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Teteven

Тетевен
Teteven Тетевен
	Teteven Monastery of St Elias (17th century)
	Coat of arms
	Teteven Location of Teteven
	Coordinates: 42°55′4.71″N 24°15′49.91″E / 42.9179750°N 24.2638639°E
Country	Bulgaria
Province; (Oblast)	Lovech
Government
• Mayor	Dr. Madlena Boyadzhieva
Elevation	412 m (1,352 ft)
Population (15.12.2010)
• City	10,733
• Urban	21,374
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Postal Code	5700
Area code	0678

Teteven (Bulgarian: Тетевен, pronounced [ˈtɛtɛvɛn]) is a town on the banks of the Vit, at the foot of the Balkan mountains in north central Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the Teteven Municipality which is a part of Lovech Province. As of December 2010, the town had a population of 10,733.^[1]

Geography

Teteven is located in a mountainous area, in the foothills of the Balkan mountains between the peaks Ostrich, Petrahilya, Cherven, Treskavets and Vezhen. The river Vit meanders through the town. The altitude of Teteven district varies from 340 to 2100 m, and in the town center it is 415 m. The climate is temperate continental with cold winters and cool summers. The territory of Teteven is about 697 km², which is 16.86% of the territory of Lovech district.

History

The town was first mentioned in a written document in 1421. It is thought that the town's name comes from the family of a certain Tetyo (Tetyov rod), who settled in the area and founded the town. Older variants of the town's name found in documents are Tetyuven and Tetyuvene.

A thriving city in the 16th and 17th centuries, Teteven was raided by organised Turkish brigand groups in 1801, burnt down and almost completely destroyed, with only four houses surviving out of a total of 3,000. The town later revived and was active in the armed struggle for Bulgarian independence in the 19th century, sheltering a revolutionary committee part of Vasil Levski's organised rebel network.

Each summer a large chess tournament, one of the biggest events in Bulgaria's chess calendar, is held in Teteven.

Honour

Teteven Glacier on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after Teteven.

Sights

Teteven combines the beauty of the surrounding scenery with the towering hills and peaks Petrahilya, Ostrich, Cherven and Ravni Kamak (they have witnessed many historical events), the cool breeze of the Vit river, and the spirit of centuries past, hovering in the multitude of monuments, ancient Bulgarian architecture, and customs and manners that have remained intact in time. Astounded by the sights revealed before him in his visit to the town, Ivan Vazov has exclaimed: "Had I not come to Teteven, I would have remained a foreigner to mother Bulgaria ... I have been wandering, I have been rambling, but I have not seen a more wondrous paradise."

There is a historical museum in Teteven, which is among the Hundred National Tourist Sites of the Bulgarian Tourist Union.

Sights of Teteven and the Teteven district

Glozhene Monastery
Saint Elijah Monastery (14th century)
All Saints Church
Kosnitza waterfall
Mother of God Shroud Chapel on Ostrich peak
Boev hill

Caves

Saeva Dupka
Morovitza
Baiovitza
Draganchovitza
Rushova cave (near Gradezhnitza village)

Museums

Teteven Historical Museum
Bobevska house museum
Hadzhiivanova house museum
Yorgova house museum

Regular events

Autumn fair
Northern Song Feast (May)
The Feast of Teteven on November 1, the day the town was liberated from Ottoman domination in 1877
Days of Mountain Water and Healing Tourism, Scientific Research Center of Medical Biophysics, Teteven municipality, June 11

Gallery

Teteven Municipality Hall
Teteven Chitalishte (Culture club)
All Saints Church in Teteven
A 19th-century house
A 19th-century house

Persons

Notable persons born in Teteven

Lyubomir Bobevski — writer
Nikola Bobevski — artisan, elected Teteven delegate on the occasion of the signing of the San Stefano Peace Treaty
Valentin Bobevski — conductor
Sabo Dimitrov — artist
Mihail Ekimdzhiev — lawyer
Valentin Grozev (1950–2010) — artist
Ignat Ignatov — professor, biophysicist
Usin Kerim — poet
Dimitar Krachidzhov — poet and publicist
Iva Krasteva — sports journalist, lives and works in London
Banyo Marinov (1853–1879) — revolutionary
Nikola Merekiov — actor and agriculturalist
Sava Mladenov — adherent of Vasil Levski and a revolutionary from Hristo Botev's armed group
Preslava Mravkova — singer (Music Idol)
Vera Naidenova — Bulgarian professor, film critic
Svilen Rusinov — sportsman, honorary citizen of Teteven
Hristo Spasunin (1923–2010) — poet and publicist
Ivailo Stanev — photographer
Nikola Tiholov — scriptwriter
Margarit Tzanev — artist
Ivan Undzhiev (1902–1979) — Bulgarian professor-historian
Nikolai Vitanov — professor, nuclear physicist
Hadji Stanyo Vrabevski — chairman of the local revolutionary committee, sent into exile in Diyarbakır