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic world. It is a prominent feature in the culture of the Muslim world and was inherited from the model ...

in 1774 and a

clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure that house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another building ...

in 1826. During the

Russo-Turkish Wars The Russo-Turkish wars ( ), or the Russo-Ottoman wars (), began in 1568 and continued intermittently until 1918. They consisted of twelve conflicts in total, making them one of the longest series of wars in the history of Europe. All but four of ...

many Bulgarians from the region fled to

Bessarabia Bessarabia () is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Bessarabia lies within modern-day Moldova, with the Budjak region covering the southern coa ...

and established the community of the

Bessarabian Bulgarians The Bessarabian Bulgarians (; ; ) are a Bulgarian minority group of the historical region of Bessarabia, inhabiting parts of present-day Ukraine (Budjak region of the Odesa Oblast) and Moldova. Location and number Modern Ukraine In Ukraine, ...

. A

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

school was founded in 1840 on the idea of Iliya Valchev and 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 ...

'' (cultural centre) followed in 1872. The town was liberated from Ottoman rule in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, not being a site of significant fighting. It became part of the

Principality of Bulgaria The Principality of Bulgaria () 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 ended with a Russian victory, the Treaty of San Stefano was signed ...

and many Turks fled to be replaced with Bulgarians from the ethnic Bulgarian lands that were left outside the country's borders of the time. Novi Pazar became a town in 1883.

Population

Twin towns – sister cities

Novi Pazar is twinned with: *

İnegöl İnegöl (known as , ''Angelokomis'' in the Byzantine period) is a municipality and district of Bursa Province, Turkey. Its area is 1,118 km2, and its population is 302.251 (2024). İnegöl is one of the centers of the Turkish furniture indus ...

, Turkey (2012) *

Novi Pazar Novi Pazar ( sr-cyr, Нови Пазар) is a List of cities in Serbia, city located in the Raška District of southwestern Serbia. As of the 2022 census, the urban area has 71,462 inhabitants, while the city administrative area has 106,720 inha ...

, Serbia

References

External links

Official municipal website
Populated places in Shumen Province Towns in Bulgaria {{bulgaria-geo-stub