Bobov Dol
Encyclopedia
Bobov Dol is a town in southwestern 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...

, part of Kyustendil Province
Kyustendil Province
-Religion:Religious adherence in the province according to 2001 census:-Language:Mother tongues in the province according to 2001 census:* 153,242 Bulgarian * 7,929 Roma  * 1363 others and unspecified -Ethnic groups:...

. Bovov Dol lies near the geographic centre of the Balkan Peninsula and is known for its coal mines and thermal power plant
Bobov Dol Power Plant
Bobov Dol Thermal Power Plant is a coal-fired power plant situated in the lands of the village Golemo Selo near the town of Bobov Dol, Kyustendil Province in western Bulgaria....

. The third-largest town in the province (after Kyustendil
Kyustendil
Kyustendil is a town in the far west of Bulgaria, the capital of Kyustendil Province, with a population of 44 416 . Kyustendil is situated in the southern part of the Kyustendil Valley, 90 km southwest of Sofia...

 and Dupnitsa), it is the administrative centre of Bobov Dol municipality.

Located in a mountainous region, it is surrounded on three sides by the mountain Konyavska Planina, with the Gologlavski Rid ridge to the north and east and the volcano-resembling peak of Kolosh to the west. To the south is the Razmetanitsa plain which reaches the valley of the Struma River
Struma River
The Struma or Strymónas is a river in Bulgaria and Greece. Its ancient name was Strymōn . Its catchment area is 10,800 km²...

. The town's name (literally "bean valley") may allude to the bean-shaped valley where the original village, now the Hristo Botev neighbourhood, is located; the name was first mentioned in 1576. To the east is the other town part of Bobov Dol, the newer Minyor neighbourhood in the Bankovitsa area which dates to 1954 and mostly consists of tower block
Tower block
A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, office tower, apartment block, or block of flats, is a tall building or structure used as a residential and/or office building...

s.

Bobov Dol was first mentioned in 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...

 tax register of 1576, although the area had been inhabited by the Thracians
Thracians
The ancient Thracians were a group of Indo-European tribes inhabiting areas including Thrace in Southeastern Europe. They spoke the Thracian language – a scarcely attested branch of the Indo-European language family...

 in antiquity and was part of the medieval Bulgarian Empire
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...

, as well as the Byzantine Empire
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...

. Although in the 1830s the geologist Ami Boué
Ami Boué
Ami Boué , Austrian geologist, was born at Hamburg, and received his early education there and in Geneva and Paris....

 visited the region and studied the local coal deposits, it was not until 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...

 that extraction began, namely in 1891. On 30 September 1967, the village of Bobov Dol was proclaimed a town. The Bobov Dol Thermal Power Plant was built between 1973 and 1975 10 kilometres from the town, at the village of Golemo Selo. During the Socialist era, Bobov Dol attracted many workers as it experienced an economic and demographic boom, with groups of workers arriving from as far as Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...

 in the 1980s.

Notable natives include football manager Georgi Vasilev
Georgi Vasilev (born 1946)
Georgi Vasilev , nicknamed Gocheto and Generala, is a former Bulgarian footballer who played as a midfielder, and a current football manager...

 (born 1946) and Minister of Finance Plamen Oresharski (born 1960). The local football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 club, PFC Minyor Bobov dol
PFC Minyor Bobov dol
PFC Minyor Bobov dol is a Bulgarian football club from the town of Bobov dol, currently playing in the Bulgarian South-West V AFG, the third division of Bulgarian football....

, plays in the second division of Bulgarian football, B PFG.

Municipality

Bobov Dol is the administrative centre of Bobov Dol municipality (part of Kyustendil Province), which includes the following 18 places:
  • Babino
  • Babinska Reka
  • Blato
  • Bobov Dol
  • Dolistovo
  • Golema Fucha
  • Golemo Selo
    Golemo Selo
    Golemo Selo is a small village located between the towns of Dupnitsa and Bobov Dol in Kyustendil Province, western Bulgaria. The village name means "big village". The population of the village is 573 inhabitants...

  • Golyam Varbovnik
  • Gorna Koznitsa
  • Korkina
  • Lokvata
  • Mala Fucha
  • Malo Selo
    Malo Selo
    Malo Selo is a village in the municipality of Glamoč, Bosnia and Herzegovina....

  • Mali Varbovnik
  • Mlamolovo
  • Novoselyane
  • Panicharevo
  • Shatrovo

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