Pernik
Pernik [ pɛrnik ] ( Bulgarian Перник ) is a town in western Bulgaria, 30 km southwest of Sofia. Pernik is industrial and cultural center of the municipality of Pernik Pernik and the Oblast.
Geography
The city is located in the Struma valley and is surrounded in a valley of mountains. To the south lies the Golo Bardo Mountains ( Голо бърдо ), in the north of the Lyulin Mountain, to the east the domes of the Vitosha Mountains to the west and the hilly area Graowo. After Sofia Pernik is the second largest city in Southwest Bulgaria.
The nearest towns are next to Sofia (30 km to the northeast ), Kyustendil (59 km to the southwest ) and Blagoevgrad (70 km to the south).
With Pernik there is the largest coal reserves in Bulgaria.
With Pernik the European Transport Corridor 4, the European Route 79 and a railway line connecting Central Europe with Greece runs. Rail connections exist to Sofia, Blagoevgrad, Kyustendil and Koulata.
The region is one of the oldest trade routes in the Balkans: Sofia -Thessaloniki -Skopje.
History
As early as the 6th millennium existed in Pernik settlements of the early Neolithic period, in the 3rd millennium settlements of the Early Bronze Age. In 5 / 4 Century BC was at the height west of the city a strong Thracian fortress, which was destroyed in the 1st century AD by the Romans. Rebuilt by the Bulgarians, it was a 1004-1016 base of Feudalherrschers Krakra Pernischki against the Byzantine emperor Basil II
The insignificant until the 19th century settlement was only developed since 1891 by the extraction of coal for today's modern mining and industrial city with a focus on coal and energy, metallurgy and mechanical engineering.
Pay a visit to the historical museum, the ancient and medieval fortress Krakra (viewpoint) and the Thracian sanctuary (2nd / 4th century AD).
An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9 shook Pernik on 22 May 2012. It crashed one of the cooling towers of thermal power plant Republika (see picture right).