About Bulgaria

Territory: 110 993,6 km²

Population: 7 973 671

Capital: Sofia (1 173 811 inhabitants)

Official language: Bulgarian

Political system: Parliamentary Republic

Head of State: Rosen Plevneliev

Prime Minister: Boyko Borisov

European Union: Bulgaria is a full member of the EU since January,1 2007

Administrative regions : Sofia - city, Sofia district, Burgas, Varna, Plovdiv, Rousse, Haskovo, Lovetch, Montana, Sliven, Yambol, Dobrich, Silistra, Shumen, Gabrovo, Pleven, Vidin, Vratza, Veliko Tarnovo.

Official holidays :
January 1st - New Years's Holiday
March 3d - National Holiday (National Liberation from the Ottoman domination)
Easter, and the first Monday after Easter
May 1st - Labour Day
May 6th - Gergyovden, and the Bulgarian Military Army's Day
May 24th - Cyril and Methodius Day
September 6th - Unification Day
September 22d - Independence Day
November 1st - National Day of the Bulgarian Revival Leaders
December 24,25,26 - Christmas Days

National currency: Lev (BGN). There are several banknotes with a face value of: 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 BGN.

Bulgaria sits at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, right in the belly of the Balkans. Any journey of length showcases the country's amazing variety of landforms.
Bulgaria simply resembles a continent in miniature because of its very varied relief and miraculous working of nature where measure is paramount. The country with a 1300 years old history lies in the North-eastern part of Balkan Peninsula and during the centuries has been an important crossroad between Europe and Asia.
Called the sleeping beauty of the Balkans by New York Times magazine, Bulgaria has four beautiful and mild seasons and a gorgeous nature.
Eye-catching mountain lakes, sunny beaches, gorgeous rose valleys, curative hot springs and deep chilly caves coexist in harmony. Bulgaria has a wide outlet on the Black Sea and river Danube and borders with Greece, Serbia, Romania, Turkey and Macedonia. The country territory is 111 000 square kilometers - 520 kilometers in length and 330 kilometers in width.

You can enjoy FOUR LOVELY AND TENDER SEASONS in Bulgaria. Beautiful blooming spring, dry and hot summer, long and pleasant autumn, and mild winter with lots of opportunity for skiing.
Always lit by the sun Bulgaria has between 2200 and 2500 hours of sunlight per year. Average temperature (April - September): + 23 °C. The average yearly temperature is 14.7 °C.
The climate is exceptionally favourable for growing vines, fruits and vegetables, and oil yielding rose for which Bulgaria has been renowned in Europe for centuries.
The climate in Northern Bulgaria is moderate continental, while the climate in Southern Bulgaria is intermediate continental tending to Mediterranean. The climate in the regions with an altitude of 1900-2000 m above sea level is mountainous and along the Black Sea coast it is maritime.

The Bulgarian lands are ancient crossroads. They were populated from remote antiquity and remember many ancient civilizations.
The state of Bulgaria has 1300 years old history and according to the statistics it is ranked third (after Greece and Italy) for the number of its archaeological monuments.
The earliest inhabitants of the present Bulgarian lands were the Thracians.
Ancient Greek historian Herodotus describes the Thracians as the second biggest tribe in the Ancient world, after the Indians. The most famous Thracians were Spartacus and Orpheus.
Spartacus was born on the territory of present-day town of Sandanski (south-western Bulgaria) and as an adolescent was sold into slavery in ancient Rome. Later he became the legendary gladiator that led the biggest slave uprising in the Antiquity.
Orpheus is known for his incredible talent as a musician and singer. He was born near the present village of Guella in the Rhodope mountain a little before the Trojan war. The legend tells that he was the greatest singer of all time and even the wild animals stopped to listen to his music. Also he took part in the quest of the Argonauts together with Jason and Heracles.
The Bulgarians were the basic ethnic component in the structure of the Mediaeval Bulgarian State. Their original home land was in Central Asia, in the mountainous region of Pamir. As a highly developed civilization they had culturally dominated the territories of central Asia for a long time. In the middle of the 7th century Khan Asparuh united the ancient Thracian nation and the Slavic tribes and founded the mighty Bulgarian Kingdom on the crossroad with Asia and Africa.

Magura cave - prehistoric paintings presenting hunting scenes, dances, animistic, totemic and pantheistic cult figures form the Glacial Epoch.

Seaside Neolithic and Paleolithic cultures - traces found along the southern cost of Black Sea. Most of the remains indicate high level mastery of materials such as china clay, stone, wood, bronze and iron.

The oldest gold in the world dated 8000 years back is with Thracian origin.

Rogozen treasure - discovered in the winter of 1985-1986 in north-west Bulgaria, is the largest single collection of ancient treasure ever found in south-eastern Europe. The 165 pieces of silver in this hoard weigh almost 20 kilograms and were found in two groups of 100 and 65, placed five meters apart at only 0.4 meters depth. This immense hoard, accumulated over nearly 150 years from the mid-5th century to the last quarter of the 4th century BC, includes vessels from specific workshops in Anatolia, Eastern Greece, Southern Thrace, and North-western Thrace.

Panagyurishte treasure - While digging for clay for brick making near the town of Panagyurishte in Sredna Gora mountain, Central Bulgaria, a team of workmen came upon what was obviously an important treasure. When finally unearthed, it was found to consist of a phial and eight rhytons, one shaped like an amphora and the others like heads of women or animals. Dated to the turn of the fourth and third century BC, the find was sensational, not only for its weight in gold - over 6 kg, but also for the originality of its form and ornaments.

Kazanlak tomb in south Bulgaria is famous for its beautiful wall paintings of the early 3rd century BC, one of the most unique masterpieces of Early Hellenistic pictorial art. Despite the small surface containing the decorative friezes, the unknown artist has created an exceptional work of art. This tomb was built during the reign of king Seuthes III, either for him personally or for close relatives among the nobility.

Shipka tomb - include seven tombs recently uncovered in the south foothills of the Balkan Range. They consist of developed façades, each notably different from one another. Not surprisingly, most of these tombs had been robbed in ancient times, with only one remaining untouched by treasure-hunters.

Karanovska mound - extremely unique remains of pottery and other household ware dating back to the late Paleolithic and the early Neolithic Ages found near the town of Nova Zagora. Because of that, Karanovska mound is called "the Noah's Ark of the European civilization".

Mogilanska mound - yielded in the town of Vratsa, during 1965-1966 excavations in the heart of the city, three stone tombs of noble Thracian chiefs. In the main chamber skeletons of an adult man and a young man were found with two silver jugs, four inscribed phialai, bronze Greek vessels, and arms including a wood quiver (gorythos) with many bronze arrowheads, iron spearheads, a bronze Chalkidian type helmet and a silver-gilt greave (knemis) The younger man, who had been killed by an iron spearhead, wore an elegant gold head wreath, gold earrings, gold buttons, pendants and rosette-shaped appliqués. In the third Vratsa tomb, partly robbed in antiquity were skeletons of a man and a woman with gold and silver jugs, gold jewellery, votive clay objects, a quiver with arrowheads, and iron spearheads. The gold jug shows two galloping four-horsed chariots with a man in a hauberk. The dating of the Vratsa tombs, based on several Attic pottery vessels, is about 375-340 BC.

For thirteen centuries, Bulgaria - the cradle of Slav culture, the land of Orpheus and Spartacus has given the world men of great achievements, mysterious Thracian treasures and burial tombs, magnificent frescos and many brilliant examples of ancient applied arts.
Bulgarian festivals and customs date back to ancient times when men tried to appease the natural elements and trembled before their power. Full of beauty, gaiety, mystical voices, fiery dances and brightly colored costumes - Bulgarian folklore has to be seen, felt and experienced!

Fire dancing is the most ancient mysterious ritual - barefooted dancers performing on burning embers. This religious and mystical ritual for expelling illness, for health and fruitfulness is one that must be seen to believe it.

The Festival of Roses is a lovely festival celebrated in the Rose Valley near the town of Kazanluk (at the foot of the Balkan Range) on the first weekend of June every year. The festival is a pageant of beauty in the unique Rose Valley. In the run-up of the event, a Queen Rose beauty contest is held in several rounds. Artists, actors, circus performers, writers and singers flock to Kazanluk at the start of June. The Bulgarian oleaginous rose yields 70 percent of the world's attar of roses used by every perfume company as an essential component of its products.
The history tells that in the Thracian provinces of the Roman Empire, the Thracians grew 12 varieties of roses, one of them known as the "Thracian Rose".
In the 1270, during the crusades, Count de Gruye brought the Damascus rose from Syria to the valley of Kazanlak where conditions proved excellent. Experts claim that Bulgarian roses and rose oil owe their unique properties to the local climate and the generous soil. The temperatures in February, when roses bud, are ideal. The blossoms are picked in May and June, when high humidity is very important. So is the cinnamon-forest soil in the area and, last but not least, the remarkable skills of the Bulgarian rose-oil producers.

Kukeri Carnival held in the region of Dupnitsa and Pernik is a splendid festival of brightly colored masks and costumes which marks the beginning of the spring. Every participant makes his own multi-coloured personal mask, covered with beads, ribbons and woollen tassels. The heavy swaying of the main mummer is meant to represent wheat heavy with grain, and the bells tied around the waist are intended to drive away the evil spirits and the sickness.

The Bulgarian voices are called to be mystery. Experts are still trying to explain the incredible range of the Bulgarian voice and the variety of songs. Its unique sound was universally acknowledged by the fact that the popular Rhodope song "Izlel e Delyu hiadutin" sung by the talented singer Valya Balkanska was recorded on a gold record and was sent as a message to outer space on the American spaceship Voyager in 1977. The world is discovering it again and again at major folklore and song contests in Italy, France, England and Ireland from which the Bulgarian music and dance ensembles invariably walk off with the first prizes.

The folk festivals "Pirin Sings" and Rozhen Sings are the best-known Bulgarian folklore festivals. Last year alone, some 150 000 visitors from Bulgaria and abroad came together to witness the show by the 4 000 performers on each festival. They came not only to see these inspiring events, but also to learn about the curious world of Bulgarian folklore traditions.

Applied crafts have gradually emerged from the narrow frame work of strictly domestic life to become an art which breeds art: Bulgarian embroidery with its intricate geometrical figures, Bulgarian rugs and carpets with their vibrant colours, exquisitely painted Bulgarian ceramics, finely ornamented Bulgarian fretwork and superbly fashioned Bulgarian jewellery.
The Samovodene Market in Veliko Turnovo, the Permanent National Exhibition of Folk Art in Oreshak near Troyan and the Etura architectural and ethnographic complex near Gabrovo are all original museums of the revived beauty of Bulgarian handicrafts. You are bound to find your own particular memento from Bulgaria here - a small carved wooden wine vessel, a Troyan pottery set, a fleecy Rhodope rug, an original piece of silver jewellery, a finely embroidered silk blouse or a colourful carpet.