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Chiprovtsi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
|
| Province (oblast) |
Montana |
|---|---|
| Population | 2458 (13.09.2005) |
| Altitude | 478 m |
| Postal code | 3460 |
| Area code | 09554 |
| Geographic coordinates |
43° 23' north, 22° 53' east |
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2; UTC+3 in summer) |
| Mayor | Ivan Pavlov |
Chiprovtsi (Bulgarian: Чипровци) is a town in Montana Province of northwestern Bulgaria, about 30 km from Montana, on the shores of the river Ogosta at the foot of western Stara Planina.
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An ore-miner settlement has been existing on the present location of Chiprovtsi since Thracian times. It was then populated by the Slavs, who named it Kiprovets. In the 13th century, the town received special privileges, as it was settled by Saxon ore-miners, who later accepted the Bulgarian language, but preserved the strong position of Roman Catholicism in the town thanks to Franciscan monks. Due to this influence, Chiprovtsi grew into a centre of Catholicism in the Balkans and Eastern Europe.
On the ground of ore-mining, handicrafts and trade blossomed in Chiprovtsi, wares were exported to Central and Eastern Europe. The economic heydey attracted Bulgarian noblemen from the whole country, leading to a revival of culture and religion.
The modern town reached the peak of its cultural, economic and political development during the first three centuries of Ottoman rule in Bulgaria, becoming the most significant centre of goldsmith's trade in the Balkans.
A secular school was built in the beginning of the 17th century, where Bulgarian and Latin were taught. The population of Chiprovtsi was half Catholic, half Eastern Orthodox by the time. Sons of the town's distinguished families, such as Petar Parchevich and Petar Bogdan Bakshev, studied theology in Italy, issuing books and becoming a part of European aristocracy.
In 1688, after heavy casualties were caused to the Ottoman armies by the coalition of Austrian, Polish and Venetian forces, Bulgarians from Chiprovtsi initiated the Chiprovtsi Uprising against Ottoman rule, which failed due to lack of assistance by the coalition, and was brutally crushed by janissary troops, who burned numerous villages in the area to the ground, forcing people from the whole region to flee to neighbouring countries, some of them setting up a Bulgarian community in the Banat, the Banat Bulgarians.