Delčevo

In Turkish times, Delčevo was also called Sultania, by analogy with the original name.

Until the 17th century, the settlement laid on the right side of the river Bregalnica on the present toponym Selishte, more precisely under the hill Ostrec near the road leading to Bulgaria. From the first centuries of Turkish rule there is not much information about the position of Delčevo. In the middle of the 17th century, Sultan Mehmed IV lived in its vicinity. At the time of his visit to Pijanec, mass Islamization was carried out on the population. Due to the oppression and pressure, many Bulgarian settlements were deserted, including the then Tsarevo Selo. It is assumed that at the time of that sultan the settlement was moved to its present place on the left side of the river Bregalnica. The city mosque built in the 17th century is also cited as evidence.

However, it is thought-provoking that the Turkish travel writer Evliya Çelebi spent here only a few years later in 1670 and wrote in his Travelogue:

"From Vinica we climbed the Kocani mountain ore, moving through the gorge and after four hours we reached Tsarevo Selo. This is a Muslim village at the foot of a mountain and is decorated with about 100 houses and a magnificent mosque mined by a minaret."

We should also mention the folk tradition that says that the settlement under the Ostrec hill was deserted when the plague reigned and the surviving population settled on the place where Delchevo is today.

In 1856, the construction of a church was completed. The area around the church was at this time mainly inhabited by Bulgarians fleeing Turkish oppression from the surrounding villages. There was a larger emigration of Bulgarians from the area in 1878 after the Russo-Turkish war. After the end of the war the Christian population, fearing for their safety, fled the region seeking refuge on the territory of the newly created Bulgaria. About 150 households from the villages and the city moved to the Kyustendil region. A small number of those refugees later returned. Turkish refugees from Bulgaria and even Bosnia and Herzegovina settled in the place of the emigrated Bulgarians. The invading Turkish population, called "Madzirci" settled in Madzir maalo (Madzir Neighbourhood), today's III district of the city.

On the left side by the river Bregalnica, on the narrow flat space where the bazzar and inns were, the construction of the trade and craft shops along the two narrow streets started. With that, the bazaar was finally formed and Delčevo grew into a city settlement.

During the Balkan Wars, a large number of Turks left the city, so that in 1914 the population was 1.701. After these wars, Bulgarian settlers came from the surrounding villages, mostly from the passive villages of Bigla, Selnik and Dramče, which bought Turkish properties.

In 1931 the population increased to 3.746 inhabitants. After this year, the emigration of the Turkish population to Turkey continued voluntarily, especially in 1953. In 1935, the construction of the first houses on the right side of the river Bregalnica began.

After the liberation, on April 23, 1950, the Presidium of the National Assembly of the People's Republic of Macedonia decided that Tsarevo Selo should be renamed Delčevo, in honor of Goce Delčev.

In the sixties the town expanded on the right side of the river Bregalnica, and in the seventies on the hill Milkovo Brdo (Milkov's hill). With the increase of the employees in the working organizations in Delčevo, the number of the population in it also grew. Today Delčevo is a modern urban settlement with wide asphalt streets and boulevards, sewerage network and parks and greenery.

• Church "Assumption of the Most Holy Mother of God" - a church in the higher part of the city;
• Church "St. Cyril and Methodius” - a new church in the lower part of the city;
• Church "St. Kliment Ohridski ” - a new church on the location where in 1961, by a decision of the then government, a church was demolished;
• Church "St. Naum Ohridski” - baptistery church. Consecrated on August 4, 2013.
• Church "St. Bogorodica” - grave church;
• Church "St. Bogorodica Balaklija” - the main monastery church of the Delčevo Monastery;
• Church "Protection of the Most Holy Mother of God" - a monastery church in the Delčevo Monastery;

• Secondary school "Metodija Mitevski Brico" - Delčevo
• Primary school "Vancho Prke" - Delčevo
• Primary school "St. Kliment Ohridski" - Delčevo