Sliven
Sliven [ slivɛn ] (also written Sliven, Bulgarian Сливен ) is a city in Bulgaria with 91 620 inhabitants ( 2011 census ) located at the foot of the south-eastern foothills of the Balkan Mountains. The city is the administrative center of the homonymous municipality and of the province Sliven. Sliven is to Sofia and Gabrovo third largest textile center of the country; Industrial and garrison city and cultural center of the area.
Geography and location
North of Sliven there are the south-eastern foothills of the Balkan Mountains, which end here with the huge wall of Sinite Kamani ( Blue Stones ) of quartz porphyry, a hallmark of the city. This area with the mountain peaks Balgarka in 1980 declared a nature park Sinite Kamani, which today covers an area of 11,380 km ².
South of town extends the Sliwenebene (also Sliwensko pole ). The Beck character is weak and is traversed by the Tundscha and in its eastern part of the Motschuriza. In the north it is mainly limited by the mountain ranges of the Balkan Mountains and Grebenez Terzijski bair, in the south against gora from the eastern foothills of the Sarnena and the hills of the Bakadschizi.
History
The town was first mentioned in the mid- 12th century by the Arab traveler al - Idrisi under the name Istilīfunūs, but the ruins around them testify that this area was already inhabited during the time of the Roman Empire.
Evliya Çelebi described in the 17th century in his travel book Seyahatname the city under the name Islimiye. Under this name, it was the capital of a sanjak in the Ottoman Empire.
Sliven was the end of the 18th century and in the 19th century a center of crafts and trade, and the Bulgarian National Revival. 1834 here the first textile factory in the country was founded. It was called " the city of 100 Voivode ", as many freedom fighters and military leaders came from here, the voivode Hadji Dimitar ( 1837-1868 ) and Panayot Chitow ( 1830-1918 ) and the fighters for national education Sawa Dobroplodni ( 1820-1894 ) and Dobri Tschintulow ( 1823-1886 ).
1860 Tschitalischte " Sora " was founded, which gave the impetus to the creation of a theater. Worth seeing are the old houses with wooden carvings and the Memorial Museum.
Sliven is known as the " city of winds and Gypsies" in Bulgaria. The geographical position is dergestaltig that here meet northerly winds from several Balkan passes. "Gypsy " is a reference to the high proportion of Roma in the population of the city.
Population
Sliven had in early 2007 yet 101 307 inhabitants and today only 99 813. Compared to other Bulgarian cities, the city has a particularly large proportion of Roma.
Population Development
The changing population figures result partly from the respective territorial status.
The figures come from:
- Censuses (¹ )
- Estimates ( ²) or
- Official updates of the statistical offices (³).
Economy and infrastructure
Main sectors are agriculture, engineering and food industry. Larger companies are the wineries Domaine Boyar AD and Vini; textile companies Mirolio and Dokotex Karpet AD, as well as the dairy Tirbul.
Sports
The OFK Sliven 2000 plays in the 2012/13 season from the Second Bulgarian league. He carries out his games in Hadji Dimitar - Stadium.
Sliven is one of the venues for the 2015 to be held in Bulgaria U-17 Football Championship.
Sons and daughters of the town
- Hadji Dimitar (* 1840-1868 ), fighter and revolutionary
- Julia Kristeva ( b. 1941 ), feminist psychoanalyst and philosopher
- Letschkow Jordan (born 1967 ), former football legends and the Mayor
- Milena Nikolova ( born 1984 ), writer
- Norair Nurikjan ( b. 1948 ), Olympic champion in weightlifting
- Anton Pann (1794/1798-1854), lyricist, composer and musicologist
Twin Cities
- Gera ( Germany ), since 1965
- Pecs (Hungary ), since 1969
- Ternopil (Ukraine ), since 1969
- Kesariani (Greece ), since 1985
- Voronezh ( Russia), 1995
- Swetlahorsk ( Belarus ), since 1997
- Tekirdag (Turkey), since 1998
- Chongqing (China), since 2002
- Alba Iulia (Romania ), since 2002
- Jerash (Jordan), since 2004