Elin Pelin previously known as Novoseltsi (Новоселци), is a town in central western 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 the administrative centre of Elin Pelin municipality, located in central Sofia Province

Sofia Province

Sofia Province is a province of Bulgaria. The province does not include Sofia in its territories, but Sofia however remains its administrative center...

. It lies in the Sofia Valley

Sofia Valley

The Sofia Valley is a valley in central western Bulgaria, bordering Stara Planina to the northeast, the Viskyar, Lyulin, Vitosha and Lozen mountains to the southwest, the Vakarel Mountain to the southeast and the low Slivnitsa Heights to the northwest....

, with the slopes of the Balkan Mountains

Balkan Mountains

The Balkan mountain range is a mountain range in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula. The Balkan range runs 560 km from the Vrashka Chuka Peak on the border between Bulgaria and eastern Serbia eastward through central Bulgaria to Cape Emine on the Black Sea...

 to the north and Sredna Gora

Sredna Gora

Sredna Gora is a mountain range in central Bulgaria, situated south of and parallel to Balkan mountain range and extending from the river Iskar to the west and the elbow of Tundzha north of Yambol to the east. Sredna Gora is 285 km long, reaching 50 km at its greatest width...

 to the south-southeast, 24 km southeast of the capital city of Sofia

Sofia

Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...

.

The number of Thracian

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...

, Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 and 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...

 artifacts and ruins in the area proves that the surroundings of Elin Pelin have been inhabited since antiquity. A Slavic

Slavic peoples

The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...

 settlement was founded in the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

 and existed until the early Ottoman rule of Bulgaria.

Elin Pelin (then Novoseltsi) became to emerge as a local cultural and trade centre during the Bulgarian National Revival

Bulgarian National Revival

The Bulgarian National Revival , sometimes called the Bulgarian Renaissance, was a period of socio-economic development and national integration among Bulgarian people under Ottoman rule...

. In 1881, 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...

, it was proclaimed the administrative centre of a district. Novoseltsi continued to grow in importance after the construction of the Sofia–Saranbey (now Septemvri

Septemvri

Septemvri is a town in Pazardzhik Province, Southern Bulgaria, located at the western end of the Upper Thracian Lowland, away to the west from the city of Pazardzhik. It is the administrative centre of homonymous Septemvri Municipality...

) railway line and the establishment of the Izida ceramic factory, the first in the country. A class school and a chitalishte

Chitalishte

A chitalishte is a typical Bulgarian public institution and building which fulfils several functions at once, such as a community centre, library and a theatre. It is also used as an educational institution, where people of all ages can enroll in foreign language, dance, music and other courses....

were founded in the late 19th century. Novoseltsi was renamed Elin Pelin in honour of the noted writer of the same name

Elin Pelin

Elin Pelin , born Dimitar Ivanov Stoyanov is arguably considered Bulgaria’s best narrator of country life.Born into a large family in the village of Baylovo near Sofia, he loved writing and reading from an early age...

 (born in the nearby village of Baylovo

Baylovo

Baylovo is a village in Western Bulgaria, 43 km east of Sofia.- Geography :Baylovo is located in the western wooded spurs of the mountain Ihtiman Sredna gora , nearly to its ridge, and south from Galabec hill land....

) in 1950 and was proclaimed a town in 1960.

The area of Elin Pelin is one of the best preserved centres of the traditional ethnocultural subgroup of the Bulgarian people, the Shopi

Shopi

Shopi is a regional term referring to people that speak a transitional dialect group of South Slavic, self-identifying as Bulgarians, Macedonians and Serbs. The areas traditionally inhabited by the Shopi is called Shopluk Shopi (scientific transliteration of Bulgarian, Macedonian, ; Serbian latin...

, including its characteristic vernacular, the white clothing and the characteristic dances, songs and humour. The Shop Holidays, a celebration of Shop culture and life, have been organized in the town since 1970.

Municipality

Elin Pelin is the administrative centre of Elin Pelin municipality, part of Sofia Province, which includes the following 19 places:

• Bogdanlia
• Churek
• Gabra
  Gabra (village)
  Gabra , is a village in Western Bulgaria, part of Elin Pelin municipality, Sofia Province. The village is located in the valley between the mountains Sredna Gora and Lozenska Planina. There is а church, a primary school and chitalishte. Near-by the village there is a small orthodox monastery called...
  
  
• Gara Elin Pelin
• Golema Rakovitsa
  Golema Rakovitsa
  Golema Rakovitsa is a village in western Bulgaria, part of Elin Pelin Municipality, Sofia Province.-Geography:Golema Rakovitsa is situated near the eastern end of the Sofia Valley, at the western foot of Sredna Gora mountain. It is located just where the Lopushina and Ravna rivers flow together to...
  
  
• Grigorevo
• Doganovo
• Eleshnitsa
• Elin Pelin
• Karapoltsi
• Krushovitsa
• Lesnovo
• Musachevo
• Novi Han
• Ognyanovo
• Petkovo
• Potop
• Ravno Pole
• Stolnik