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Veliko Tarnovo
Data
Oblast:	Veliko Tarnovo
Population:	73 115 (13.09.2005)
Altitude:	325 m
Postal code:	5000
Area code:	062
Geographic coordinates:	43� 5' north 25� 39' east
Mayor
Rumen Rashev

Veliko Tarnovo (������ �������; also transliterated as Veliko Turnovo) is a city in central northern Bulgaria and the administrative centre of Veliko Tarnovo Province. It is located on the Yantra River and is famous as the historical capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire, attracting many tourists with its specific architecture.

History

Prehistory and Antiquity

Veliko Tarnovo is one of the oldest settlements in Bulgaria, having a history of more than 5 millenia, as the first traces of human presence date from the 3rd millenium BC on Trapezitsa Hill.

Middle Ages

The historical part of town, which was the capital of Bulgaria during the Second Bulgarian Empire, lies on three hills - Tsarevets, Trapezitsa and Sveta Gora. Veliko Tarnovo is the place where brothers Asen and Peter declared the end of Bynzatine rule in Bulgaria, proclaiming the city a capital. Veliko Tarnovo grew quickly to become the strongest Bulgarian fortification of the Middle Ages between the 12th and 14th century and the most important policital, economic, cultural and religious centre of the empire.

Ottoman rule

The Old Town

The city flourished and grew for 200 years until falling to the Ottoman Empire on 17th July 1393 after a three-month siege, the fortress on the hill being eventually destroyed.

Veliko Tarnovo, known in the middle ages as Tarnovgrad (����������), was the location of two uprisings against Ottoman rule, in 1598 and 1686, both of which failed to liberate Bulgaria.

Tarnovgrad, along with the rest of present-day Bulgaria, remained under Ottoman rule until the 19th century, when national identity and culture reasserted themselves as a strengthening resistance movement. The idea of the establishment of an independent Bulgarian church and nation motivated the 1875 and 1876 uprisings in town. On 23th Aprik 1876, the April Uprising marked the beginning of the end of the Ottoman occupation. It was soon followed by the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878).

Liberated Bulgaria

On 7th July 1877, Russian general Joseph Vladimirovich Gourko liberated Veliko Tarnovo, ending the 480-year-rule of the Ottoman Empire. In 1878, the Treaty of Berlin created a Principality of Bulgaria between the Danube and the Stara Planina range, with its seat at the old Bulgarian capital of Veliko Tarnovo.

On 17th April 1879, the first National Assembly convened in Veliko Turnovo to ratify the state's first constitution, known as the Tarnovo Constitution, the key result of which resulted in the transfer of Parliament from Tarnovgrad to Sofia, which today remains the Bulgarian capital.

In deference to the city's past, Tsar Ferdinand Saxe-Coburg Gotha chose the St. Forty Greatmartyrs Church in Veliko Tarnovo as the place to declare the complete independence of Bulgaria on October 5, 1908.

In 1965, the city, then officially known as Tarnovo, was renamed to Veliko Tarnovo (Great Tarnovo) to commemorate its rich history and importance.

Places of interest

One of Bulgaria's primary tourist destinations, Veliko Tarnovo boasts many historical monuments and landmarks, such as the ruins of the castle Tsarevets on the hill of the same name, which housed the royal and patriarchial palace, and Trapezitsa, the second fortress of the inner city on the right bank of Yantra. Other attractions are the St. Dimitre of Solun Church, St. Forty Greatmartyrs Church, the numerous Bulgarian National Revival buildings with their typical architecture, the many museums on various topics.

Photos