Provadiya

Infobox Settlement
official_name = PAGENAME
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = BUL
subdivision_type1 = Provinces
(Oblast)
timezone=EET
utc_offset=+2
timezone_DST=EEST
utc_offset_DST=+3
map_caption = Location of Provadiya
pushpin_

pushpin_label_position =
pushpin_map_caption =Location of Provadiya
pushpin_mapsize =
leader_title =Mayor
postal_code_type =Postal Code

native_name = Провадия
image_shield =
| subdivision_name1 = Varna
population_total = 16718|population_footnotes=
population_as_of = 2005-09-13
elevation_m = 56
postal_code = 9200
area_code = 0518
blank_info = B|blank_name= License plate
latd=43|latm=11|lats=|latNS=N|longd=27|longm=26|longs=|longEW=E|leader_name = Georgi Yanev

Provadiya ( _bg. Провадия) is a town in northeastern Bulgaria, part of Varna Province, located in a deep karst gorge along the Provadiya River not far from the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. Provadiya served as a customs point since ancient times. It is well known for salty mineral waters, its mild climate and a total of 70 km of caves in the surrounding mountain walls. It can be reached by train from Sofia or Varna and there are also hourly buses from and to Varna, and a sophisticated road system.

Historical names of the medieval fortress, the ruins of which have been preserved until today, include "Provat" (Byzantine Greek), "Ovech" (Овеч, Bulgarian), "Provanto" (Italian) and "Pravadi" (Ottoman Turkish). The Greek name and its adaptations stem from the word πρόβατο, "provato", "sheep", and the medieval Bulgarian name corresponds directly (being derived from овца, "ovtsa", with the same meaning). The fortress is open for visitors.

During the Middle Ages the town was a key centre of the First Bulgarian Empire with an important monastery at the modern village of Ravna, the church of which was consecrated on 23 April 897, and a major scriptorium of the Preslav Literary School. The rebel leader and subsequently emperor of Bulgaria Ivailo defeated a 10,000-strong Byzantine army near the city in 1279. During the Second Bulgarian Empire it was the seat of a metropolitan in the 14th century. Ovech was captured by the Ottomans in 1388 after a long siege.

In the 17th and 18th century Provadiya was a commercial centre of the Ottoman Empire and was inhabited by many Jewish and Ragusan merchants. A 16th-17th-century Dubrovnik-style church still stands in the nearby village of Dobrina.

South of Provadiya lies the largest rock salt mine in Bulgaria, which is believed to be virtually inexhaustible with a salt bed of up to 3900 m, and has been sporadically exploited for some 7500 years; now it is part of Solvay Sodi AD in Devnya under the name Provadsol AD. Some of the exhausted vaults are used for the storage of natural gas. Provadiya is an important hub on both the Druzhba Gas Pipeline and the future South Stream. The town has a certain potential as a spa centre; its saline mineral water is allegedly similar in composition to the one at Karlovy Vary.

Places of interest include the Lambova Kashta ethnographical complex and ethnographical collections in Dobrina and Manastir villages, as well as cave monasteries and the ruins of the 9-10th-century Ravna Monastery, one of the most important centres of the Preslav Literary School, dubbed "language laboratory" by Umberto Eco for its graffiti by common folks in several languages and alphabets.

Provadiya Hook in Greenwich Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named for Provadiya.

The current mayor of the town is Georgi Yanev elected in November 2007.

Municipality

Provadiya is the seat of Provadiya municipality (part of Varna Province), which also includes the following 24 villages:GR|Bulgaria

Honour

Provadiya Hook on Greenwich Island, South Shetland Islands is named after Provadiya.

References

*

External links

* [http://www.provadia.bg/ Official page (in Bulgarian)]