Pernik is a town in western Bulgaria, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Sofia, with a population of 75,964 as of 2020. Pernik, after Sofia, is the most populous town in western Bulgaria. It is the provincial capital of Pernik and is located on both sides of the Struma River in the Pernik Valley, nestled between the Golo Bardo, Vitosha, Lyulin, and Viskyar mountains. Pernik is the capital of Pernik Province, which is located in western Bulgaria, near the Serbian border.
Pernik is nestled in a scenic gorge in western Bulgaria. The hollow field has an area of about 157 square kilometers and is located between 700 and 850 meters above sea level. It is bounded on the south by the Golo Bardo mountains, on the east by the Vitosha mountains, and on the north by the Lyulin mountains. The settlement is located on the Struma River’s higher reaches. It originates south of Vitosha Mountain’s highest peak, Cherni Vrah, and is one of the country’s longest rivers. Pernik is located about 20 kilometers from Sofia. It has a population of 94 480 and is situated 710 meters above sea level. It is the second biggest town in Southwestern Bulgaria after Sofia, a regional hub and the country’s major coal producer.
Pernik is a fortification that was formerly guarded by boyar Krakra (from 11th century). It was the only one that Byzantine Emperor Basil the Second, afterwards known as Bulgarian-killer, left unconquered (Boulgarokhtonos).
The town’s tourist attractions include the History Museum, the Art Gallery, the reconstructed Krakra Fortress, and other monuments. Studena Dam is also close by. The History Museum has well-developed collections of prehistoric pottery, marble votive reliefs of Thracian equestrians, medieval town culture, and ethnographic items relating to traditional Bulgarian culture. The major display fund has 17,085 exhibits and the secondary exhibit fund contains 37,833 exhibits.
Pernik is a significant center with easy access to Sofia, Blagoevgrad, Kulata, and Kyustendil through road and rail. The area is traversed by the E 79 motorway, as well as one of the Balkans’ historic commercial routes – Sofia-Skopje. The Sofia-Thessaloniki route is the shortest connection between the Danube and the Aegean Sea.
Population of Pernik
According to the most recent 2011 census statistics, those who indicated their ethnic identification were divided into the following categories:
Bulgarians: 73,063 (97.1%)
Gypsies: 1,709 (2.3%)
Turks: 78 (0.1%)
Others: 183 (0.2%)
Indefinable: 218 (0.3%)
Undeclared: 4,940 (6.2%)
Geography of Pernik
Pernik is western Bulgaria’s second biggest town. In the Pernik Valley, the settlement is situated. It is located in the ethnographic area of Graovo, at an elevation of 700–850 metres (2,297–2,789 feet), has a length of 22 kilometers (14 miles), and is encircled by the Vitosha, Lyulin, and Golo Bardo mountains. The city is crossed by the river Struma, which originates in Cherni Vrah and is one of the greatest rivers in the nation, measuring 2,290 meters above sea level. The entire size of the park is 28,863 acres (11,680 ha). Pernik is located around 30 kilometers (19 miles) southwest of Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital. The town’s area is crossed by many significant routes, including Pan-European Corridor VIII and Pan-European Corridor IV – European route E79, which links Central Europe and Greece through the Struma and Lyulin motorways. Pernik is served by five railway stations and pauses. The village is located on one of the Balkans’ historic trade routes, which connected Sofia to Dubrovnik through Skopje, Pristina, Sarajevo, and Mostar.
Climate of Pernik
Pernik is located in a zone with moderate-continental climate. The climate is affected by the relatively high elevation – 750 m – but also by the fact that Pernik is sandwiched between mountains, creating a unique microclimate. Spring arrives late in the month of March or early in the month of April. The average spring temperature is ten degrees Celsius (fifty degrees Fahrenheit). Summer’s average temperature is about 22 degrees Celsius (72 degrees Fahrenheit). July is the warmest month, with an average monthly temperature of 22.5 degrees Celsius (73 degrees Fahrenheit). The absolute highest temperature is 38.2 degrees Celsius (101 degrees Fahrenheit). Autumn is milder than spring, with an average temperature of 11.2 °C (52 °F) throughout the season.
Culture of Pernik
Religion
Eastern Orthodoxy is the most widely practiced faith in Pernik and its nearby regions. The vast majority of the city’s citizens (almost 95 percent) claim Bulgarian ancestry. The neighborhood is devoid of mosques, synagogues, and Catholic churches. There are around 60 active and 20 dormant Orthodox churches in the Pernik area.
On the town’s territory is an Evangelical Pentecostal church built in 1920. Since 1931, it has been a member of the Bulgarian Union of Evangelical Pentecostal Churches. The address of the church is 10 Aleko Konstantinov Street.
Libraries
The Svetoslav Minkov Library is the region’s biggest documentary book repository and primary reference and local history center. The library fund now stands at around 292,000 library units. It opened as a municipal public library in 1955. She began her career in 1957, after her relocation to the Palace of Culture. She was titled after the famous Bulgarian writer Svetoslav Minkov after she received the Order of Cyril and Methodius I degree in 1983. Exhibitions and literary gatherings with publishers and writers are organized by the library. Since 2007, according to the Ministry of Culture’s Decree No. 80 of April 7, 2006, the library has been transferred from the UNB to the Republic of Bulgaria and has ceased to be a part of the Municipal Complex „Palace of Culture.“
Drama Theater
The Municipal Drama Theater in Pernik, named for actor Boyan Danovski, was created in 1919. It was formerly located in the Palace of Culture, where it benefited from a contemporary stage, a 500-capacity auditorium, and excellent options for creative lighting and musical design. The theater hall was damaged by fire in 2004 due to a short circuit, but the theater continues to be visited in a smaller venue inside the United Children’s Complex. The destroyed hall was later entirely restored and updated. Since 2013, the theater has returned to the Palace of Culture’s main hall. Numerous national awards have been bestowed to the theater, including the Union of Bulgarian Artists’ award for overall performance. Leon Daniel, Krikor Azaryan, Hristo Hristov, and Zdravko Mitkov were among the renowned directors, artists, and actors who worked on his stage. From 1977 until 1990, the theater was directed by the renowned Bulgarian actor Georgi Rusev.
Events in Pernik
Surva is a Bulgarian international kukeri festival held in Pernik. One of the Balkans’ and Eastern Europe’s largest masquerade festivals. Performed throughout the last three days of January.
The Kukeri or Surva Festival (Mummer’s Games) in Pernik is Bulgaria’s most outstanding „Kukeri“ festival. At the end of January, hundreds of „kukeri“ participants from all over Bulgaria and the globe descend upon Pernik for the three-day festival. Kukeri is a Thracian-derived pagan Bulgarian custom — in ancient times, the ancient Thracians conducted the Kukeri (Mummers’) Ritual Games in honor of the deity Dionysus. Men solely perform the Kukeri games, clad in vibrant hand-made costumes and frightening masks. Each also has a leather belt around the waist embellished with enormous copper bells. The Kuker’s masks are often embellished with threads, ribbons, and laces and depict animals such as goats, bulls, rams, or even chicken. Several of the masks have two faces. On one side, the nose is snubbed and the face is amicable, whereas on the other, the nose is hooked and the face is foreboding. These masks represent the good and terrible forces that coexist in the world.
The colors used to decorate the masks are critical to their symbolic value. The most often used hue is red; it signifies the fertility of revitalizing nature, the sun, and fire; black represents Mother Earth; and white denotes water and light. The Kukers walk about, leap, and do specific magical dances to ward off bad spirits, to celebrate the arrival of spring, and to wish for a prosperous crop, good health, fertile land, and happiness.
The event in Pernik is Bulgaria’s oldest masquerade games festival. The first issue was released on 16 January 1966. The International Federation of Carnival Cities admitted Pernik as a full member in 1995. Pernik was named the European capital of Surva’s and Mummer’s in 2009.
The announcement that the Kukeri custom and the Surva Festival in Pernik would be inscribed on UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural treasures was released prior to the opening ceremony of the mummery fest’s twentieth edition.
Pernik
Pernik
Pernik is a town in western Bulgaria, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Sofia, with a population of 75,964 as of 2020. Pernik, after Sofia, is the most populous town in western Bulgaria. It is the provincial capital of Pernik and is located on both sides of the Struma River in the Pernik Valley, nestled between the Golo Bardo, Vitosha, Lyulin, and Viskyar mountains. Pernik is the capital of Pernik Province, which is located in western Bulgaria, near the Serbian border.
Pernik is nestled in a scenic gorge in western Bulgaria. The hollow field has an area of about 157 square kilometers and is located between 700 and 850 meters above sea level. It is bounded on the south by the Golo Bardo mountains, on the east by the Vitosha mountains, and on the north by the Lyulin mountains. The settlement is located on the Struma River’s higher reaches. It originates south of Vitosha Mountain’s highest peak, Cherni Vrah, and is one of the country’s longest rivers. Pernik is located about 20 kilometers from Sofia. It has a population of 94 480 and is situated 710 meters above sea level. It is the second biggest town in Southwestern Bulgaria after Sofia, a regional hub and the country’s major coal producer.
Pernik is a fortification that was formerly guarded by boyar Krakra (from 11th century). It was the only one that Byzantine Emperor Basil the Second, afterwards known as Bulgarian-killer, left unconquered (Boulgarokhtonos).
The town’s tourist attractions include the History Museum, the Art Gallery, the reconstructed Krakra Fortress, and other monuments. Studena Dam is also close by. The History Museum has well-developed collections of prehistoric pottery, marble votive reliefs of Thracian equestrians, medieval town culture, and ethnographic items relating to traditional Bulgarian culture. The major display fund has 17,085 exhibits and the secondary exhibit fund contains 37,833 exhibits.
Pernik is a significant center with easy access to Sofia, Blagoevgrad, Kulata, and Kyustendil through road and rail. The area is traversed by the E 79 motorway, as well as one of the Balkans’ historic commercial routes – Sofia-Skopje. The Sofia-Thessaloniki route is the shortest connection between the Danube and the Aegean Sea.
Population of Pernik
According to the most recent 2011 census statistics, those who indicated their ethnic identification were divided into the following categories:
Geography of Pernik
Pernik is western Bulgaria’s second biggest town. In the Pernik Valley, the settlement is situated. It is located in the ethnographic area of Graovo, at an elevation of 700–850 metres (2,297–2,789 feet), has a length of 22 kilometers (14 miles), and is encircled by the Vitosha, Lyulin, and Golo Bardo mountains. The city is crossed by the river Struma, which originates in Cherni Vrah and is one of the greatest rivers in the nation, measuring 2,290 meters above sea level. The entire size of the park is 28,863 acres (11,680 ha). Pernik is located around 30 kilometers (19 miles) southwest of Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital. The town’s area is crossed by many significant routes, including Pan-European Corridor VIII and Pan-European Corridor IV – European route E79, which links Central Europe and Greece through the Struma and Lyulin motorways. Pernik is served by five railway stations and pauses. The village is located on one of the Balkans’ historic trade routes, which connected Sofia to Dubrovnik through Skopje, Pristina, Sarajevo, and Mostar.
Climate of Pernik
Pernik is located in a zone with moderate-continental climate. The climate is affected by the relatively high elevation – 750 m – but also by the fact that Pernik is sandwiched between mountains, creating a unique microclimate. Spring arrives late in the month of March or early in the month of April. The average spring temperature is ten degrees Celsius (fifty degrees Fahrenheit). Summer’s average temperature is about 22 degrees Celsius (72 degrees Fahrenheit). July is the warmest month, with an average monthly temperature of 22.5 degrees Celsius (73 degrees Fahrenheit). The absolute highest temperature is 38.2 degrees Celsius (101 degrees Fahrenheit). Autumn is milder than spring, with an average temperature of 11.2 °C (52 °F) throughout the season.
Culture of Pernik
Religion
Eastern Orthodoxy is the most widely practiced faith in Pernik and its nearby regions. The vast majority of the city’s citizens (almost 95 percent) claim Bulgarian ancestry. The neighborhood is devoid of mosques, synagogues, and Catholic churches. There are around 60 active and 20 dormant Orthodox churches in the Pernik area.
On the town’s territory is an Evangelical Pentecostal church built in 1920. Since 1931, it has been a member of the Bulgarian Union of Evangelical Pentecostal Churches. The address of the church is 10 Aleko Konstantinov Street.
Libraries
The Svetoslav Minkov Library is the region’s biggest documentary book repository and primary reference and local history center. The library fund now stands at around 292,000 library units. It opened as a municipal public library in 1955. She began her career in 1957, after her relocation to the Palace of Culture. She was titled after the famous Bulgarian writer Svetoslav Minkov after she received the Order of Cyril and Methodius I degree in 1983. Exhibitions and literary gatherings with publishers and writers are organized by the library. Since 2007, according to the Ministry of Culture’s Decree No. 80 of April 7, 2006, the library has been transferred from the UNB to the Republic of Bulgaria and has ceased to be a part of the Municipal Complex „Palace of Culture.“
Drama Theater
The Municipal Drama Theater in Pernik, named for actor Boyan Danovski, was created in 1919. It was formerly located in the Palace of Culture, where it benefited from a contemporary stage, a 500-capacity auditorium, and excellent options for creative lighting and musical design. The theater hall was damaged by fire in 2004 due to a short circuit, but the theater continues to be visited in a smaller venue inside the United Children’s Complex. The destroyed hall was later entirely restored and updated. Since 2013, the theater has returned to the Palace of Culture’s main hall. Numerous national awards have been bestowed to the theater, including the Union of Bulgarian Artists’ award for overall performance. Leon Daniel, Krikor Azaryan, Hristo Hristov, and Zdravko Mitkov were among the renowned directors, artists, and actors who worked on his stage. From 1977 until 1990, the theater was directed by the renowned Bulgarian actor Georgi Rusev.
Events in Pernik
Surva is a Bulgarian international kukeri festival held in Pernik. One of the Balkans’ and Eastern Europe’s largest masquerade festivals. Performed throughout the last three days of January.
The Kukeri or Surva Festival (Mummer’s Games) in Pernik is Bulgaria’s most outstanding „Kukeri“ festival. At the end of January, hundreds of „kukeri“ participants from all over Bulgaria and the globe descend upon Pernik for the three-day festival. Kukeri is a Thracian-derived pagan Bulgarian custom — in ancient times, the ancient Thracians conducted the Kukeri (Mummers’) Ritual Games in honor of the deity Dionysus. Men solely perform the Kukeri games, clad in vibrant hand-made costumes and frightening masks. Each also has a leather belt around the waist embellished with enormous copper bells. The Kuker’s masks are often embellished with threads, ribbons, and laces and depict animals such as goats, bulls, rams, or even chicken. Several of the masks have two faces. On one side, the nose is snubbed and the face is amicable, whereas on the other, the nose is hooked and the face is foreboding. These masks represent the good and terrible forces that coexist in the world.
The colors used to decorate the masks are critical to their symbolic value. The most often used hue is red; it signifies the fertility of revitalizing nature, the sun, and fire; black represents Mother Earth; and white denotes water and light. The Kukers walk about, leap, and do specific magical dances to ward off bad spirits, to celebrate the arrival of spring, and to wish for a prosperous crop, good health, fertile land, and happiness.
The event in Pernik is Bulgaria’s oldest masquerade games festival. The first issue was released on 16 January 1966. The International Federation of Carnival Cities admitted Pernik as a full member in 1995. Pernik was named the European capital of Surva’s and Mummer’s in 2009.
The announcement that the Kukeri custom and the Surva Festival in Pernik would be inscribed on UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural treasures was released prior to the opening ceremony of the mummery fest’s twentieth edition.
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