About the town
Belogradchik is situated in the northwestern part of Bulgaria. It is picturesquely located in the western part of Stara Planina, at the southwestern foot of Belogradchik garland, at 545m above sea level. Belogradchik is about 170km. away from Sofia, 55km.-from Vidin, 70km - from Montana.
Urbanized and attractive, Belogradchik is one of the most attractive national tourist places in Bulgaria. The natural characteristics and rich historical inheritance define the town as one of the most interesting and desired tourist attractions.
Today’s Belogradchik was called Brestovo, Belgrade, Belgradin in the past. There is no written evidence for the first centuries of the origin of Belogradchik. The found pieces of ceramics, agricultural tools, weapons, foundations of a Roman bath, a lot of coins let us think that the beginning can be referred back to III c. – IV century AD but the most important prove is the existing Roman part of the Belogradchik fortress.
A great push in its development the town got when the Vidin tsardom of Ivan Sratsimir was formed in the 60s and 70s of XIV century. The town was an important military-administrative and handicrafts centre.
The defeat of Vidin tsardom in 1396 from the Turks reflected negatively on the development of the town. During the Ottoman yoke, the region was characterized in one very specific socially economic aspect. This aspect determined the great dissidence on the Balkans in XVIII century and numerous uprisings in XIX century. Nine uprisings burst out from 1830 to 1851. The height of this fight was the revolt in 1850. 10 000 people participated in it. The rebellion was defeated and the Bulgarians had 2 500 victims together with the organizers of the revolt. The end of the slavery was on 25th Feb 1878.
The origin of the name of the town is interesting too. In the first Turkish documents from the beginning of the slavery, they called it Belgrade (The White town) due to most of the houses, which were whitewashed. This made the town look extremely white on the background of the red rocks. Later, they called it Belgradin (Little Belgrade) in order to be distinguished from the Serbian city Belgrade. The suffix “chik” in the today’s name-Belogradchik is of Turkish origin.
Today Belogradchik is a centre of a municipality with about 5 800 people.