Bratsigovo

Location: Bratsigovo is located in the western Rhodopian region of Osogovsko-rhodopian area. Parts of Besaparska, Karkarski and Batashki hills are included in it.

Bratsigovo is at 420 m above the sea level. The municipality is known to have the clearest air in the Balkan Peninsula. This fact is supported by the latest NASA research made in the beginning of the 2004, for which a special notification was sent to the authorities of the municipality of Bratsigovo, supported by photos from NASA-USA. Bratsigovo is the administrative and cultural center of the municipality which is located at 420 m above sea-level.

History: The favorable climate, the abundance of forests, pastures, clear rivers and streams, fertile soils, and important road arteries have contributed to the fact that the lands of Bratsigovo municipality have been populated from hoary antiquity. There are many artifacts left from Thracians, Slavs and Bulgarians. The hills in Ravnogor have a Thracian origin. The biggest domical Thracian tomb in Bulgaria is located there. The Thracians tombs are from the early Christian church in Isperihovo. Master craftsman Ivan Dragov built the bell tower in Bratsigovo in 1885, which is the highest on the Balkan peninsula. Bratsigovo is famous with its rich cultural and historical inheritance. The High School of Architecture PGAS ‘G. Zlatkov’ continues teaching new students thus keeping the tradition of their craftsmanship alive. Undeniable is the contribution of Bratsigovo to the liberation of Bulgaria from Turkish rule as one of the centers of the April uprising – the one that attracted the attention of the European nations.

Bratsigovo is one of the centers of the Renaissance architectural school. Master craftsmen who derived from it have left many buildings – monuments of culture all over Bulgaria. The houses preserved in the Renaissance neighborhood in Bratsigovo are with high artistical value, and the old church is one of the most refined and with highest bell towers in the country.

The nature of this region has combined the beauty and majesty of the Rhodopes with fruitful fields and favorable climate conditions as well as many and unique cultural and historical monuments.