Slatina ( ) is a district located in the eastern parts of the 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 ...

. it has 66,687 inhabitants. The district has an area of 13.25 km² which counts for 6.69% of the total Capital Municipality area. It is a flat country with some heights to the west. Slatina, then a village, was first mentioned in 1420 as ''İslatina''. Its name is derived from the common Bulgarian noun ''slatina'', "saline spring", itself from the adjective ''slat'' ("

salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

y, saline"). The word is attested in

Old Bulgarian Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic ( ) is the first Slavic literary language and the oldest extant written Slavonic language attested in literary sources. It belongs to the South Slavic subgroup of the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European ...

as СЛАТИНА, "bog, swamp, marsh", "non-squirting spring". The name is popular in Bulgarian and

Slavic Slavic, Slav or Slavonic may refer to: Peoples * Slavic peoples, an ethno-linguistic group living in Europe and Asia ** East Slavic peoples, eastern group of Slavic peoples ** South Slavic peoples, southern group of Slavic peoples ** West Slav ...

toponymy. Its borders follow Iskarsko Shose Str.,

Iskar River The Iskar (, ; ) is a right tributary of the Danube. With a length of 368 km, it is the longest river that runs entirely within Bulgaria.

, Tsarigradsko Shose Blvd, Sitnyakovo Blvd, Boyan Magesnik Str, Stoyan Popov Str and Letostrui Str. Slatina includes five neighbourhoods: "Yavorov"; "Geo Milev"; "Hristo Smirnenski"; "Reduta" and "Hristo Botev". "Reduta" neighbourhood is the highest place in the capital. There are 23 hectares of green spaces and 3 parks. There are several important institutions, such as the Ministry of Domestic Affairs, Committee for Exploiting Nuclear Energy for Peaceful Purposes, and State Music Academy "Pancho Vladigerov". The embassies of

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and

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are located there. There are also two sports halls: "Festivalna" and "Universiada".

Transport

Slatina is serviced by busses, trams and trolleybuses, which run along

Tsarigradsko shose Tsarigradsko shose () is the largest boulevard in the capital of Bulgaria, Sofia. The boulevard provides grade-separated dual carriageway in almost its entire length of 11.4 km, running from the north-west to the south-east. It begins in the ...

. The district's trams run on standard gauge rails, meaning that they are incompatible with the wider light rail network of sofia. Slatina is currently lacking a subway connection, however there are plans to construct several new metro stations in the later parts of the 2020s.

Economy

Service and manufacturing industry are the backbone of the economy. There are large machine-building and electronics plants such as "Electronika", "Lidi-R", "Meditsinska Tehnika Inzhenering". There are also food processing plants. One of the symbols of the capital, Pliska Hotel is located within the district. Sky City Mall is located in close proximity to the Pliska Hotel. The unemployment rate is 4,1%. Sofia International Airport is a major transport hub not only of Sofia and

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 ...

but in the whole

Balkan Peninsula The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

. There is a business park under construction near the airport.

Culture and education

There are 9 schools, 8 kindergartens and 6 chitalishta in Slatina. There are also three Institutes for Higher Education. The State School for Dance Art is located there as well. There are two churches: "Sv. Troitsa" (Holy Trinity) and "Sveti Duh" (Holy Spirit). There is a chapel "Sv. Mina".

Honour

Slatina Peak Slatina Peak (, ) is a Summit, peak rising to 1691 mI.M. Howat, C. Porter, B.E. Smith, M.-J. Noh and P. Morin. Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica (REMA). Polar Geospatial Center. University of Minnesota, 2022Antarctic REMA Exlorer in Imeon R ...

on Smith Island,

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 ...

is named after Slatina, Sofia and few homonymous Bulgarian settlements.

References

{{Districts of Sofia Districts of Sofia