Chiprovtsi
Чипровци | |
|---|---|
 The central square of Chiprovtsi | |
 Coat of arms | |
  Chiprovtsi Location of Chiprovtsi | |
| Coordinates: 43°23′N 22°53′E / 43.383°N 22.883°E | |
| Country | Bulgaria |
| Province (oblast) | Montana |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Plamen Petkov (GERB) |
| Elevation | 550 m (1,800 ft) |
| Population (15 March 2016)[2] | |
| • Total | 1,941 |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
| Postal Code | 3460 |
| Area code | 09554 |
| Website | www.chiprovtzi.hit.bg,www.chiprovtsi.com |
Chiprovtsi[3] (Bulgarian: Чипровци, pronounced [ˈtʃiproft͡si][4]) is a small town in northwestern Bulgaria, administratively part of Montana Province. It lies on the shores of the river Ogosta in the western Balkan Mountains, very close to the Bulgarian-Serbian border. A town of about 2,000 inhabitants, Chiprovtsi is the administrative centre of Chiprovtsi Municipality that also covers nine nearby villages.
Chiprovtsi is thought to have been founded in the Late Middle Ages as a mining and metalsmithing centre. Attracting German ore miners who introduced Roman Catholicism to the area, the town grew in importance as a cultural, economic, and religious centre of the Bulgarian Catholics and the entire Bulgarian northwest during the first few centuries of Ottoman rule. The apogee of this upsurge was the anti-Ottoman Chiprovtsi Uprising of 1688. After the suppression of the uprising, some of the town's population fled to Habsburg-ruled lands; those unable to flee were killed or enslaved by the Ottomans.
Deserted for about 30 years, the town was repopulated by Eastern Orthodox Bulgarians, beginning in the 1720s. It was following this new settlement that Chiprovtsi became a major centre of the Bulgarian carpet industry. Other traditional industries have been stock breeding, agriculture and fur trade. Today, Chiprovtsi municipality experiences a declining population and above-average unemployment. However, the development of alternative tourism help to sustain the economy.
- ^ Общински план за развитие, p. 6.
- ^ "Таблица на населението по постоянен и настоящ адрес" (in Bulgarian). Главна дирекция "Гражданска регистрация и административно обслужване". 2016-03-15. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
- ^ This article uses the official Streamlined System for the Romanization of Bulgarian. In other romanization systems, the name is variously transliterated as Čiprovci, Chiprovci, Chiprovtzi, etc.
- ^ Phonetic transcription according to the rules specified in Ternes, Elmar; Tatjana Vladimirova-Buhtz (1999). "Bulgarian". Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 55–57. ISBN 0-521-63751-1. Retrieved 2008-10-24.