The BIAF Airshow is held every two years on the Krumovo airbase and is one of the biggest airshows in the Balkans. The town was a fort of the independent local Thracian tribe Bessi. The Oxford Classical Dictionary by Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth, Римски и ранновизантийски градове в България, p. 183. Industry has been the sole leader in attracting investment. Bulgarian's are proud of their winemaking heritage. Almost every house in the Old Town has its characteristic exterior and interior decoration. [44] In 183 BCE, Philip V of Macedon conquered the city, but shortly after, the Thracians re-conquered it. [72] Raymond Detrez has suggested that when the Gudilas and Langeris claimed to be Greek it was more in the sense of "Romei than Ellines, in a cultural rather than an ethnic sense". Some of the larger parks include the Botanical garden, Beli Brezi, Ribnitsa, and Lauta. [61] Before and after the Rus' massacre, the city was settled by Paulician heretics transported from Syria and Armenia to serve as military settlers on the European frontier with Bulgaria. '��Շ���2� v���v�@�ls^~�̣0�֮5 �$����X88G=��@�T�?Oӆ��{lZ��R���;��\ D�#��ˆ�����a&W�6.g��p:d��Q��Ƃ���^`9����)ٗ�����ҏ�m�6]���4lY�eX( N��3��>���QnBA��([#�ҟ�y!���\V�_�}`�p^��������C�~��P�\.ֻš������e�4Ž]����ʆ��� w�B�u�s�G�6�{zd���*���/t��Y7��̓nR�b`��b����W�Od+k"�J��ߤFY�gG�Dt�ˁLeɔ�p�3/��1�'rۈw��l5;j�P�QM0%+M�mv$��IFYż�WOJ��^;��k���#:�>G�Kh�KU�a��_S�~��ʹc���q9�a�Z���◹#\%�b�e�h �ײ6�?v,NXM"���f"Q̉Lj�Z+g�=6C/Y  ��ium�Ɗ(9�v-"�wl�M$w�J� The oldest American educational institution outside the United States, the American College of Sofia, was founded in Plovdiv in 1860 and later moved to Sofia. According to the 1946 census, Plovdiv was the second largest city with 126,563 inhabitants compared to 487,000 for the capital.[75]. In the 1970s and 1980s, antique remains were excavated and the Old Town was fully restored. Refugees settled in Stanimaka. The population of all towns and villages in Plovdiv Province with 50 inhabitants or more according to census results and latest official estimates. It remained within the borders of Bulgaria until July of the same year, when it became the capital of the autonomous Ottoman region of Eastern Rumelia. There are several more modern Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, and other Protestant churches, as well as older style Apostolic churches. [114], The Plovdiv Regional Ethnographic Museum was inaugurated in 1917. Cultural institutions include a museum housing a collection of Thracian gold vessels. 2022 348,000 Christian and Muslim Bulgarians were subjected to Hellenization and Turkification respectively. In 2019 2020, the population of the city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria is - 340 638 people. Today only a small part of the ancient city has been excavated. [43] The Odrysian kingdom gradually overcame the Macedonian suzerainty, while the city was destroyed by the Celts as part of the Celtic settlement of Eastern Europe, most likely in the 270s BC. There are important road junctions to the south, southwest, and north. Rickety chairs spill out onto the cobblestone lanes, and smoky wine bars teem with literati. Mists are common in the cooler months, especially along the banks of the Maritsa. Food processing, tobacco, brewing, and textiles formed the pillars of the industrial economic shift. The Plovdiv International Fair, held annually since 1892, is the largest and oldest fair in the country and all of southeastern Europe, gathering companies from all over the world in an exhibition area of 138,000 m2 (1,485,419.64 sq ft) located on a territory of 352,000 m2 (3,788,896.47 sq ft) on the northern banks of the Maristsa river. Gjuzelev, p. 130 (Gjuzelev, V., (1988) Medieval Bulgaria, Byzantine Empire, Black Sea, Venice, Genoa (Centre Culturel du Monde Byzantin). Aylyak is an untranslatable Bulgarian word, widely used to describe a certain desirable state of mind. The city, a junction on the Belgrade–Sofia–Istanbul rail line, is a food-processing centre with diversified industries, including the manufacture of nonferrous metals, machinery parts, textiles, carpets, and fertilizers. The city has more than 200 archaeological sites,[101] 30 of which are of national importance. As of the 1887 census, Plovdiv was the largest city in the country for several years with 33,032 inhabitants compared to 30,428 for Sofia. The Roman forum dates from the reign of Vespasian in the 1st century and was finished in the 2nd century. [5] The city will co-host the event with Matera and another city (yet to be decided). According to some information, by 1300 Philippopolis was a possession of Theodore Svetoslav of Bulgaria. Plovdiv served as a sanjak centre within Rumelia between 1443 and 1593, the sanjak centre in Silistra Eyalet between 1593 and 1826, the sanjak centre in Eyalet of Adrianople between 1826 and 1867, and the sanjak centre of Edirne Vilayet between 1867 and 1878. Kendrisia (Greek: ΚΕΝΔΡΕΙϹΕΙΑ) was an old name of the city. Hisar gate with the ethnographical museum. In 1944 the city was bombed by the British-American coalition. Join us on a 12-month journey to see them all, 15 ancient ruins you might not know about yet. The Detska Kitka Choir is one of the oldest and best-known youth choirs in Bulgaria and the winner of numerous awards from international choral competitions. After the Wars for National Union (Balkan Wars and World War I), the city became home for thousands of refugees from the former Bulgarian lands in Macedonia, Western and Eastern Thrace. Due to external migration, the population declined by 9,555. The frost season ends in March. The Plovdiv Opera was established in 1953. Plovdiv's old town, with its winding cobbled streets and elegant revival-era townhouses, is perfect for a leisurely evening stroll. Commanding the heights above the old town is the ruined fortress of Nebet Tepe. The Hispanic population has reached an unprecedented, record high ahead of the 2020 election, U.S. Census Bureau data reveals. Numerous nations have left their traces on the twelve-metre-thick (39-foot) cultural layers of the city. In the spring of 1885, Zahari Stoyanov formed the Secret Bulgarian Central Revolutionary Committee in the city which actively conducted propaganda for the unification of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia.