Berkovitsa ( ) is a town and ski resort in northwestern Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Berkovitsa Municipality, Montana Province and is close to the town of Varshets. , it had a population of 13,917. Bulgarian National Statistical Institute - Bulgarian towns in 2009
Location and history Berkovitsa is situated on the northern slope of Kom Peak of the Berkovska Stara Planina Mountain along the valley of the Berkovitsa River, which is a tributary to the Barziya River, at an altitude above sea level 405 m. The town was mentioned for the first time in Ottoman documents of 1488.Nicoara Beldiceanu, Les actes des premiers sultans conservés dans les manuscrits Turcs de la Bibliothèque Nationale a Paris, II, Paris, La Haye, 1964, p. 218, note 2 According to the 1831 Ottoman population statistics, 67.5% of the Christians were non-taxpayers in the kaza of Berkofça.Kemal Karpat (1985), Ottoman Population, 1830-1914, Demographic and Social Characteristics, The University of Wisconsin Press, p. 36 It is near the site of an old fortified settlement on the road from Sofia to Lom. The remains of the fortress and a church were discovered on high ground at Kaleto, just to the west of the present-day town. The former settlement was known as early as the reign of King Kaloyan and was mentioned as a border settlement in the period of the Vidin Kingdom.
Berkovitsa Glacier, on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica, is named for Berkovitsa.
History The region was involved in the Uprising of Konstantin and Fruzhin (1408 - 1413) and the Chiprovtsi Uprising (1688). At the end of August 1872, Vasil Levski arrived in Berkovitsa, together with the chairman of the Vratsa Revolutionary Committee, Mito Ankov.
Religion Christianity In the late antique fortress Kaleto, located on a hill north of Berkovitsa, a large bishopric complex was built during early Christianity. Orthodox church of Nativity of Mary
Judaism Until 1947, there was a significant Jewish community in Berkovitsa and there was a functioning synagogue.
Economy Transportation
Berkovitsa has a terminus railway station. It is connected to Montana and has access to the railway connecting Vidin and Vratsa. There are four trains per day.
International relations
Twin towns — Sister cities Berkovitsa is twinned with:
Dzerzhinsky, Russia Zaječar, Serbia Dimitrovgrad, Serbia
Gallery
Notable natives
Timo Angelov, revolutionary, member of IMARO
References
External links Official website Nikola Gruev’s photo gallery of Berkovitsa Berkovitsa at Domino.bg