Balchik
Encyclopedia
Balchik is a Black Sea coastal
town
and seaside resort
in the Southern Dobruja
area of northeastern Bulgaria
. It is located in Dobrich Oblast
and is 42 km northeast of Varna
. The town sprawls scenically along hilly terraces descending from the Dobruja
plateau to the sea.
Founded as a Thracian settlement, it was later colonised by the Ionian
ancient Greek
s with the name Krounoi (renamed as Dionysopolis, after the discovery of a statue of Dionysus
in the sea). Later became a Greek
-Byzantine
and Bulgarian
fortress. Under the Ottoman Empire
, the town came to be known with its present name, which perhaps derived from a Gagauz
word meaning "small town". Another opinion is that its actual name derived from Balik's name.
After the liberation of Bulgaria
in 1878, Balchik developed as centre of a rich agricultural region, wheat-exporting port, and district (okoliya) town, and later, as a major tourist destination with the beachfront resort of Albena
to its south. The ethnic composition gradually changed from mostly Gagauz and Tatar/Turkish
to predominantly Bulgarian. According to an estimate by Bulgarian historian Rayna Gavrilova the Bulgarian population before 1878 was only around 10%. Currently the municipality (the town plus 22 villages) is 69.2% Bulgarian, 16.2% Turkish minority and 12.3% Romani. An Ottoman
mosque remains to serve the Muslim minority.
After the Second Balkan War, in 1913, the town, styled Balcic, became part of the Kingdom of Romania. It was regained by Bulgaria during World War I (1916–1919), but Romania restored its authority when hostilities in the region ceased. In 1940, just before the outbreak of World War II in the region, Balchik was ceded by Romania to Bulgaria by the terms of the Craiova Treaty.
During Romania
's administration, the Balchik Palace
was the favourite summer residence of Queen Marie
of Romania and her immediate family. The town is the site of Marie's Oriental villa, the place where her heart was kept, in accordance with her last wishes, until 1940 (when the Treaty of Craiova
awarded the region back to Bulgaria). It was then moved to Bran Castle
, in central Romania. Today, the Balchik Palace and the adjacent Balchik Botanical Garden are the town's most popular landmarks. Currently, three 18-hole golf
courses are being developed around town, two designed by Gary Player
and one by Ian Woosnam
.
During the inter-war period, Balchik was also a favourite destination for Romanian avant-garde painters, lending his name to an informal school of post-impressionist painters - the Balchik School of Painting - which is central in the development of Romanian 20th century painting. Many works of the artists composing the group depict the town's houses and the exotic Tatar inhabitants, as well as the sea.
Bulgarian Black Sea Coast
The Bulgarian Black Sea Coast covers the entire eastern bound of Bulgaria stretching from the Romanian Black Sea resorts in the north to European Turkey in the south, along 378 km of coastline. White and golden sandy beaches occupy approximately 130 km of the 378 km long coast...
town
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
and seaside resort
Seaside resort
A seaside resort is a resort, or resort town, located on the coast. Where a beach is the primary focus for tourists, it may be called a beach resort.- Overview :...
in the Southern Dobruja
Southern Dobruja
Southern Dobruja is an area of north-eastern Bulgaria comprising the administrative districts named for its two principal cities of Dobrich and Silistra...
area of northeastern Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
. It is located in Dobrich Oblast
Oblast
Oblast is a type of administrative division in Slavic countries, including some countries of the former Soviet Union. The word "oblast" is a loanword in English, but it is nevertheless often translated as "area", "zone", "province", or "region"...
and is 42 km northeast of Varna
Varna
Varna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, with a population of 334,870 inhabitants according to Census 2011...
. The town sprawls scenically along hilly terraces descending from the Dobruja
Dobruja
Dobruja is a historical region shared by Bulgaria and Romania, located between the lower Danube river and the Black Sea, including the Danube Delta, Romanian coast and the northernmost part of the Bulgarian coast...
plateau to the sea.
History
Ionians
The Ionians were one of the four major tribes into which the Classical Greeks considered the population of Hellenes to have been divided...
ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
s with the name Krounoi (renamed as Dionysopolis, after the discovery of a statue of Dionysus
Dionysus
Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...
in the sea). Later became a Greek
Hellenistic Greece
In the context of Ancient Greek art, architecture, and culture, Hellenistic Greece corresponds to the period between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the annexation of the classical Greek heartlands by Rome in 146 BC...
-Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
and Bulgarian
Bulgarian Empire
Bulgarian Empire is a term used to describe two periods in the medieval history of Bulgaria, during which it acted as a key regional power in Europe in general and in Southeastern Europe in particular, rivalling Byzantium...
fortress. Under the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, the town came to be known with its present name, which perhaps derived from a Gagauz
Gagauz language
The Gagauz language is a Turkic language, spoken by the Gagauz people, and the official language of Gagauzia, Moldova. There are two dialects, Bulgar Gagauzi and Maritime Gagauzi. This is a different language from Balkan Gagauz Turkish....
word meaning "small town". Another opinion is that its actual name derived from Balik's name.
After the liberation of Bulgaria
Liberation of Bulgaria
In Bulgarian historiography, the term Liberation of Bulgaria is used to denote the events of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 that led to the re-establishment of Bulgarian state with the Treaty of San Stefano of March 3, 1878, after the complete conquest of the Second Bulgarian Empire, which...
in 1878, Balchik developed as centre of a rich agricultural region, wheat-exporting port, and district (okoliya) town, and later, as a major tourist destination with the beachfront resort of Albena
Albena
Albena is a major Black Sea resort in northeastern Bulgaria, situated 12 km from Balchik and 30 km from Varna. Albena is served by the international airport of Varna....
to its south. The ethnic composition gradually changed from mostly Gagauz and Tatar/Turkish
Turkish people
Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
to predominantly Bulgarian. According to an estimate by Bulgarian historian Rayna Gavrilova the Bulgarian population before 1878 was only around 10%. Currently the municipality (the town plus 22 villages) is 69.2% Bulgarian, 16.2% Turkish minority and 12.3% Romani. An Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
mosque remains to serve the Muslim minority.
After the Second Balkan War, in 1913, the town, styled Balcic, became part of the Kingdom of Romania. It was regained by Bulgaria during World War I (1916–1919), but Romania restored its authority when hostilities in the region ceased. In 1940, just before the outbreak of World War II in the region, Balchik was ceded by Romania to Bulgaria by the terms of the Craiova Treaty.
During Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
's administration, the Balchik Palace
Balchik Palace
The Balchik Palace is a palace in the Bulgarian Black Sea town and resort of Balchik in Southern Dobruja. The official name of the palace was the Quiet Nest Palace. It was constructed between 1926 and 1937, during the Romanian control of the region, for the needs of Queen Marie of Romania...
was the favourite summer residence of Queen Marie
Marie of Edinburgh
Marie of Romania was Queen consort of Romania from 1914 to 1927, as the wife of Ferdinand I of Romania.-Early life:...
of Romania and her immediate family. The town is the site of Marie's Oriental villa, the place where her heart was kept, in accordance with her last wishes, until 1940 (when the Treaty of Craiova
Treaty of Craiova
The Treaty of Craiova was signed on 7 September 1940 between the Kingdom of Bulgaria and the Kingdom of Romania. Under the terms of this treaty, Romania returned the southern part of Dobruja to Bulgaria and agreed to participate in organizing a population exchange...
awarded the region back to Bulgaria). It was then moved to Bran Castle
Bran Castle
Bran Castle , situated near Bran and in the immediate vicinity of Braşov, is a national monument and landmark in Romania. The fortress is situated on the border between Transylvania and Wallachia, on DN73...
, in central Romania. Today, the Balchik Palace and the adjacent Balchik Botanical Garden are the town's most popular landmarks. Currently, three 18-hole golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
courses are being developed around town, two designed by Gary Player
Gary Player
Gary Player DMS; OIG is a South African professional golfer. With his nine major championship victories, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of golf. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974. Player has won 165 tournaments on six continents over six...
and one by Ian Woosnam
Ian Woosnam
Ian Harold Woosnam OBE is a Welsh professional golfer.Nicknamed 'Woosie', 'Woosers', or the 'Wee Welshman', Woosnam was one of the "Big Five" generation of European golfers, all born within 12 months of one another, all of whom have won majors, and made Europe competitive in the Ryder Cup...
.
During the inter-war period, Balchik was also a favourite destination for Romanian avant-garde painters, lending his name to an informal school of post-impressionist painters - the Balchik School of Painting - which is central in the development of Romanian 20th century painting. Many works of the artists composing the group depict the town's houses and the exotic Tatar inhabitants, as well as the sea.
Trivia
- Francis Ford CoppolaFrancis Ford CoppolaFrancis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
spent 11 days at the Balchik palace shooting scenes of Youth Without Youth. - Balchik RidgeBalchik RidgeBalchik Ridge is a 1.3 km long narrow ridge in Tangra Mountains on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica with a highest point of 550m. The ridge adjoins the col linking Silistra Knoll and Peshev Ridge and surmounts Boyana Glacier to the southwest, south and east...
, in Antarctica, is named after the town. - The currently unused Balchik AirfieldBalchik AirfieldBalchik Airfield is an airfield in Balchik, Bulgaria. It is considered a "certified airfield" by the Bulgarian Civil Aviation Administration.-External links:*...
is envisaged to be prepared for low-cost airlines, especially from Russia .
See also
- Decree of DionysopolisDecree of DionysopolisThe Decree of Dionysopolis was written around 48 BC by the citizens of Dionysopolis to Akornion, who traveled far away in a diplomatic mission to meet somebody's farther in Argedauon...
- Balchik PalaceBalchik PalaceThe Balchik Palace is a palace in the Bulgarian Black Sea town and resort of Balchik in Southern Dobruja. The official name of the palace was the Quiet Nest Palace. It was constructed between 1926 and 1937, during the Romanian control of the region, for the needs of Queen Marie of Romania...
- AlbenaAlbenaAlbena is a major Black Sea resort in northeastern Bulgaria, situated 12 km from Balchik and 30 km from Varna. Albena is served by the international airport of Varna....
- Bulgarian Black Sea CoastBulgarian Black Sea CoastThe Bulgarian Black Sea Coast covers the entire eastern bound of Bulgaria stretching from the Romanian Black Sea resorts in the north to European Turkey in the south, along 378 km of coastline. White and golden sandy beaches occupy approximately 130 km of the 378 km long coast...
- Dobrich ProvinceDobrich ProvinceDobrich Province is a province in northeastern Bulgaria, part of Southern Dobruja geographical region. It is divided into 8 municipalities with a total population, as of December 2009, of 199,705 inhabitants.-Municipalities:...
External links
- Balchik.com - Hotels, Restaurants, News, Events and Properties
- - Online catalog of Balchik
- Balchik Photos
- Ancient coinage from Dionysopolis
- Searchable Greek Inscriptions at The Packard Humanities Institute (PHI) - Segment from Decree of Dionysopolis reviewed in Inscriptiones graecae in Bulgaria repertae by Georgi Mihailov
- Quiet Nest Palace
- International Art Forum - WithoutBorders - The Palace - Balchik
- In The Palace International Short Film Festival, Balchik