Pleven

Pleven (Bulgarian: Плèвен pronounced [ˈplɛvɛn]) is the seventh most populous city in Bulgaria. Located in the northern part of the country, it is the administrative centre of Pleven Province, as well as of the subordinate Pleven municipality. It is the biggest economic center in Northwestern Bulgaria. At the 2021 census its population was 89,823.

This article is about a city in Bulgaria. For other uses, see Pleven (disambiguation).

Pleven
Плевен
City
Pleven
Coat of arms of
Coat of arms
Pleven is located in Bulgaria
Pleven
Location of Pleven
Pleven is located in Balkans
Pleven
Pleven (Balkans)
Pleven is located in Europe
Pleven
Pleven (Europe)
Coordinates: 43°24′28″N 24°37′13″E
CountryBulgaria
Province
(Oblast)		Pleven
Government
 • MayorGeorg Spartanski (Reformist Bloc, IMRO-BNM)
Area
 • City85 km2 (33 sq mi)
Elevation
116 m (381 ft)
Population
 (2020)[1]
 • City100 952
 • Urban
113,164
Time zoneUTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+3 (EEST)
Postal Code
5800
Area code064
WebsiteOfficial website

Internationally known for the siege of Plevna of 1877, it is today a major economic centre of the Bulgarian Northwest and Central North and the third largest city of Northern Bulgaria after Varna and Ruse.

Name

The name comes from the Slavic word plevnya ("barn") or from plevel, meaning "weed", sharing the same root, and the Slavic suffix -en.

Geography

Pleven is in an agricultural region in the middle of the Danubian Plain, the historical region of Moesia, surrounded by low limestone hills, the Pleven Heights. The city's central location in Northern Bulgaria defines its importance as a big administrative, economic, political, cultural and transport centre. Pleven is 170 kilometres (106 miles) away from the capital city of Sofia, 320 km (199 miles) west of the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and 50 km (31 miles) south of the Danube.

The river Vit flows near the city and the tiny Tuchenitsa river (commonly known in Pleven as Barata, literally "The Streamlet") crosses it.

Climate

Pleven has a humid continental climate (Köppen Climate Classification Dfa). Winters are cold with snow: temperatures can fall below −20 °C (−4 °F) overnight. Springs are mild, with temperatures around 20 °C (68 °F). Summers are warm, and temperatures have exceeded 38 °C (100 °F) on occasion. The average annual temperature is around 12 °C (54 °F).

Climate data for Pleven, Bulgaria
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 22.8
(73.0)		 24.0
(75.2)		 31.2
(88.2)		 35.1
(95.2)		 37.5
(99.5)		 38.4
(101.1)		 44
(111)		 41.8
(107.2)		 40.8
(105.4)		 38.3
(100.9)		 28.8
(83.8)		 23.4
(74.1)		 44
(111)
Average high °C (°F) 1.3
(34.3)		 4.6
(40.3)		 10.3
(50.5)		 18.1
(64.6)		 23.1
(73.6)		 26.7
(80.1)		 29.3
(84.7)		 29.4
(84.9)		 25.4
(77.7)		 18.2
(64.8)		 10.5
(50.9)		 4.1
(39.4)		 16.8
(62.2)
Daily mean °C (°F) −2.2
(28.0)		 0.6
(33.1)		 5.4
(41.7)		 12.5
(54.5)		 17.4
(63.3)		 21.0
(69.8)		 23.4
(74.1)		 22.9
(73.2)		 18.6
(65.5)		 12.4
(54.3)		 6.4
(43.5)		 0.7
(33.3)		 11.6
(52.9)
Average low °C (°F) −5.5
(22.1)		 −3.3
(26.1)		 0.9
(33.6)		 6.8
(44.2)		 11.5
(52.7)		 14.8
(58.6)		 16.7
(62.1)		 16.1
(61.0)		 12.3
(54.1)		 7.2
(45.0)		 2.9
(37.2)		 −2.0
(28.4)		 6.5
(43.7)
Record low °C (°F) −29.3
(−20.7)		 −22.2
(−8.0)		 −18.9
(−2.0)		 −5.7
(21.7)		 0.6
(33.1)		 3.4
(38.1)		 8.7
(47.7)		 8.9
(48.0)		 −0.6
(30.9)		 −6.5
(20.3)		 −20.4
(−4.7)		 −24
(−11)		 −29.3
(−20.7)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 39
(1.5)		 34
(1.3)		 33
(1.3)		 52
(2.0)		 68
(2.7)		 81
(3.2)		 63
(2.5)		 40
(1.6)		 38
(1.5)		 44
(1.7)		 45
(1.8)		 41
(1.6)		 578
(22.8)
Source: Stringmeteo[2]

History

Prehistory and antiquity

The earliest traces of human settlement in the area date from the 5th millennium BC, the Neolithic.

The central streets of Pleven

Numerous archaeological findings, among them the Nikolaevo treasure found in Bulgaria, evidence for the rich culture of the Thracians, who inhabited the area for thousands of years.

In the beginning of the new era, the region became part of the Roman province of Moesia, and a road station called Storgosia arose near present-day Pleven on the road from Oescus (near modern Gigen) to Philippopolis (now Plovdiv). It later evolved into a fortress. One of the most valued archaeological monuments in Bulgaria from the period is the Early Christian basilica from the fourth century discovered near the modern city.

Middle Ages
Pleven Regional Historical Museum

During the Middle Ages, Pleven was a well-developed stronghold of the First and the Second Bulgarian Empire. When Slavs populated the region, they gave the settlement its contemporary name Pleven, it was first mentioned in a charter by Hungarian king Stephen V in 1270 in connection to a military campaign in the Bulgarian lands.

Ottoman rule

During the Ottoman rule, Pleven, known as Plevne in Ottoman Turkish, preserved its Bulgarian appearance and culture. Many churches, schools and bridges were built at the time of the Bulgarian National Revival. In 1825, the first secular school in the town was opened, followed by the first girls' school in Bulgaria in 1840, as well as the first boys' school a year later. Pleven was the place where the Bulgarian national hero Vasil Levski established the first revolutionary committee in 1869, part of his national revolutionary network.

Siege of Plevna
Main article: Siege of Plevna

The city (then mostly known as Plevna outside Bulgaria) was a major battle scene during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 that Russian Tsar Alexander II held for the purpose of the liberation of Bulgaria. The joint Russian and Romanian army paid dearly for the victory, but it paved the path to the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in this war, the restoration of Bulgaria as a state and the independence of Romania from the Ottoman Empire. It cost the Russians and Romanians 5 months and 38,000 casualties to take the town after four assaults, in what was one of the decisive battles of the war. The siege is remembered as a landmark victory of the Romanian War of Independence, as on 28 November 1877 the Plevna citadel capitulated, and Osman Pasha surrendered the city, the garrison and his sword to the Romanian Colonel Mihail Cerchez.

Pleven Panorama, one of the town's best known sights

In the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition of 1911 J.H.V. Crowe concluded his lengthy entry on Pleven (transcribed as Plevna) with the memorable dictum:

Plevna is a striking example of the futility of the purely passive defence, which is doomed to failure however tenaciously carried out... Victories which are not followed up are useless. War without strategy is mere butchery.[3]

On the other hand, the siege of Plevna stands out among other countless sieges and military actions in the region because of its significance.[4]

Plevna is one of the few engagements that changed the course of history.[5]

Modern history

The events of the Russo-Turkish War proved crucial for the development of Pleven as a key town of central northern Bulgaria. The town experienced significant demographic and economic growth in the following years, gradually establishing itself as a cultural centre of the region.

The Bulgarian Agrarian National Union, a leading interwar party representing the Bulgarian peasantry, was founded in the town in December 1899.

Prior to the Bulgarian orthographic reform of 1945, the name of the town was spelled Плѣвенъ (with yat) in Cyrillic.

Population
The town hall of Pleven

According to census 2021, Pleven has a population of 89,823 inhabitants as of December 2021.[6] The ethnic breakdown is 97% Bulgarians among others. The number of the residents of the city reached its peak in the period 1988-1991 when exceeded 135,000.[7] The following table presents the change of the population after 1887.

Pleven
Year 1887 1910 1934 1946 1956 1965 1975 1985 1992 2001 2005 2009 2011 2021
Population 14,307 23,049 31,520 39,059 57,555 78,933 107,883 129,863 130,747 121,880 113,700 111,426 106,954 89,823
Highest number 130,747 in 1992
Sources: National Statistical Institute,[8][7][9][1] citypopulation.de,[10] pop-stat.mashke.org,[11] Bulgarian Academy of Sciences[12]

Ethnic, linguistic and religious composition

According to the 2011 census data, the individuals declared their ethnic identity were distributed as follows:[13][14]

  • Bulgarians: 95,386 (96.5%)
  • Turks: 1,510 (1.5%)
  • Gypsies: 1,017 (1.0%)
  • Others: 489 (0.5%)
  • Indefinable: 422 (0.4%)
    • Undeclared: 8,130 (7.6%)

Total: 106,954

In Pleven Municipality 112,414 declared as Bulgarians, 4626 as Gypsies, 3204 as Turks and 10,384 did not declare their ethnic group. Most Roma people in Pleven Municipality live in the village of Bukovlak (bg:Буковлък).

An overwhelming majority of 90% of Pleven's residents are Eastern Orthodox Christian. The Diocese of Nikopol, of which Pleven is part, is one of the two Roman Catholic dioceses in Bulgaria, and another 5% of the residents are Roman Catholic by faith, a significant number compared to other Bulgarian cities.

Pleven has three Eastern Orthodox churches, the Bulgarian National Revival St Nicholas Church (1834) that was constructed at the place of a chapel from the Second Bulgarian Empire, the St Paraskeva Church (1934) and the Holy Trinity Church, built in 1870 at the place of a church mentioned as early as 1523 and inaugurated by Exarch Antim I. As of 2005, a new Eastern Orthodox church is being built in the Strogoziya quarter.

The construction of a large Roman Catholic church of Our Lady of Fatima began in 2001. A mosque also exists in the town to serve the needs of the Muslim population, as well as a Methodist church that is situated on the site of the former local puppet theatre.

Economy
Two banks in central Pleven

A major centre of oil processing, metalworking, machinery construction, of light and food industries in Socialist times. However, the late 1990s and early 2000s saw a revival of light industry and the development of branches such as knitwear and store clothes production. Tourism, which had attracted many people from the Soviet Union prior to 1989, and had experienced a slump in the following years, is on the rise again.

In 2015, the unemployment rate in Pleven district was 9.2%.[15]

The most important economic sectors in Pleven are chemical, textiles and foodstuffs industries, the manufacturing of cement and glass, machine building, tailoring, agriculture, retail and services.[16] The city has seen a number of major foreign investments in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Particularly noticeable is the mass construction of hypermarkets, with two Billa, two Kaufland, two Carrefour (in construction- first one to open in MALL PLEVEN in 2011), DM, Plus (in construction), ELEMAG, METRO, two LIDL stores, a Praktiker, bauMax and a number of other hypermarkets being opened as of 2006. The Pleven City Center and Central Mall Pleven were opened in 2008.

Transport

The international railway Sofia — Bucharest — Moscow runs through Pleven. The international road E 83 passes just north of the city. The national A2 Hemus highway Sofia — Varna is projected to pass 16 km (10 mi) south of Pleven.

Over 90% of the inner city transportation in Pleven is maintained by trolleybuses. There are 14 trolleybus lines, and 75 km (47 mi) trolleybus network. The trolleybus fleet consist of ZIU-682 (1985–1988) and Skoda 26-TR Solaris trolleybuses, produced in 2014. A project for 12 km (7 mi) trolleybus routes extension is underway. When the extension is completed Pleven will become 100% covered by trolleybus transport.

Transmitter

Near Pleven, there is a large facility for medium wave and short wave broadcasting. Pleven medium wave transmitter, working on 594 kHz, uses as antenna two 250 metres (820 feet) tall guyed mast radiators insulated against ground. These masts belong to the tallest structures of Bulgaria.[17]

Museum of the Liberation of Pleven

Main sights

Most of the sights of the town are related to the Russo-Turkish War. The monuments related to the war alone are about 200. Some of the more popular include the St George the Conqueror Chapel Mausoleum in honour of the many Russian and Romanian soldiers who lost their lives during the siege of Plevna and the ossuary in Skobelev Park. Another popular attraction is Pleven Panorama, created after (and reputedly larger than) the Borodino Panorama in Russia on the occasion of the anniversary of the siege of Plevna.

Culture

The Pleven Regional Historical Museum is another popular tourist attraction, while the Svetlin Rusev Donative Exhibition, situated in the former public baths, exhibits works by Bulgarian artists, as well as noted Western European art figures.

The Ivan Radoev Dramatic Theatre is the centre of theatrical life in Pleven. A number of community centres (chitalishta) are also active in the city.

Medical University - Pleven, one of the five medical universities in Bulgaria, was established in 1974, aiming to expand the horizons, size and reputation of the City Hospital, founded in 1865.

Sport and recreation

Pleven is often regarded as an important centre of sports in Bulgaria, with many noted Bulgarian sportspeople having been born and/or trained in the town, including Tereza Marinova and Galabin Boevski.

The city hosts two football clubs, Spartak Pleven and Belite orli, which have separate stadiums. Both teams play in the second Bulgarian league and haven't had any major successes in the past, although Spartak Pleven has been the first team for a couple of former Bulgarian internationals such as Plamen Getov.

Spartak Pleven is also a basketball team, a national championship winner in 1995 and national cup winner in 1996 (then named Plama Pleven). Other than that, the team is a regular first league participant.

Pleven is famous for its Kaylaka (where the ruins of the Storgosia fortification can be found) and Skobelev parks. The latter is home to the Pleven Panorama and is situated on the original location of the battle during the Russo-Turkish War.

Notable people

International relations
See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Bulgaria

Twin towns – sister cities

Pleven is twinned with:[18]

Honours
  • A city in Kansas and a town in Montana in the United States, as well as a village in Ontario, Canada were named after Pleven, or more precisely its historical name in English Plevna, the reason for which is the battle in 1877.
  • A road in Hampton, Middlesex, London is named Plevna, adjoining another called Varna Road both made up of Victorian terraced housing built in the 1870s and named after the battles in Bulgaria of the period.
  • Pleven Saddle on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after Pleven.
  • In other countries there are five cities and towns named after Plevna, and eighteen Plevna streets in Britain alone[19]
  • In Romania, more than 10 large cities have a Plevna (Romanian for "Pleven") street, as Pleven was the location for an important battle between the Ottoman Empire on one side, and the Russian Empire and Romania on the other, after which Romania gained independence.

See also

References
  1. https://nsi.bg/bg/content/2975/%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B5-%D0%BF%D0%BE-%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8-%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%89%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B8-%D0%BC%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%B6%D0%B8%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B5-%D0%B8-%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BB
  2. "Stringmeteo – Pleven Climate". Stringmeteo. 2011. Archived from the original on 4 April 2020. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
  3. Crowe, John Henry Verinder (1911). "Plevna § Investment and Fall of Plevna" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 840.
  4. "The Balkan Wars", Andre Gerolymatos, 2002, Basic Books, p.204
  5. "Struggle for Mastery", Taylor, pp.239–241
  6. (in Bulgarian)
  7. (in Bulgarian)National Statistical Institute - Towns population 1956-1992
  8. (in Bulgarian)National Statistical Institute - Main Towns Census 2014 Archived 8 April 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  9. (in English) Bulgarian National Statistical Institute Archived 8 April 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  10. (in English) „WorldCityPopulation“ Archived 31 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  11. ""pop-stat.mashke.org"". Archived from the original on 16 October 2015. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
  12. (in Bulgarian) Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Archived 6 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  13. (in Bulgarian) Population on 01.02.2011 by provinces, municipalities, settlements and age; National Statistical Institute Archived 8 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  14. Population by province, municipality, settlement and ethnic identification, by 01.02.2011; Bulgarian National Statistical Institute Archived 22 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine (in Bulgarian)
  15. "District Pleven | National statistical institute". www.nsi.bg. Archived from the original on 26 December 2017. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
  16. "EURES - Labour market information - Pleven - European Commission". ec.europa.eu. Archived from the original on 3 May 2018. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
  17. "Predavatel • Радио и телевизия в Плевен, Radio & Television in Pleven". www.predavatel.com. Archived from the original on 7 October 2008. Retrieved 18 October 2008.
  18. "Побратимени градове". pleven.bg (in Bulgarian). Pleven. Archived from the original on 25 September 2019. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  19. www.davidkidd.net/20Plevna.html Archived 17 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  • "Home". Медицински Университет - Плевен. Archived from the original on 23 February 2020. Retrieved 14 February 2020.

Sources
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