Location: Stara Zagora is located in South Bulgaria, at the slopes of Sarnena Sredna gora and the Upper Thracian plain. It is situated almost in the very centre of the country, 232 km east from Sofia, 176 km from Burgas and 186 km from Pleven.
Population: The population of Stara Zagora is 144 000 inhabitants.
History: Stara Zagora is known as a city of poets and artists, the city of the straight streets and the linden trees. The city prides itself with 8000 years of history. The favourable natural and geographic conditions in the region are the reason for the emergence of numerous pre-historic settlements since the hoary antiquity. This is evidenced by more than 100 settlement hills, which date back to the 6th – 3rd century B.C., situated on the territory of the municipality. One of them is the Bereket settlement hill – a centre of the largest pre-historic settlement in Bulgaria. The Neolithic houses in Stara Zagora are the best preserved ones and have the richest furniture in Europe, whereas the copper pit is the oldest one operated in Europe. Stara Zagora was called with many different names – Beroe, Augusta Trajana, Vereia, Irinopolis, and Eskizağra, which is a proof of its centuries' long history, since the time when the city was situated within the territories of the Roman Empire, Byzantium and the Ottoman Empire. During the Revival period, the city takes active part in the national liberation struggles. During the Russo-Turkish liberation war, Stara Zagora was completely destroyed. After the Liberation the city was planned and built up according to a strict geometric system – with straight, perpendicular streets, which makes it a unique city in Bulgaria.
Landmarks:
- Regional Museum of History: More than 100 000 original findings from different time periods are stored in the museum. Most of the items in that collection have unique value: the prehistoric, ethnographic and numismatic collection, the collection of Thracian chariots, objects made of antique bronze, antique glass, relics – related to the history of the Bulgarian nation since the Revival till modern times.
- Neolithic Dwellings: In the Neolithic Dwellings Museum one can see 2 dwellings from the new stone era together with their full set up – ovens for baking bread, manual flour mills, ceramic vessels and others. According to the description of the historical museum in Stara Zagora, the houses are from the 6th century B.C. and are the best preserved ones, with the richest set up in Europe.
- The Antique Forum Complex: The complex constitutes a square with an amphitheatre auditorium, baths and fortress walls. It is vivid evidence from the time of the Roman city of Augusta Trajana.
- Late antiquity public building with mosaics: It is located in the cash hall of the Post Office. It constitutes a large peristyle building at the south-east end of Augusta Trajana, right next to the fortress wall. The floor is covered with multi-coloured mosaic – a pictorial artistic composition, where the idea of the four seasons and the eternal cycle of life is presented through allegories and symbols.
- Defenders of Stara Zagora Memorial Complex 1877: The complex is a 50-metre monument, erected in 1977, of the historical Chadar hill, in honour of the 100th anniversary from the sanguinary battles during the liberation Russo-Turkish War, when the Bulgarian defence and the Samara flag (a relic for our people) were baptized in fire.
- Ayazmoto Park: The green streets and spacious parks and gardens constitute a valuable resource of the city. Special attention shall be given to Ayazmoto park – the favourite place of people from Stara Zagora for recreation in the open. Its name means “healing mineral spring”, where, according to the legend, Knyaz Boris I was baptized, which put the beginning of Christianity as the official religion in Bulgaria.
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