Plovdiv

Climate of Plovdiv

Plovdiv’s climate is humid subtropical, influenced by moist continental air. There are four distinct seasons, each with its own set of temperature extremes.

Summer (mid May to late September) is hot, dry, and sunny, with July and August averaging a high temperature of 31 °C (88 °F). Plovdiv sometimes has very hot days, which are not uncommon in the country’s interior. Evenings in the summer are nice.

Autumn officially starts in late September, and the days are often long and pleasant. By September, the nights had cooled significantly. The first frost occurs on average in November.

Winters are often very cold and snowy. The average number of snow-covered days in Plovdiv is 33. The ordinary snow cover is between 2 and 4 cm (1 and 2 in), and the maximum depth is usually between 6 and 13 cm (2 and 5 in), however it may reach 70 cm (28 in) or more during exceptional seasons. January’s average temperature is 0.4 °C (31 °F).

Spring begins in March, however it is a chillier season than autumn. Frost season often lasts until March or April. The days are mild and moderately warm in mid-spring.

The average relative humidity is 73 percent, with the maximum being 86 percent in December and the lowest being 62 percent in August. Precipitation totals 540 mm (21.26 in) and is very equally distributed throughout the year. May and June, with an average precipitation of 66.2 millimetres (2.61 in), and August, with an average precipitation of 31 millimetres (2.61 in), are the wettest months of the year (1.22 in).

The city is dominated by gentle breezes (0 to 5 m/s), with winds of up to 1 m/s accounting for 95 percent of all winds throughout the year. Throughout the winter months, mists are prevalent, especially along the Maritsa’s banks. On average, there are 33 days of mist every year.

Geography of Plovdiv

Plovdiv is situated southeast of Bulgaria’s capital Sofia, on the Maritsa River. The city is situated in the southern half of the Plain of Plovdiv, an alluvial plain that is part of the Upper Thracian Plain. To the northwest, the Sredna Gora mountains rise, to the east, the Chirpan Mountains rise, and to the south, the Rhodope mountains ring the plain. The city began south of Maritsa and had just recently expanded over the river. Plovdiv has an area of around 101 km2 (39 sq mi), or less than 0.1 percent of Bulgaria’s total land area. Plovdiv has the nation’s highest population density, with 3,769 inhabitants per square kilometer.

Within the city borders, there are six syenite hills. At the turn of the twentieth century, there were seven of them, but one (Markovo tepe) was destroyed. Three of them are referred to as the Three Hills, while the other three are referred to as the Hill of Youth, the Hill of the Liberators, and the Hill of Danov.

Demographics of Plovdiv

Plovdiv’s population by permanent address was 380,682 in 2007, placing it second in the country. According to the National Institute of Statistics (NSI), the real population of Plovdiv is 346,790. According to the 2012 census, 339,077 people reside inside the city borders and 403,153 people live within Plovdiv’s municipal triangle, which includes Maritsa and Rodopi municipalities.

Plovdiv was the second biggest city in 1880, after Ruse, which had 26,163 residents, and ahead of the capital Sofia, which had 20,501 citizens. Plovdiv was the country’s biggest city for many years in the 1887 census, with 33,032 residents, compared to Sofia’s 30,428. Plovdiv was the second biggest city in 1946, with 126,563 residents, behind only the capital’s 487,000.

Plovdiv is the second or third biggest cosmopolitan city inhabited by Bulgarians, behind Sofia and maybe Varna, in terms of ethnic composition. Bulgarians totaled 302,858 people in 2001, out of a total population of 338,224. (90 % ). Stolipinovo in Plovdiv is the Balkans’ biggest Roma quarter, with a population of roughly 20,000; further Roma ghettos include Hadji Hassan Mahala and Sheker Mahala. Thus, the census figure represents a deflation of the Roma population, and they are most likely the second biggest group after the Bulgarians, owing largely to the fact that the Muslim Roma in Plovdiv claim Turkish ethnicity and speak Turkish during the census („Xoraxane Roma“). Further information is available in the article Roma in Plovdiv. As is the case across the country, Roma people face persecution and segregation (See the Bulgaria section of the article Antiziganism).

Following the Balkan Wars and World War I, the city became a haven for thousands of refugees from former Bulgarian areas in Macedonia, Western and Eastern Thrace. Numerous historical neighbourhoods continue to be referred to as Belomorski or Vardarski. The majority of Jews, as well as the majority of Turks and Greeks, fled the city upon Israel’s establishment in 1948. Prior to the population exchange, Plovdiv had a population of 33,442, of which 16,752 were Bulgarians (50 percent), 7,144 were Turks (21%), 5,497 were Greeks (16 percent), 2,168 were Jews (6 percent), 1,061 were Armenians (3 percent), 151 were Italians, 112 were Germans, 112 were Romani, 80 were French, 61 were Russians, and 304 were people of other nationalities. 

The overwhelming majority of residents are Christians, mostly Eastern Orthodox, Catholics, Eastern Catholics, and Protestant tendencies (Adventists, Baptists and others). Additionally, there are several Muslims and Jews. There are several churches, two mosques, and one synagogue in Plovdiv.

Lifestyle & Traditions In Plovdiv

Numerous events are held in Plovdiv. For instance, every March, this venue hosts the Specialized Exhibition of Flowers, Ornamental Plants, Garden Equipment, and Supplies. Everyone who is interested in gardening, floristry, or just in lovely flowers should pay the show a visit. The International Exhibition on Municipal Services, Urban Development, and Public Works, a more specialized event, occurs concurrently with the floral show. During this event, city and rural settlement administrations give tourists with a chance to learn about upcoming tourism projects.

There is a forestry, game, and fish farming trade show for anyone interested in expanding their knowledge of hunting and fishing. Naturally, a portion of the exhibition activities will focus on leisure in Bulgaria. However, here are also conducted displays of innovations in hunting equipment and a fair of hunting guns and technology. If you’re more into beauty innovations, the International Exhibition of Hairdressing, Beauty, Make-Up, Perfumery, and Fashion is worth a visit. Are you an animal lover or do you own a dog? Then you should pay a visit to C.A.C. & C.A.C.I.B, which include animals of indigenous breeds. They are assessed based on their physical traits and their ability to perform a variety of activities.

International Field Days Bulgari is well worth seeing for people who have come to the city for agricultural activity. It is held in early May at the local Agricultural University. Current and prospective students should pay a visit. International Scientific Conferences give education of European caliber. The conference is fully dedicated to the issues confronting contemporary higher education in Europe. It is held at the Technical University of Sofia in the end of May. This university also hosts the Techsys Conference. This is a gathering that everyone interested in current technology should attend.

Doctors’ conferences, economics, engineering, and management meetings, the world fair of the water sector, and hundreds of other business events are also conducted in the city. These events typically draw businesspeople from around Europe, as well as casual visitors and residents interested in the designated topic. In Plovdiv, you may visit the exhibition of mechanical engineering novelties, the Congress of system engineers, the Conference of farmers, or the display of national economic successes. The great majority of these activities take place on the campuses of nearby institutions.

You may get familiar with Plovdiv’s contemporary art via the „Chitalist“ initiative. It is presented via contemporary performances, exhibits, and concerts. The youngster will be able to learn a great deal about theatrical terminology and their origins via the Klimkamp media project for child development. Additionally, the city hosts a children’s play every June. Each week, the regional development fund „Roma“ hosts free photography master lessons.

You may learn about Paneurhythmy, a traditional method of combining art and physical exercise that is based on both current scientific advances and old holiday traditions. You may see both adult and youngster performances. If you are interested, you may enroll in a Paneurhythmy training course throughout the year. You may attend events organized by the initiative „Bread in the Rhodope region’s ceremonial traditions“ to have a better understanding of local customs. It takes held once a month at Kiselchovo village. In local schools, interesting seminars by Plovdiv artists are offered. Anyone is welcome to visit here.

Children above the age of 16 are welcome to attend the Stolipinovo Mobile School. In March, this location hosts a variety of educational activities for youngsters. In February and March, the city hosts choir concerts. Eureka’s touring display is very fascinating. It takes place at a local history museum and details the discovery of the most renowned mechanics of today. The event „Film Factory – Time Travel“ will include historical documentaries. Throughout the year, performances by performers from the local puppet theater, most of which are geared toward children, take place.

It’s an intriguing open master class titled „Mosaic in the mosaic.“ Throughout the Weeks of Movement in May and June, you may participate in races, yoga and fitness sessions, and masterclasses taught by bodybuilders and nutritionists. In May, you may attend a master class in ikebana, or in June, you can participate in the interactive drama „Garden of the wind.“ Each week, the city hosts over a dozen traveling exhibits, concerts with local and international superstars, and seminars. They are mostly concerned with Bulgarian traditional and contemporary culture. Additionally, you may participate in large festivities on Plovdiv’s widely observed national holidays.

Economy of Plovdiv

Since the early twentieth century, Plovdiv has flourished as an industrial centre due to its location in the midst of a productive agricultural region. Food processing, tobacco, brewing, and textiles were the industry’s mainstays. The city’s economy expanded greatly during Communist rule and was dominated by heavy industry; it continues to manufacture lead and zinc, as well as equipment, electronics, motor cars, chemicals, and cosmetics. Following the collapse of Communism in 1989 and the collapse of Bulgaria’s planned economy, a number of industrial complexes were closed.

Plovdiv is one of the nation’s fastest growing economies, with an average GDP growth rate of 12–13%. Sales were 9.4 billion leva (about 4.8 billion euro) in 2005, an increase of 88 percent over 2001. Profitability grew by 4.5 times during the same time period. The unemployment rate, which is lower than the national average, is 6.5 percent. The municipality’s administrative borders, which almost totally overlap with the city limits, have been a source of contention in recent years. Due to the continued growth of investments, which reached $465 million in 2005, certain businesses, such as the Radinovo village industrial zone, have been relocated to Maritsa or Rodopi municipality.

Industry has been growing again since the late 1990s, with industrial companies being erected in the city or on its outskirts, mostly in the municipality of Maritsa. Around €500,000,000 has been invested in the establishment of new industries during this time period. Among the new plants are the Liebherr refrigerator plant, which employs 1,850 people and has a capacity of 450,000 units per year, the Socotab tobacco processing plant (2,000 employees), a bicycle plant (500 employees and a capacity of 500,000 units), a Schneider electronics factory, a biodiesel plant, the Bulsaphil textile plant (790 employees), and several electronics and high-tech plants that produce CD players and other electronic equipment. The neighbouring town of Voivodinovo has inaugurated the Balkans’ largest electronics factory.

Due to the strong demand for commercial office space in Trakiya, Business Park Plovdiv was planned, but the global financial crisis placed the project on hold. The park, which is projected to cost €68,000,000, is planned to occupy an area of 110,000 m2 (1,184,030.15 sq ft). A 50,000-square-meter business and industrial park is being created near the hamlet of Radinovo, some kilometers north of the city (538,195.52 sq ft).

Zone industrial Thracia is a municipally controlled industrial zone comprised of many municipalities.

History of Plovdiv

Antiquity

Plovdiv includes Neolithic habitation remnants, including necropolises, dating from around 6000 BC. Archaeologists have discovered fine pottery and everyday objects dating all the way back to the Neolithic Age, indicating that there was already an established settlement there by the end of the 4th millennium BC. Thracian necropolises dating from the 2nd-3rd millennium BC have been discovered, as has the Thracian town, which was established between the 2nd and 1st millennium BC.

The village served as a stronghold for the autonomous Thracian tribe Bessi. In 516 BC, during the administration of Darius, the Persian kingdom annexed Great Thrace. Thrace was re-subjected to Persia in 492 BC by the Persian commander Mardonius, and remained nominally a tributary state until 479 BC during the early tenure of Xerxes I. The town was a part of the Odrysian monarchy (460 BC–46 AD), a union of Thracian tribes. Philip II of Macedon seized the town and ousted the Odrysian monarch in 342 BC. Ten years after the Macedonian invasion, the Thracian kings resumed power following the Odrysian Seuthes III’s re-establishment of their kingdom under Macedonian suzerainty as a result of an apparently successful revolt against Alexander the Great’s rule that resulted in neither victory nor defeat, but stalemate. The Odrysian empire progressively displaced Macedonian suzerainty, while the city was destroyed by the Celts as part of their invasion of Eastern Europe in the 270s BC. Philip V of Macedon seized the city in 183 BC, but the Thracians quickly reclaimed it.

The Roman commander Marcus Lucullus conquered the city in 72 BC, but it was quickly returned to Thracian rule. Emperor Claudius ultimately brought the city into the Roman Empire in AD 46; it served as the metropolis (capital) of the province of Thrace and was granted city status in the late first century. Trimontium was a vital crossroads for the Roman Empire, and Lucian referred to it as „the greatest and most beautiful of all towns.“ Although it was not the province’s capital, the city was the province’s biggest and most significant center, and as such served as the seat of the Union of Thracians. At the time, the city was crossed by the Via Militaris (or Via Diagonalis), the Balkans’ most significant military route. The Roman era was one of expansion and cultural splendor. The ancient remains depict a bustling, developing city with various public buildings, shrines, baths, theaters, a stadium, and Bulgaria’s only developed ancient water delivery system. The city had a sophisticated water supply and sewage infrastructure. In 179, a second wall was constructed to encircle Trimontium, which had already stretched into the valley from the Three Hills. Many of such structures have been maintained and are accessible to visitors. Only a portion of the old city has been unearthed to far.

In 250 AD, the whole city was destroyed by the Goths, headed by their king Cniva, and a large number of its inhabitants, estimated at 100,000 by Ammianus Marcellinus, died or were taken hostage. It took a century and a great deal of effort to rebuild the city. However, it was devastated again in 441-442 by Atila’s Huns and in 471 by Teodoric Strabo’s Goths.

Middle Ages

By the middle of the sixth century, the Slavs had completely established in the region, peacefully, since there are no accounts of their raids. Philippoupolis, the city’s name at the time, became an important frontier fortification of the Byzantine Empire after the formation of Bulgaria in 681. Khan Krum seized it in 812, but the province was entirely integrated into the Bulgarian Empire under Khan Malamir in 834. It was briefly reconquered by the Byzantine Empire between 855 and 856 before being recovered to Boris I of Bulgaria. Dualistic teachings moved from Philippoupolis to Bulgaria, creating the foundation of the Bogomil heresy. Possibly until 970, the city remained under Bulgarian control. However, the city is reported as being inside the Byzantine province under the reign of Constantine VII in the tenth century (theme of Macedonia). Philippopolis, according to historian John Fine, was a Byzantine property at the time it was attacked by Rus’ king Sviatoslav I of Kiev in 969, who impaled 20,000 inhabitants. Prior to and during the Rus’ genocide, the city was founded by Paulician heretics transferred from Syria and Armenia to work as military settlers on Europe’s Bulgarian border. In 1180, Aime de Varennes witnessed the singing of Byzantine hymns in the city, which chronicled the exploits of Alexander the Great and his predecessors almost 1300 years before.

The Third Crusade (1189–1192) brought an end to Byzantine authority when the army of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa seized Philippopolis. Ivanko was named ruler of the Byzantine Theme of Philippopolis in 1196, but between 1198 and 1200, the theme was united with Bulgaria and severed from Byzantium. Philippoupolis was taken by the Latin Empire in 1204, and there were two brief interregnum periods during which the city was seized twice by Kaloyan of Bulgaria until his death in 1207. In 1208 at the Battle of Philippopolis, Boril, Kaloyan’s successor, was defeated by the Latins. Philippopolis was the capital of the Duchy of Philippopolis under Latin authority, which was ruled by Renier de Trit and then by Gerard de Strem, and was probably a vassal state of Bulgaria or Venice at times. Ivan Asen II eventually captured the duchy in 1230, although the city may have been seized earlier. Plovdiv was afterwards invaded by Byzantium; according to other sources, Plovdiv was a property of Theodore Svetoslav of Bulgaria by 1300. In 1322, George Terter II of Bulgaria captured it from Byzantium. Andronikos III Palaiologos attacked the city unsuccessfully, although a treaty restored Byzantine sovereignty in 1323. In 1344, the regency of John V Palaiologos gave the city and eight other towns to Bulgaria in exchange for Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria’s help during the Byzantine civil war of 1341–47.

Ottoman Rule

Plovdiv was captured by the Ottoman Turks in 1364 under the leadership of Lala Shahin Pasha. According to some sources, Plovdiv was not Ottoman until the Battle of Maritsa in 1371, when the people and Bulgarian army retreated, abandoning the city. Refugees established themselves in Stanimaka. Musa elebi captured the city in 1410 during the Ottoman Interregnum, slaughtering and relocating residents. Between 1364 and 1443, the city served as the center of the Rumelia Eyalet, as a sanjak center between 1443 and 1593, as a sanjak center in Silistra Eyalet between 1593 and 1826, as a sanjak center in Adrianople Eyalet between 1826 and 1867, and as a sanjak center in Edirne Vilayet between 1867 and 1878. Plovdiv, along with Constantinople, Edirne, and Thessaloniki, was an important economic hub throughout that era. The wealthier people created magnificent mansions, several of which may still be seen in the Old Plovdiv architectural reserve.

National Revival

Filibe, as the city was known under the Ottoman Empire’s administration, served as a focal point for the Bulgarian national movement and has remained one of the key cultural hubs for Bulgarian culture and heritage.

Filibe was characterized as being populated by Turks, Bulgarians, Hellenized Bulgarians, Armenians, Jews, Vlachs, Arvanites, Greeks, and Gypsies. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, a sizable population of Sephardic Jews arrived with a smaller Armenian group from Galicia. The Paulicians either converted to Catholicism or perished as a people. With the removal of Slavonic as the church’s official language in 1767 and the adoption of the Millet System, a philosophy of ethnic separation by religion, Christian and Muslim Bulgarians were subjected to Hellenization and Turkification, respectively. A significant portion of it was completely or partially Hellenized and had a Greek identity more akin to „Romei than Ellines; in a cultural rather than ethnic sense, the „Langeris“ are sometimes classified as Greeks from the adjacent Stenimachos region. This process of Hellenization thrived until the 1830s, when it was stifled by the Tanzimat, the notion of the Hellenic nation rather than the Romeic millet, since Hellenes were seen as pagans by Christians, and lastly by the restoration of the Bulgarian Church in 1870. According to records of households and owners/renters in the central part of Plovdiv in the mid-nineteenth century provided by Bulgarian and Greek chroniclers Genchev and Lyberatos, out of a total of 358/421, the Bulgarians numbered 141 or 118 and constituted 39.4 percent or 33.7 percent, the Gudilas numbered 94 or 141 and constituted 26.3 percent or 38.1 percent, and the Langeris numbered 36-39 (11.4 percent ). Thus, although there is some debate concerning the Gulidas’ Bulgarian ancestry, the city might be either Greek or Bulgarian in the nineteenth century, depending on whether the Gudilas were regarded members of one or the other group. According to the Bulgarian and Greek writers’ data, there are no Turks in the city; nonetheless, an alternate assessment indicates that the city was formerly 75% Turkish.

Filibe was instrumental in the campaign for Church freedom, which some historians describe as a peaceful bourgeois revolution. Filibe became the focal point of the conflict, with leaders such as Nayden Gerov, Dr Valkovich, Joakim Gruev, and whole families participating. In 1836, the first Bulgarian school was established, and in 1850, the „St Cyrill and Metodius“ school started modern secular education. On 11 May 1858, the day of Saints Cyril and Methodius was first observed; it eventually became a national holiday, which is still observed today (albeit on the 24th May owing to Bulgaria’s 1916 transition from the Old Style (i.e. Julian) calendar to the New Style (i.e. Gregorian) calendar). For the first time since the Ottoman occupation began, the Christmas liturgy was served in the Bulgarian language in 1858 at the Church of Virgin Mary. Until 1906, the city was home to Bulgarian and Greek bishops. The institution developed to become the country’s first grammar school in 1868. That school educated a many of the nation’s academics, legislators, and spiritual leaders.

For few hours during the Battle of Philippopolis on January 17, 1878, the city was seized by the Russians under Aleksandr Burago. Between May and October, it served as the seat of the Provisional Russian Administration in Bulgaria. According to the same year’s Russian census, Filibe had a population of 24,000 individuals, 45.4 percent of whom were ethnic Bulgarians, 23.1 percent were Turks, and 19.9 percent were Greeks.

Eastern Rumelia

The Principality of Bulgaria was established on 3 March 1878 by the Treaty of San Stefano, which encompassed regions with a primarily Bulgarian population. Plovdiv, Bulgaria’s largest and most lively city, was chosen as the reconstituted country’s capital and temporary Russian government seat. However, Great Britain and Austria-Hungary did not approve of the deal, and the war ended with the Berlin Congress, which split the newly freed nation into multiple pieces. It established the autonomous territory of Eastern Rumelia as a distinct entity from Bulgaria, with Plovdiv as its capital. The Ottoman Empire established a constitution and named a governor.

Zahari Stoyanov founded the Secret Bulgarian Central Revolutionary Committee in the city in the spring of 1885, which aggressively promoted the union of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia. On 5 September, several hundred armed rebels marched on Plovdiv from Golyamo Konare (now Saedinenie). On 5–6 September, these men, headed by Danail Nikolaev, seized control of the city and deposed General-Governor Gavril Krastevich. A temporary administration headed by Georgi Stranski was constituted, and a call for universal mobilization was issued. After the Serbs were defeated in the Serbo-Bulgarian War, Bulgaria and Turkey struck an agreement establishing a joint government, parliament, administration, and army for the Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia. Today, 6 September, is both Unification Day and Plovdiv Day.

Recent History

Until 1989, the city’s song extolled the virtues of the nearby monument to Soviet troops, affectionately known as Alyosha.

Following unification, Plovdiv remained Bulgaria’s second largest city in terms of population and prominence, behind the capital Sofia. In 1874, the city’s first railway was completed, linking it to the Ottoman capital, and in 1888, it was connected to Sofia. Plovdiv hosted the First Bulgarian International Fair in 1892, which was followed by the International Fair Plovdiv. Following freedom, the city’s first brewery was established.

Plovdiv evolved into a key industrial and commercial hub around the turn of the twentieth century, with a well-established light and food sector. Plovdiv’s electrification began in 1927. Capital from Germany, France, and Belgium was invested in the city’s development of modern commerce, banking, and industry. In 1939, manufacturing facilities employed 16,000 craftsmen and 17,000 laborers, mostly in the food and tobacco processing industries. During World War II, the tobacco sector increased, as did fruit and vegetable exports. In 1943, the archbishop of Plovdiv, Cyril, who subsequently became the Bulgarian Patriarch, rescued 1,500 Jews from transportation to detention camps. In 1944, the British-American coalition bombarded the city.

On May 4, 1953, Tobacco Depot employees went on strike. The first trolleybus route debuted on 6 April 1956, and the Trimontsium Hotel was built in the 1950s. The 1960s and 1970s saw a development boom, resulting in the formation of several contemporary communities. Antique relics were uncovered and the Old Town was completely restored in the 1970s and 1980s. The „Plovdiv“ sports facility was completed in 1990. It included the country’s biggest stadium and rowing canal. During that time period, Plovdiv became the origin of Bulgaria’s democratic reform movement, which gained enough support to join government in 1989.

In 1981, 1985, and 1991, Plovdiv hosted World’s Fair specialty displays.