Vidin

Coordinates: 43°59′35″N 22°52′20″E / 43.99306°N 22.87222°E / 43.99306; 22.87222
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the Romanian village, see Jupânești.
Vidin
Видин (Bulgarian)
City
Vidin
UTC+3 (EEST)
Postal Code
3700
Area code094
Websitehttps://vidin.bg/?lang=en
Map

Vidin (Bulgarian: Видин, pronounced [ˈvidin]) is a port city on the southern bank of the Danube in north-western Bulgaria. It is close to the borders with Romania and Serbia, and is also the administrative centre of Vidin Province, as well as of the Metropolitan of Vidin (since 870).

An industrial, agricultural and trade centre, Vidin has a fertile hinterland renowned for its wines.

Name

The name is archaically spelled as Widdin in English. Its older form Dunonia meant "fortified hill" in Celtic with the dun element found frequently in Celtic place names.[2] It is known as Diiu in Romanian.

Geography

Vidin is the westernmost important Bulgarian Danube port and is situated on one of the southernmost sections of the river. The New Europe Bridge, completed in 2013, connects Vidin to the Romanian town of Calafat on the opposite bank of the Danube. Previously, a ferry located 2 km (1 mi) from the town was in use for that purpose.

History

Vidin emerged at the place of an old Celtic settlement known as Dunonia.

The

Danubian Limes frontier system along the Danube and around which a Roman town developed. The town grew into one of the important centres of the province of Upper Moesia, encompassing the territory of modern north-western Bulgaria and eastern Serbia
.

Middle Ages

The fortress of Baba Vida

When

Shishman dynasty
.

By early 1290s the

Ivan Stratsimir (r. 1356–1396) as a ruler of Vidin, who governed the city and the surrounding region, the Tsardom of Vidin
, as a de facto independent monarch.

Hungarian occupation of Vidin

Main article: Hungarian occupation of Vidin

In 1365, the

crusaders. Under Hungarian rule, the city became known as Bodony, but the occupation was short-lived. In 1369, the Bulgarian Empire drove out the Hungarian military, but in 1396 Vidin was occupied by a foreign force again this time being the Ottoman Empire under Bayezid I after the Battle of Nicopolis
.

Ottoman rule

See also:
Widdin Eyalet and Sanjak of Vidin

The Ottomans went on to conquer the

Velbazhd as well. Vidin's independence did not last long. In 1396, the Ottomans invaded and turned Vidin into a sandjak.[5]

The city fell under Austrian occupation in October 1689 during the Great Turkish War. Both Austrians and the Ottomans had heavy casualities during the siege. The occupation lasted nine months and ended in August 1690. Shortly after Vidin's capture, in 19 October 1689 2.500 Muslim men and 1,000 Muslim women from Vidin were deported to Nikopol. The Austrians also built a military facility in front of the Vidin citadel, where they placed more than 40 cannons. During the construction, a large number of Muslim houses and shops were destroyed. Of 3,000 buildings, two hammams, many mosques, shops and coffee shops only 200-300 buildings and several shops survived.[6]

In the late years of

Ottoman rule, Vidin was the centre of Ottoman rebel Osman Pazvantoğlu
's breakaway state.

In 1853, The Times of London reported that Widdin, as it was called, was

a considerable town, with a population of about 26,000, and a garrison of 8,000 to 10,000 men. Widdin is one of the important fortified places of the military line of the Danube. It covers the approaches of

bastioned, possesses a fortified castle, with two redoubts in the islands, and its defences are completed by an extensive marsh.[7]

In 1859 the English traveler Samuel Baker happened to visit Vidin and spotted the 14-year old Florence Barbara Maria von Sass from Transylvania (then in Hungary now in Romania) being sold into slavery, by some accounts destined to be owned by the Pasha of Vidin. Baker bribed her guards and took her with him, she eventually became Florence Baker, his wife and partner in the exploration of Africa .[8][5]

Some Muslims from Belgrade, Kladovo, and Smederevo settled in Vidin due to their expulsion from Serbia in 1862.[9]

Third Bulgarian State

After the Liberation of Bulgaria in 1878 Vidin was included in the reestablished Bulgarian state, the Principality of Bulgaria. The city was unsuccessfully besieged by the Serbian army during the Serbo-Bulgarian War in 1885 and the Second Balkan War in 1913.

Population

Historical population
YearPop.±%
194618,481—    
195623,932+29.5%
196536,835+53.9%
197553,091+44.1%
198562,693+18.1%
199262,691−0.0%
200157,395−8.4%
201148,071−16.2%
202135,784−25.6%
Source: pop-stat.mashke.org[10]

Vidin is the 20th town by population in Bulgaria, but serious demographic problems have been experienced in the area during the last two decades. The number of the residents of the city reached its peak between 1988 and 1991 when the population exceeded 65,000.[11] As of 2011, the town had a population of 48,071 inhabitants[12] and 35,784 inhabitants as of 2021.

Ethnic, linguistic and religious composition

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

  • Bulgarians: 40,550 (91.8%)
  • Roma
    : 3,335 (7.5%)
  • Turks
    : 60 (0.1%)
  • Others: 199 (0.4%)
  • Indefinable: 280 (0.6%)
  • Undeclared: 3,647 (7.6%)

Total: 48,071

Climate

Vidin has a

global warming. In the winter months, inversions are very common[citation needed
]. The average annual temperature is 11.8 °C (53.2 °F).

Climate data for Vidin, Bulgaria (1991-2020)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 21.7
(71.1) 		24.4
(75.9) 		28.0
(82.4) 		32.4
(90.3) 		35.4
(95.7) 		41.2
(106.2) 		43.6
(110.5) 		40.2
(104.4) 		36.4
(97.5) 		31.2
(88.2) 		26.4
(79.5) 		21.4
(70.5) 		43.6
(110.5)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 4.4
(39.9) 		7.2
(45.0) 		13.3
(55.9) 		19.2
(66.6) 		24.4
(75.9) 		28.6
(83.5) 		30.9
(87.6) 		31.0
(87.8) 		25.2
(77.4) 		18.2
(64.8) 		10.4
(50.7) 		5.0
(41.0) 		18.2
(64.7)
Daily mean °C (°F) −0.2
(31.6) 		1.7
(35.1) 		6.6
(43.9) 		12.4
(54.3) 		17.7
(63.9) 		21.8
(71.2) 		23.7
(74.7) 		23.0
(73.4) 		17.4
(63.3) 		11.4
(52.5) 		5.7
(42.3) 		0.8
(33.4) 		11.8
(53.3)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) −3.9
(25.0) 		−2.6
(27.3) 		1.3
(34.3) 		5.8
(42.4) 		11.1
(52.0) 		14.8
(58.6) 		16.4
(61.5) 		15.9
(60.6) 		11.5
(52.7) 		6.5
(43.7) 		2.0
(35.6) 		−2.7
(27.1) 		6.3
(43.4)
Record low °C (°F) −24.0
(−11.2) 		−28.6
(−19.5) 		−13.6
(7.5) 		−5.0
(23.0) 		−0.4
(31.3) 		2.8
(37.0) 		9.2
(48.6) 		7.0
(44.6) 		−1.2
(29.8) 		−6.6
(20.1) 		−16.4
(2.5) 		−21.4
(−6.5) 		−28.6
(−19.5)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 41
(1.6) 		40
(1.6) 		43
(1.7) 		44
(1.7) 		56
(2.2) 		51
(2.0) 		55
(2.2) 		44
(1.7) 		44
(1.7) 		51
(2.0) 		46
(1.8) 		50
(2.0) 		565
(22.2)
Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0mm) 6 6 6 7 8 6 6 4 6 7 7 7 76
Mean monthly sunshine hours 82 112 168 209 256 292 325 306 218 153 79 69 2,269
Source: NOAA NCEI[15]

Tourism

Kaleto, as well as many old Orthodox churches such as St Pantaleimon, St Petka (both 17th century), and St Dimitar (Demetrius of Thessaloniki) (19th century), the Vidin Synagogue (1894), the Osman Pazvantoğlu Mosque and library, the late 18th-century Turkish ruler of north-western Bulgaria, the Krastata Kazarma of 1798, and a number of old Renaissance buildings. Also remarkable is the theatre building which was the first Bulgarian theatre in "European model" and was built in 1891. The Vidin Synagogue built in 1894 was in 2021 a shell of its former self; plans are made to turn it into an interfaith cultural center; the Jews of Vidin number about a dozen.[16]

Another tourist attraction in the Vidin area is the town of Belogradchik, famous for its unique and impressive rock formations, the Belogradchik Rocks and the medieval Belogradchik Fortress and also the nearby Magura Cave with its beautiful prehistoric cave paintings.

Archaeology

A fragmented marble structure found near Vidin shows a bearded man in a

Jewish emigration
to Israel and newly renovated (2023).