{"id":4189,"date":"2022-07-25T05:27:14","date_gmt":"2022-07-25T05:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/travelshelper.com\/bulgaria\/?p=4189"},"modified":"2022-07-31T19:12:43","modified_gmt":"2022-07-31T19:12:43","slug":"silistra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/travelshelper.com\/bulgaria\/silistra\/","title":{"rendered":"Silistra"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Silistra was one of the first cities in Bulgaria to have its own museum. The town\u2019s History Museum opened on 11 January 1899. Silistra is one of the country\u2019s oldest towns. It is located on the Danube River\u2019s bank, 430 kilometers northeast of Sofia and 140 kilometers northwest of Varna. The first historical documents attesting to the settlement of Durostorum come from the early second century AD.<\/p>

The Museum consists of two displays \u2014 one archaeological and one ethnographic \u2013 spread over numerous locations. The ethnographic display has a 300-square-meter space. It has exhibits that depict the way of life and culture of the Dobrudzha people of the Silistra Region during the mid-19th and early twentieth centuries. Among them are original tools, indigenous clothing, mummers\u2019 masks, and brezaya masks, which are used during a winter fertility and wellness rite.<\/p>

The archaeological show spans 400 square meters and is located in a typical early twentieth-century structure. It includes monuments from the prehistoric, ancient, and medieval periods. Among the exhibits are a Roman stone sundial, a Roman sports helmet-mask depicting griffins, grave finds, a chariot belonging to a renowned Roman magistrate from the late third century, a column inscribed with Khan Omurtag\u2019s name, and one of the largest collections of medieval crosses from the tenth to thirteenth centuries.<\/p>

The History Museum also has a location at the 4th century AD wall-painted Roman tomb found in 1942. According to historians and archaeologists, the tomb was the resting place of a famous Roman pagan. The lavish decorations and the pictured diploma from the Emperor attest to his social rank.<\/p>

The museum also includes the Durostorum \u2013 Drastar \u2013 Silistra Archaeological Reserve. Today, tourists may see the ruins of a Roman urban villa dating from the second to fourth century, as well as a bishop\u2019s palace and a basilica dating from the late fourth to early sixth centuries.<\/p>

The Turkish Fort of Abdul Medjidi (Medjidi tabia) is also a museum site. It is Bulgaria\u2019s only fortification with a totally restored Ottoman interior and exterior. It was constructed in the run-up to the Crimean War (1853\u20131856).<\/p>

Another important tourist site in Silistra is the Kurshumlu Mosque. It was constructed by Ottoman architects in the early decades of the 17th century. Its name is derived from the lead sheets that surround its dome. It is renowned for its ornately painted walls and ceilings, as well as the colored stones used in the masonry around the windows and doorways.<\/p>

Around 10 kilometers southeast of Silistra, between the settlements of Strelkovo, V. Levski, Pop Rusanovo, and Kutlovitsa, is a Thracian sacred rock complex comprised of four rock shrines. Badzhaliyata, the primary sanctuary, is set in a lovely canyon. The stone temple is located inside a vast cave that may be accessed by a tunnel carved into the rock. Next to it is a large arched altar niche that has been painstakingly sculpted. Underneath is the platform that functioned as a focal point for the cult\u2019s secrets. The sanctuary is accessible by an asphalt road.<\/p>

A cave cloister colony is situated southeast of Silistra, in the Silistra Region, near the Suha River (Dry River), south of Golesh Village. It consists of seven monasteries with several churches, crypts, cells, and chapels that are set in a picturesque location unspoilt by human hands and have retained its late Antiquity interiors and exteriors (4th \u2013 6th centuries\/. These are the country\u2019s oldest cave monasteries.<\/p>

Silistra\u2019s climate is moderate, with freezing snowy winters and scorching summers.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Population of Silistra<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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In January 2012, Silistra had a population of 35 230 inside the city boundaries and 50 780 throughout the Silistra Municipality and its legally linked surrounding communities. The city\u2019s population (not the municipality\u2019s) peaked in the period 1986\u20131991, when it topped 70,000. The following table summarizes the population change since 1887.<\/p>

According to the most recent 2011 census statistics, those who indicated their ethnic identification were divided into the following categories:<\/p>