Shumen
Shumen
Шумен | ||
---|---|---|
City | ||
License plate H | | |
Website | www.shumen.bg/en |
Shumen (Bulgarian: Шумен, also romanized as Shoumen or Šumen, pronounced [ˈʃumɛn]) is the tenth-largest city in Bulgaria and the administrative and economic capital of Shumen Province.
Etymology
The city was first mentioned as Šimeonis in 1153 by the
History
Antiquity and the Middle Ages
The first records of Shumen date back to the Chalcolithic. Excavations by Raphael Popov in 1907 founded the settlement mound Kodzadermen, inhabited in the Middle and Late Chalcolithic (approximately 4500-4000 BC). It has a diameter of 60 m and a height of 5 m and, located 6 km north of the town.[4]
Earliest reports for
In the 2nd century the Romans built a military fortress on the ruins of the Thracian fortifications. The construction of the wall is already bonded to mortar; a tower was constructed above the gate; square tower was built to the west and semicircular to the south. In the 4-5th centuries the entire hill was fortified with a new wall with nine towers. Between the 8th and the 10th century the fort was renovated, for the purpose the Roman wall and towers were used and to the northeast was built a new wall with two towers.
Middle Ages
In 681 khan
During the
Ottoman Empire
In 1388 the sultan
After the Middle Ages, the Turks used the ruins of the city for the construction of the several baths and mosques. In the 17th - 18th centuries Shumen was turned into a strongly fortified military town, with a large garrison in the fortress, many Turks, Jews, Tatars, Armenians settled there. According to
during the period .Bulgarian National Revival
In the 19th century Shumen was a communication hub of importance in the Ottoman Empire.[6] In 1820 Porter wrote that Shumen had "a suburb in which its Christian inhabitants live".[7]
During the 19th century, Shumen was an important centre of the Bulgarian National Revival, with the first celebration of Cyril and Methodius in the Bulgarian lands taking place on 11 May 1813 and the first theatre performance. A girls' religious school was established in 1828; a class school for girls and a chitalishte (community centre) followed in 1856. The first Bulgarian symphony orchestra was founded in the city in 1850. In the same year, influential Hungarian politician and revolutionary leader Lajos Kossuth spent a part of his exile in the then-Ottoman town of Shumen. The house he lived in is preserved as a museum.
Third Bulgarian State
Tsardom of Bulgaria
On 22 June 1878 Shumen finally capitulated to the Russians and became part of the newly independent Bulgaria. In 1882 the Shumen Brewery, the first brewery in Bulgaria, was founded. After the Liberation of Bulgaria, the town initially declined due to the loss of markets for its crafts, the withdraw of many Ottomans and the relatively cheap and high quality western manufactured goods competing with local ones, but gradually recovered, becoming a regional and district centre. At the outbreak of the First Balkan War in 1912, 35 people from Shumen volunteered for the Macedonian-Drinsk Volunteer Force.
As technology improved, electricity gradually began to make inroads. It was initially installed at the city's Military Club (1919). In September 1927, the first electric power plant began operating in the town of Shumen.[8]
Immediately after the 1944 Bulgarian coup d'état, a serious shootout took place in the city when communists tried to take over one of the police stations.
People's Republic of Bulgaria
In the period 1950–1965 the city was called Kolarovgrad, after the name of the communist leader Vasil Kolarov.
One of the largest monumental memorials in Bulgaria - "Monument to 1300 Years of Bulgaria" - was built in Shumen Plateau Nature Park in 1981. In the 1980s, large-scale construction was underway in view of the upcoming visit of the diplomatic corps, but changes in the late 1980s halted the process. The largest hotel-restaurant complex in the city was built. Construction of a trolleybus line began, which was later abandoned.
Republic of Bulgaria
After 1989 a mall was built in Shumen (GUM). The town's iconic restaurants with a hotel part, the "Kyoshkovete" and the "Stekloto" were rebuilt and restored. A number of new restaurants and hotels have been built in a contemporary style. Following Bulgaria's accession to the European Union, the main boulevards, streets and roads were asphalted. The pedestrian zone from the centre through the town garden to the railway station has been renovated and modernised.
Geography
The city lies 80 kilometres (50 miles) west of Varna and is built within a cluster of hills, northern outliers of the eastern Balkans, which curve around it on the west and south in the shape of a horseshoe.[3] A rugged ravine intersects the ground longitudinally in the horseshoe ridge.[3]
From Shumen roads radiate northwards to the
Climate
Climate data for Shumen | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 4.3 (39.7) |
6.5 (43.7) |
11.3 (52.3) |
17.8 (64.0) |
23.2 (73.8) |
26.5 (79.7) |
29.5 (85.1) |
30.1 (86.2) |
25.1 (77.2) |
18.8 (65.8) |
12.0 (53.6) |
5.8 (42.4) |
17.6 (63.7) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | 0.7 (33.3) |
2.6 (36.7) |
6.9 (44.4) |
12.5 (54.5) |
17.2 (63.0) |
20.6 (69.1) |
23.3 (73.9) |
23.7 (74.7) |
19.1 (66.4) |
13.5 (56.3) |
7.9 (46.2) |
2.4 (36.3) |
12.5 (54.5) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −2.9 (26.8) |
−1.3 (29.7) |
2.6 (36.7) |
7.1 (44.8) |
11.2 (52.2) |
14.7 (58.5) |
17.1 (62.8) |
17.2 (63.0) |
13.0 (55.4) |
8.1 (46.6) |
3.9 (39.0) |
−1.1 (30.0) |
7.2 (45.0) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 36 (1.4) |
41 (1.6) |
38 (1.5) |
53 (2.1) |
64 (2.5) |
79 (3.1) |
48 (1.9) |
41 (1.6) |
33 (1.3) |
41 (1.6) |
53 (2.1) |
51 (2.0) |
580 (23) |
Source: Weatherbase[9] |
Population
In January 2012, Shumen was inhabited by 80 511 people in the city limits, while the Shumen Municipality with the legally affiliated adjacent villages had 93 160 inhabitants.[10] The number of the residents of the city (not the municipality) reached its peak in the period 1990-1991 when it exceeded 110,000.[11]
Year | Pop. | ±% |
---|---|---|
1887 | 23,161 | — |
1910 | 22,225 | −4.0% |
1934 | 25,486 | +14.7% |
1946 | 31,327 | +22.9% |
1956 | 41,546 | +32.6% |
1965 | 59,293 | +42.7% |
1975 | 83,505 | +40.8% |
1985 | 100,116 | +19.9% |
1992 | 93,390 | −6.7% |
2001 | 89,214 | −4.5% |
2011 | 80,855 | −9.4% |
2021 | 67,971 | −15.9% |
Source: Censuses[12][13] |
Ethnic, linguistic and religious composition
According to the latest 2011 census data, the individuals declared their ethnic identity were distributed as follows:[14][15]
- Bulgarians: 61,584
- Turks: 10,029
- Romani: 2,165
- Others: 600
- Indefinable: 552
- Undeclared: 5,925
Total: 80,855
Religion
The population of the city is majorly
In the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Shumen is a part of the Eparchy (diocese) of Varna and Veliki Preslav and the capital of the Shumen church district (okolia). There are two major Orthodox temples in the city, the Church of the Holy Ascension (est. 1829) and the Church of the Three Holy Hierarchs (est. 1857), and a few chapels.
In Shumen is located the largest mosque in Bulgaria and the second largest in the Balkans, the Sherif Halil Pasha Mosque, more commonly known as the Tombul (or Tumbul) Mosque, built between 1740 and 1744.
Education and science
Shumen has 11 elementary and five common schools, as well as two high schools. The
Sports
Other sporting activities include martial arts (mostly karate) and horse racing. Shumen has its own rallying tournament, the 'Stari Stolitsi'.
The Shumen Motopista is a motorcycle speedway track which re-opened in 2016 and is the only speedway track in Bulgaria. The track located on University Street (ул. Университетска), opposite Shumen University,[16] previously held important speedway events, including a qualifying round of the Speedway World Championship in 1981 and 1983[17][18] and a qualifying round of the Speedway World Team Cup in 1987 and 1989.[19]
Main sights
Shumen boasts the
The Shumen Fortress, partially restored after being destroyed by the Ottomans, is an important historical monument of the medieval Bulgarian Empire. It is not far from the city on the Shumen Plateau.
The Regional Historical Museum, which is a successor of the Archaeological Society created in Shumen in 1904 by Rafail Popov.
The
The religious buildings in the city include the
Kurşun çeşme is a fountain built in 1774 built in the times of Ottoman Empire.
Notable people
- Maxim Behar (born 1955), public relations expert
- Hacho Boyadzhiev (1932–2012), film director
- Stoyan Danev (1858–1949), politician, twice prime minister of Bulgaria
- Ivan Dochev (1906–2005), anti-communist politician
- Vasil Drumev (Clement of Tarnovo) (1841–1901), clergyman and politician, twice Prime Minister of Bulgaria
- Solomon Goldstein, (1884–1969), politician
- Nikolay Gunderov (born 1974), award-winning playwright, stage director, poet, and actor
- Yusuf İsmail (1857–1898), wrestler
- Vasil Kolarov (1877–1950), politician, Communist leader
- Todor Kolev (1939–2013), actor
- Racho Petrov (1861–1942), a leading Bulgarian general and politician
- Ahmet Fikri Tüzer (1878–1942), Prime Minister of Turkey for one day (8–9 July 1942), born in what was then Şumnu
- Slavena Vatova (1989) Miss Bulgaria 2006
- Veneta Vicheva (1931–2013), choir conductor
- Pancho Vladigerov (1899–1978), composer, pedagogue and pianist
- Panayot Volov (1850-1876), organizer and leader of the Gyurgevo Revolutionary Committee of the Bulgarian April Uprising against the Ottoman Empire in 1876
- Dobri Voynikov (1833–1878), writer and enlightener
- Nadezhda Panayotova, voice actress and singer
- Toni Storaro (born 1976), singer, songwriter
- Fiki (born 1995), singer, son of Toni Storaro
International relations
Twin towns – sister cities
Shumen is
Honour
Shumen Peak on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after Shumen. The tails of the Bulgarian currency lev are the same as the seal of Shumen, showing the Madara Rider, 15 km (9 mi) away from the city.
References
- ^ "Население по области, общини, местоживеене и пол | Национален статистически институт". nsi.bg (in Bulgarian).
- ^ E.M. Pospelov, Geograficheskie nazvaniya mira (Moscow: Russkie slovari, 1998), p. 475.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 24 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 1023.
- ^ Светлана Венелинова, Развитие на селищната система през праисторическата епоха по горното и средното течение на река Голяма Камчия museum-shumen.eu March 2018
- ^ "К. Иречек - История на българите - 27". macedonia.kroraina.com.
- )
- OCLC 894636829.
- ^ Ирина Витлянова, Светлини от шуменския дом // Известия на РИМ-Шумен, книга 17, 2017 / стр. 214
- ^ "Shumen, Bulgaria Travel Weather Averages (Weatherbase)". Weatherbase.
- ^ "Otrasal". Archived from the original on 13 November 2012.
- ^ (in Bulgarian)National Statistical Institute - Towns population 1956-1992 [permanent dead link]
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 14 February 2010.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Cities of Bulgaria". 3 April 2024.
- ^ "Population by age". Archived from the original on 8 September 2013.
- ^ "Population by etnicity". Archived from the original on 22 April 2012.
- ^ "Shumen". Speedway Plus. Retrieved 21 April 2024.
- ^ "World Championship". Metal Speedway. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
- ^ "World Championship". Speedway.org. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
- ^ "Speedway World Cup". International Speedway. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
- ^ "Podolsk sister cities". Retrieved 29 April 2010.