Nikopol, Bulgaria

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View of the Danube at Nikopol in winter

View of Nikopol from the fortress

Nikopol (Bulgarian: Никопол) is a town in northern Bulgaria, part of Pleven Province, on the right bank of the Danube river, 4 km downstream from the mouth of the Osam river. It spreads at the foot of steep chalk cliffs along the Danube and up a narrow valley.

In Roman times, it was a village in the province of Moesia, first mentioned in 169. After the decline of the Roman Empire, the town turned out to be located at the northern border of the Byzantine Empire. In 1059, it was named Nikopolis, Greek for "City of Victory". In one of the last stands of the Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Shishman, the town was conquered by the Ottomans in 1393. It was the site of the Battle of Nicopolis, both the largest and last large-scale crusade of the Middle Ages, in 1396. Under Ottoman rule, Nikopol developed into an important military and administrative centre, with a strong fortress and a flourishing economic, spiritual and political life, until it went into a decline during the 17th and 18th centuries. Nikopol was liberated by the Russians in the Battle of Nikopol in 1877.

It presently has a population of 4,976. It is the seat of the Nikopol municipality and provides services to the local villages. A landing for a car ferry is under construction which will connect the town with Turnu Măgurele on the opposite side of the Danube in Romania.

Nikopol was partially flooded by the Danube during the 2006 European floods.

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