Chiprovtsi

Coordinates: 43°23′N 22°53′E / 43.383°N 22.883°E / 43.383; 22.883
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Chiprovtsi
Чипровци
The central square of Chiprovtsi
The central square of Chiprovtsi
UTC+3 (EEST)
Postal Code
3460
Area code09554
Websitewww.chiprovtzi.hit.bg,www.chiprovtsi.com

Chiprovtsi[3] (Bulgarian: Чипровци, pronounced [ˈtʃiproft͡si][4]) is a small town in northwestern Bulgaria, administratively part of Montana Province. It lies on the shores of the river Ogosta in the western Balkan Mountains, very close to the Bulgarian-Serbian border. A town of about 2,000 inhabitants, Chiprovtsi is the administrative centre of Chiprovtsi Municipality that also covers nine nearby villages.

Chiprovtsi is thought to have been founded in the

Chiprovtsi Uprising of 1688. After the suppression of the uprising, some of the town's population fled to Habsburg
-ruled lands; those unable to flee were killed or enslaved by the Ottomans.

Deserted for about 30 years, the town was repopulated by Eastern Orthodox Bulgarians, beginning in the 1720s. It was following this new settlement that Chiprovtsi became a major centre of the Bulgarian carpet industry. Other traditional industries have been stock breeding, agriculture and fur trade. Today, Chiprovtsi municipality experiences a declining population and above-average unemployment. However, the development of alternative tourism help to sustain the economy.

Name

According to

syncope. The name is of Slavic origin, but may be linked to the archaic Greek loanword kipos (κήπος, "garden"),[5] a word also borrowed by Serbian. Some researchers derive the toponym from the personal name Kipra or Kipro, implying beauty and sprightliness. Another popular hypothesis, although rejected by Duridanov, links the name to Latin cuprum ("copper") due to the numerous copper deposits and mines in the region in Ancient Roman times.[6]

The name was first mentioned in a western source, namely a Latin document of 1565, as Chiprovatz. Similar forms such as Chipurovatz, Chiprouvatz, Chiprovotzii, Chiprovtzi, Kiprovazo, Chiprovatzium, Kiprovetz and Kiprovtzi have been used throughout the 16th–17th centuries. The attested

Franciscan clerics in the town in the 17th century.[6]

The town has been conventionally divided into several neighbourhoods (

ma(h)ali); most are named according to the profession and social status of their residents. In 1888, D. Marinov recorded the existence of the Srebril or Srebrana ("Silversmiths'"), Kyurkchiyska ("Furriers'"), Pazarska ("Merchants'"), Tabashka ("Leatherworkers'"), Partsal and Trap neighbourhoods.[7] The existence of a Saksonska (Regio Saxonium, "Saxon") neighbourhood was also attested until the 17th century.[8] Another actively used pair of toponyms is Dolni kray ("Lower Part") and Gorni kray ("Upper Part"), referring to the town neighbourhoods closer to the river or the mountain respectively.[9]

Chiprovtsi Point and Chiprovtsi Islets in Rugged Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica are named after Chiprovtsi.[10]

Geography

Further information: Geography of Bulgaria
The Ogosta flowing through Chiprovtsi in its upper course

Chiprovtsi is situated in a small valley at the foot of the Chiprovtsi Mountain, a high northern branch of the western Balkan Mountains. The Chiprovtsi Mountain forms the border between Bulgaria and the neighbouring Serbia. It is 35 kilometres (22 mi) long and features several peaks around 2,000 metres (6,600 ft), including

Tri Chuki (1,938 m or 6,358 ft) and Vrazha Glava (1,936 m or 6,352 ft). The Ogosta River, a right tributary of the Danube, originates from the Chiprovtsi Mountain and flows northeast through the Danubian Plain to join the Danube in Vratsa Province.[11] Just northeast of the town is another mountain, Shiroka Planina, a branch of the Fore-Balkan Mountains.[12][13] The region is rich in metal and mineral deposits.[1]

Demographics

On 31 July 2005, Chiprovtsi's population was 2,375 people — 1,167 men and 1,208 women. By June 2008, the town's population had declined to 2,122.[14]

History

Further information: History of Bulgaria

Antiquity and Middle Ages

Ruins of the 15th-century Roman Catholic Cathedral of Saint Mary

It is known that the area around Chiprovtsi has been inhabited since the time of the

Emperor Trajan (98–117). There are remains of Roman fortifications around Chiprovtsi, such as the Latin Fortress ruins in the Kula area, where coins dating to the reigns of Marcus Aurelius (161–180) and Commodus (180–192) have been unearthed, and the Big Ruins south of the town. The gold, silver, lead, copper and iron mines brought sizable revenue to the Romans, who took good care to protect these from barbarian attacks.[15]

With the arrival of the Seven Slavic tribes and the Bulgars in the 6th–7th century and the establishment of the First Bulgarian Empire in 680 in the former lands of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire), the entire region was soon incorporated into the Bulgarian realm. After a period of renewed Byzantine rule in 1018–1185, it was part of the Second Bulgarian Empire until its conquest by the Ottomans in the late 14th or early 15th century.[15]

The presence of the German ore miners, known locally as sasi (саси,

privileges compared to the native Bulgarian population. In Chiprovtsi's mines, they served as technicians and overseers, contributing to the technological progress of mining in the region.[15] They were, however, gradually assimilated by the local Bulgarians by the mid-15th century, as indicated by German names with Slavic suffixes in the population registers. The Germans left behind the name of one of the neighbourhoods, still known as the "Saxon" neighbourhood in the 17th century, and Roman Catholicism as the dominant religion in the town.[16]

In the second half of the 14th century, a certain number of

Peyachevich family.[17]

Early Ottoman rule

See also:
History of early Ottoman Bulgaria

As the Ottomans subjugated the Balkans in the 14th–15th centuries, they valued the Chiprovtsi mines for their military and civil needs and sought to renew the ore extraction that had been interrupted by warfare. Renewed exploitation of the local deposits is thought to have commenced by the late 15th century;[18] a note of 1479 mentions that the mines "in Bosnia, Herzegovina and other places" had been rented.[19]

The town of Chiprovtsi and several of the surrounding villages were administratively organized as a

self-government to a certain degree and were administered by an elected council of eminent Bulgarian residents (knezove). A fragment of the area's pre-Ottoman Bulgarian administrative division may have also been preserved, as it is referred to under the Slavic name voivodeship in some documents.[20]

Catholic population of Chiprovtsi
and the related villages[21]
Year Population Source
1577 2,000 anonymous
1585 300 families
(including Orthodox)		 Ottoman account
1624 2,600 Pietro Masarechi
1640 4,430 Bakshev
1647 4,000 Bakshev
1649 3,800 Bakshev
1653 3,660 Bakshev
1658 3,640 Bakshev
1666 550 families
(including Orthodox)		 Ottoman account
1667 4,140 Bakshev
1670 4,140 Bakshev
1679 4,270 Knezhevich

By the 1520s, Chiprovtsi was still a minor centre of mining activity compared to other places in the empire. In that period, it brought a revenue of 47,553

mint and was manufacturing silver coins. In 1585, the miners were forced to work night and day and had to pay increased taxes, leading to protests and the danger that they may migrate. By the time, Chiprovtsi was already providing a revenue of 1,400,000 akçe, making it one of the empire's prime mining and metalworking regions.[22]

In the mid-16th century, Chiprovtsi began to attract the attention of Catholic officials from

Franciscans established a Catholic mission in the town. In 1601, Solinat was appointed bishop of Sofia with his seat in Chiprovtsi by Pope Clement VIII. He chose to reside in Chiprovtsi because Sofia's Catholic population was limited to a handful of Ragusan merchant families.[23]

Cultural heyday

Chiprovtsi's development reached its apogee in the 17th century, when it became a bustling cultural, religious and merchant centre of that part of the

Diocese of Nicopoli headed by Filip Stanislavov and represented in Chiprovtsi by Franchesko Soymirovich.[26] The town and the surrounding areas were not entirely Catholic: a significant part of the population was Orthodox; the Orthodox Chiprovtsi Monastery still exists today.[28]

The evolution of Chiprovtsi from a mining town to a trade hub owes much to the settlement of merchants from the

Braşov, Sibiu, Belgrade, Buda and Pest, with a particularly strong presence in Wallachia and Transylvania, where they established permanent agencies and sizable companies in Târgoviște, Câmpulung and Râmnic during the rule of Matei Basarab (1632–1654). The international trade broadened the outlook of the locals and introduced the ideas of the age and the European culture of the time to the region.[19]

A Catholic monastery was built during the time of Peter Solinat and developed as an educational centre through its school; it was referred to as one of the most prestigious schools in the Bulgarian lands in that period. The school was partially foreign-funded and provided education in grammar, arithmetic, logic and philosophy[29] to 75–80 students. The teachers were often Bulgarian graduates of the Collegio Clementino in Rome and the languages of education were Latin, Bulgarian and "Illyrian", a Croatian form written usually in the Latin alphabet but sometimes in Cyrillic. The school also had a library, one of the first in Bulgaria. Since the 1630s, the eminent writers and translators from Chiprovtsi, most notably Petar Bogdan Bakshev and Petar Parchevich, formed the so-called "Chiprovtsi Literary School", issuing books about the history of Bulgaria, as well as on religious topics.[28]

Chiprovtsi Uprising

Main article:
Chiprovtsi Uprising
National Historical Museum of Bulgaria

As prosperous as the region was, it was not unharmed by the constant Ottoman–Habsburg wars and was often the target of Turkish, Tatar and Hungarian rebel raids. By the 1630s, the idea of an organized anti-Ottoman revolt had reached the town of Chiprovtsi. In his 1650 account to the senate of the Republic of Venice Petar Parchevich described the long preparations for an armed struggle and the support-seeking visits of his fellow townsmen to the kings of Poland and Austria. Since then, the inhabitants of Chiprovtsi waited for the suitable moment when they would be able to instigate an effective uprising and continued to co-operate with the leaders of the European realms.[30]

On 12 September 1683, the Ottomans were routed by the forces of Europe at the

Vinţu de Jos) in Transylvania[34] and Szentendre in modern Hungary.[35] The town itself was plundered, burned down and deserted and its links to the West were largely severed.[33]

Repopulation and modern times

For several decades after the uprising, Chiprovtsi and the region remained desolate. In 1699, the Ottomans attempted to settle 1,238 anti-Habsburg Hungarian rebels in those lands and provided them with 5-year

Rousse barracks and sent to fight at Niš.[36]

Ultimately, the region was repopulated by Orthodox Bulgarians, beginning in the 1720s. In 1737–1738, the sultan amnestied the rebels and permitted the return of the insurgents' property in 1741,[37] though none of the former residents is known to have returned. In the 1720s–1730s, Chiprovtsi had only 12 inhabited houses; by the 1750s, those had reached 150.[38] The Orthodox Chiprovtsi Monastery had been reestablished in 1703 by a certain Zhivko who took the ecclesiastical name of Zoticus.[39] As the interrupted mining was apparently not continued after the uprising and the international trade links had been severed, the locals switched to cattle breeding, agriculture, fur trade and later carpet weaving as their main occupation.[40]

The western traveller Ami Boué, who visited the town in 1836–1838, reported that "mainly young girls, under shelters or in corridors, engage in carpet weaving. They earn only five francs a month and the payment was even lower before". By 1868, the annual production of carpets in Chiprovtsi had surpassed 14,000 square metres.[41] Following the Russo-Turkish War in 1877–1878, Chiprovtsi, along with all of northern Bulgaria and the region around Sofia, became part of the newly liberated Principality of Bulgaria, the predecessor of modern Bulgaria. In 1896, almost 1,400 women from Chiprovtsi and the region were engaged in carpet weaving. In 1920, the locals founded the Manual Labour carpet-weaving cooperative society, the first of its kind in the country.[42]

Chiprovtsi Bulgaria Street Map

In the 1950s, ore output was renewed in the region, briefly revitalizing Chiprovtsi through the influx of young and highly educated people. On 12 September 1968, Chiprovtsi was officially

democratic changes in 1989, mining was discontinued again due to a lack of funds, the factory was closed and the carpet industry has been in decline as it had lost its firm foreign markets. As a result, the town and the municipality have been experiencing a demographic crisis.[40]

Governance, education and economy

Chiprovtsi carpet making; Chiprovtsi Museum of History
Samples of traditional local carpets

The

Bulgarian Agrarian People's Union "Aleksandar Stamboliyski" who won the municipal elections with 1,615 votes or 62.67% against Antoaneta Todorova Kostova of the Bulgarian Socialist Party who amassed 962 votes or 37.33%. Two villages in the municipality are eligible to elect their own mayor, Prevala and Zhelezna.[45]

The municipal administration is divided into two branches, the common and specialized administration. The common administration is further divided into the "Information Services" and "Financial-economical Activities and Handling of Property" departments; the specialized administration includes the "Planning and Distribution of the Budget" and "Territorial and Village Planning and Building" departments. The municipality has no separate

Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, and a Municipal Social Service. The Municipal Land Commission takes care of land and forest distribution and the Municipal Social Service oversees financial aid and supports the disabled.[44]

The town has a

high school (grades 4–12); both claim to be successors of the school founded in 1624. The two schools service the entire municipality, as the six schools in the larger villages have been closed. In 1977, the high school was visited by about 600 students; the number slightly declined to 400 in 1989. In 2008, it was only visited by 142 children. Chiprovtsi's kindergarten is the only one remaining in the municipality of formerly 15.[29]

The

Intangible Cultural Heritage list of UNESCO in 2014.[48]
The municipality has also invested in the development of
GDP per capita and 67th by Human Development Index.[50]

In September 2008, it was reported that one of the few fluorite deposits in Europe located near Chiprovtsi would be developed by a Bulgarian company that had leased the mine for 20 years. The company has invested BGN 14.5 million and aims to extract 150,000 tonnes of raw material and produce 50,000 tonnes of pure fluorite a year. As of 2008, the company employs 73 miners, all former workers in the closed local mines, and expects their number to reach 150.[51][52] In 2016, the mines were closed, as the deposits were almost exhausted and the market conditions of fluorit also became unfavorable. At this point, the company employed 116 people, who were let go.[53]

Culture and religion

The Bulgarian Orthodox Chiprovtsi Monastery

The local Bulgarians traditionally belong to the

Saint Demetrius—1755, Saints Peter and Paul—1781 and Holy Mother of God—1874.[57]

A notable cultural trait of Chiprovtsi shared with much of the region is the veneration of a family

slava. The practice exists since time immemorial and the family saint is thought to have been chosen by the taking of a random candle by an unaware person. The svetets is associated to the family house: when a daughter-in-law comes to live there, she accepts the family saint of the home, and when a family member or a foreign settler moves out or builds a new house, they adopt a new svetets.[58]

Chiprovtsi has a museum of history that occupies two old-style buildings and features four exhibitions. These present the domestic life from Antiquity through the Middle Ages and the 17th-century heyday until today, as well as works of the Chiprovtsi goldsmithing and carpet industry.[59] The town has an Eastern Orthodox church dedicated to the Ascension of Jesus; the remains of the old Roman Catholic church of Saint Mary have also been preserved.[60] The Chiprovtsi Monastery is situated outside the town; there are ruins of several other Orthodox churches and another monastery.[61]

The town has a community cultural centre (chitalishte) with branches in eight of the villages in the municipality. The chitalishte has a youth dancing group, a folk music group, a theatrical group, a folk ritual and customs reproduction group and other similar groups. The nine libraries of the Chiprovtsi chitalishte and its branches house 65,975 volumes of books.[56]

Notable people

  • Kamelia, pop-folk singer born Chiprovtsi in 1971

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Общински план за развитие, p. 6.
  2. ^ "Таблица на населението по постоянен и настоящ адрес" (in Bulgarian). Главна дирекция "Гражданска регистрация и административно обслужване". 2016-03-15. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
  3. Streamlined System for the Romanization of Bulgarian. In other romanization systems
    , the name is variously transliterated as Čiprovci, Chiprovci, Chiprovtzi, etc.
  4. ISBN 0-521-63751-1
    . Retrieved 2008-10-24.
  5. ^ "ΛΕΞΙΚΌ—LEXICON: Greek-English-Greek dictionary". Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  6. ^ a b Чолов, "Чипровци и неговата покрайнина", Чипровското въстатие 1688 г.
  7. СбНУ
     (in Bulgarian) (11).
  8. ^ "Deutsche Wurzeln im bulgarischen Nordwesten" (in German). Bulgarisches Wirtschaftsblatt und Südosteuropäischer Report. 2008-04-08. Archived from the original on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  9. ^ Сантова, p. 11.
  10. ^ "SCAR Composite Gazetteer". Australian Antarctic Data Centre. Retrieved 2019-04-24.
  11. OCLC 163361648
    .
  12. ^ "The Region". Official site of Chiprovtzi. Archived from the original on 2007-05-10. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  13. ^ "The Town Itself". Official site of Chiprovtzi. Archived from the original on 2007-05-10. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  14. ^ "Таблица на населението по постоянен и настоящ адрес" (in Bulgarian). Главна дирекция "Гражданска регистрация и административно обслужване". 2008-06-16. Archived from the original on 2008-07-01. Retrieved 2008-09-12.
  15. ^ a b c Чолов, "Чипровци и покрайнината му до началото на османското владичество", Чипровското въстание 1688 г.
  16. ^ Гюзелев, p. 89.
  17. ^ Belaj.
  18. ^ Гюзелев, p. 82.
  19. ^ a b Чолов, "Рударството в Чипровско и развитието на града", Чипровското въстание 1688 г.
  20. ^ Чолов, "Чипровският край под османско владичество до въстанието през 1688 г.", Чипровското въстание 1688 г.
  21. ^ Гюзелев, pp. 91–92.
  22. ^ Гюзелев, pp. 83–88.
  23. ^ a b Гюзелев, p. 90.
  24. ^ Атанасова, Цветана. "Цветето на България" (in Bulgarian). Journey.bg. Archived from the original on 2018-02-18. Retrieved 2008-09-18.
  25. ^ "Chiprovtsi: Stooping Women Guard the Bulgarian Renaissance's Few Traces". Balkan Travellers. Archived from the original on 2008-11-21. Retrieved 2008-09-18.
  26. ^
    ISBN 954-9926-72-9
    .
  27. ^ Чолов, "Чипровският край и католическата пропаганда в България", Чипровското въстание 1688 г.
  28. ^ a b Чолов, "Чипровци—културно-просветен център и средище на народно изкуство и занаяти", Чипровското въстание 1688 г.
  29. ^ a b Илиева, Теменужка (2008). "Историята крепи живота в Чипровци" (in Bulgarian). БГ Север. Retrieved 2008-09-19.
  30. ^ a b Чолов, "Шест десетилетия подготовка за въстание", Чипровското въстание 1688 г.
  31. ^ Чолов, "Чипровци пламна", Чипровското въстание 1688 г.
  32. ^ Нягулов, p. 19.
  33. ^ a b Чолов, "Развой на въстанието", Чипровското въстание 1688 г.
  34. ^ Нягулов, p. 20.
  35. ^ Király, p. 1.
  36. ^ Гюзелев, p. 99.
  37. ^ Илова, Тина. "Град Чипровци събира чедата си от Европа" (in Bulgarian). БГ Север. Archived from the original on 2020-08-21. Retrieved 2008-09-19.
  38. ^ Сантова, p. 8.
  39. ^ Сантова, p. 9.
  40. ^ a b c Общински план за развитие, p. 7.
  41. ^ Костова, p. 20.
  42. ^ Костова, pp. 20–22.
  43. ^ "Интервюта от Чипровци" (in Bulgarian). Институт за европейски ценности. Archived from the original on 2012-04-25. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  44. ^ a b c "Municipal Services". Official site of Chiprovtzi. Archived from the original on 2007-05-16. Retrieved 2008-09-19.
  45. ^ "Окончателни резултати: кмет на община Чипровци" (in Bulgarian). Местни избори 2007: Централна избирателна комисия. Archived from the original on 2007-11-09. Retrieved 2008-09-19.
  46. ^ Димитрова, Милка (2005-05-25). "Чипровските килими—запазена марка на килимарския бизнес в България" (in Bulgarian). БНР Радио България. Retrieved 2008-09-19.[permanent dead link]
  47. ^ Barnhill, Al. "Chiprovtsi Kilims". Wonderland Bulgaria. Archived from the original on 2008-12-29. Retrieved 2008-09-25.
  48. ^ "The tradition of carpet-making in Chiprovtsi". UNESCO. Retrieved 2019-05-02.
  49. ^ Общински план за развитие, p. 24.
  50. ^ Общински план за развитие, p. 25.
  51. ^ "Инвестират 14.5 млн. лв. в находище на флуорит край Чипровци" (in Bulgarian). Darik Finance. 2008-09-06. Archived from the original on 2011-07-06. Retrieved 2008-09-19.
  52. ^ Цветкова, Първолета (2008-09-07). "Започва добив на флуорит в Чипровци" (in Bulgarian). Standart News. Archived from the original on June 5, 2011. Retrieved 2008-09-19.
  53. ^ "Закриват мината за флуорит в Чипровци" (in Bulgarian). duma.bg. 2016-01-29. Retrieved 2019-05-02.
  54. ^ "Costumes at the Ethnographic Museum". In Your Pocket. Archived from the original on 2008-07-24. Retrieved 2008-09-18. … the Torlak town of Chiprovtsi, …
  55. OCLC 53429452
    . Белоградчѝшкият говор обхваща територията на север, запад и югозапад от гр. Белоградчѝк.
  56. ^ a b Общински план за развитие, p. 23.
  57. ^ Сантова, p. 16.
  58. ^ Сантова, p. 13.
  59. ^ "The historical museum". Official site of Chiprovtzi. Archived from the original on 2007-05-10. Retrieved 2008-09-19.
  60. ^ "Исторически музей—град Чипровци" (in Bulgarian). JicaBG.com. Archived from the original on 2008-08-28. Retrieved 2008-09-19.
  61. ^ "Sights and personalities". Official site of Chiprovtzi. Archived from the original on 2007-05-10. Retrieved 2008-09-19.

References

External links

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