Kavarna
Encyclopedia
Kavarna is a Black Sea coastal
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 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 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...

 region 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 lies 64 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...

 and 49 km from Dobrich
Dobrich
Dobrich is a town in northeastern Bulgaria, the administrative centre of Dobrich Province. With 91,030 inhabitants, as of February 2011, Dobrich is the ninth most populated town in Bulgaria, being the centre of the historical region of Southern Dobruja...

 on the international road E87. As of December 2009, the town has a population of 11,397 inhabitants. A little yacht port, a fishing base, a spacious beach and a resort complex exist in the town. The landmark Cape Kaliakra
Kaliakra
Kaliakra is a long and narrow headland in the Southern Dobruja region of the northern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, located 12 km east of Kavarna and 60 km northeast of Varna. The coast is steep with vertical cliffs reaching 70 m down to the sea....

 is located a few kilometers to the east, as is the tony beachfront resort of Rusalka
Rusalka
In Slavic mythology, a rusalka was a female ghost, water nymph, succubus, or mermaid-like demon that dwelled in a waterway....

. 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 with villa communities and marinas are being developed nearby, two of the courses are 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 2000s, the town became famous with the annual Kaliakra Rock Fest
Kaliakra rock fest
Kaliakra Rock Fest is a Bulgarian rock/metal festival. Kaliakra Rock Fest takes place every year at the Kavarna Stadium in Kavarna. In 2010 the festival's name was changed to Kavarna Rock Fest.-2006:...

 featuring famous rock bands from around the world.

Etymology

With the Bulgarian conquest in the 7th century AD, the name Karvuna replaced the similarly-sounding ancient Greek Krounoi as the then name of the neighboring modern town of Balchik
Balchik
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 names Karvunska Hora and Principality of Karvuna were related to that town, which was also mentioned on 14th-century Italian portolan charts with the Italianized form Carbona.

The name Kavarna as referring to this city was first mentioned in the 15th century; perhaps it was a new name influenced phonetically by the preexisting names of Karvuna (which town was already known as Balchik) and Varna.

Geography

The lay of the land is flat and the seacoast of Kavarna is 42 km long. Along it there are small beaches, including an artificial one. Gore Chirakman with its almost sheer slopes towers above the seacoast. Remains of stronghold walls, moats, buildings, churches and necropolis
Necropolis
A necropolis is a large cemetery or burial ground, usually including structural tombs. The word comes from the Greek νεκρόπολις - nekropolis, literally meaning "city of the dead"...

es can be found on the flat plateau
Plateau
In geology and earth science, a plateau , also called a high plain or tableland, is an area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat terrain. A highly eroded plateau is called a dissected plateau...

. The region is rich in mineral waters.

The area around Kavarna offers opportunities for developing ecotourism and specialized tourism — examination and photography of plants, dolphins and various kinds of fish in the coastal waters. The variety of birds attracts tourists from all parts of the world and contributes to Kaliakra and Yaylata becoming one of the most preferred places in Bulgaria for the development of ornithological tourism.

Population

History

The town was founded in the 5th century BC by Ancient Greek
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...

 colonists who settled on the Chirakman Plateau in the colony Byzone (or Bizone). During the 3rd and 2nd century BC, the town played an important mediating role between the local 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...

 settlements and the Greeks. Despite being unsuitable for wharfing because of its rugged cliffs, this part of the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast
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...

 was an attractive centre due to the fact that the local people produced and traded with high quality grain.

During the second part of the 1st century BC the ancient town fell in the sea because of a disastrous earthquake. The frontal part of the Chirakman broke off and together with the richest citizens fell into the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...

's waters. According to the leader of the finished first part of the underwater archaeological expedition Kavarna 2005, Asen Salkin, the Roman town of Bizone has sunk two times in the sea. For that evidence the located form skin-divers borders of a sunk residential district of the town of Bizone in Kavarna's coast. For the presence of residential buildings the archaeologists judge by the found ashlars and parts of brick walls. The finds date from the 2nd century AD. According to the leader of the expedition this residential district has nothing in common with the disastrous earthquake from the 1st century BC. The underwater finds evidence for other phenomenon, for which the scientists express only suppositions, such as transgression and regression of the strata. It has started to transgress during the 1st century AD and this has continued to the 2nd century. It is possible that during this period the coast had risen by four metres and one day it suddenly fallen through.

During Roman times
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....

 the town was restored under the same name and quickly flourished, the settlement revived and the port brightened up.

In the 7th century AD the Slavs and Asparuh's Bulgars
Bulgars
The Bulgars were a semi-nomadic who flourished in the Pontic Steppe and the Volga basin in the 7th century.The Bulgars emerge after the collapse of the Hunnic Empire in the 5th century....

 destroyed the Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...

 town and later founded a new settlement, which entered the First Bulgarian Empire
First Bulgarian Empire
The First Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state founded in the north-eastern Balkans in c. 680 by the Bulgars, uniting with seven South Slavic tribes...

. In the late Middle Ages the settlement grew and was subject to Tatar raids; in the 14th century it became part of the Principality of Karvuna
Principality of Karvuna
The Principality of Karvuna or Despotate of Dobruja was a 14th-century quasi-independent state in the region of modern Dobruja. It emerged as a polity under the influence of the Byzantine Empire, and probably had a population composed of Bulgarians, Gagauz, Greeks, Tatars, and Vlachs.The...

, which de facto broke away from the Second Bulgarian Empire under the rule of the despots Balik and Dobrotitsa
Dobrotitsa
Dobrotitsa was a Bulgarian noble, ruler of the de facto independent Principality of Karvuna and the Kaliakra fortress from 1354 to 1379–1386....

 of the Bulgarian royal Terter dynasty. In 1397, the Ottoman Turks
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...

 nearly destroyed the city, which was abandoned but resettled again and rebuilt by the early 17th century. Its present name was documented for the first time in the early 15th century.

The town was considered an economical and cultural centre during Antiquity
Ancient history
Ancient history is the study of the written past from the beginning of recorded human history to the Early Middle Ages. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, with Cuneiform script, the oldest discovered form of coherent writing, from the protoliterate period around the 30th century BC...

 and 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...

 with rich and various remains – stronghold walls, early-Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

 basilica
Basilica
The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...

, medieval churches, and public buildings.

Notable works of art, such as coins from different historical epochs, golden adornments, a golden Thracian treasure of applications, have been found in the area. Between the 15th and 19th century the town becomes popular under the name Kavarna, as a Christian settlement and port for grain export. From that time remain a Turkish bath, a medieval necropolis, a bridge, fountains, Christian churches and many inscriptions.

During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 Kavarna's Christian inhabitants, Bulgarians and Gagauz
Gagauz
Gagauz may refer to:* Gagauz people* Gagauz language* Gagauzia...

 alike, rebelled against the bashi-bazouk
Bashi-bazouk
A bashi-bazouk or bashibazouk was an irregular soldier of the Ottoman army...

s and Circassian hordes. After the liberation the town became part of the Principality of Bulgaria
Principality of Bulgaria
The Principality of Bulgaria was a self-governing entity created as a vassal of the Ottoman Empire by the Treaty of Berlin in 1878. The preliminary treaty of San Stefano between the Russian Empire and the Porte , on March 3, had originally proposed a significantly larger Bulgarian territory: its...

.

From the beginning of 20th century Kavarna achieved a rapid progress as an economical and cultural centre. The town, styled Cavarna, went under 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...

n rule after the Second Balkan War
Second Balkan War
The Second Balkan War was a conflict which broke out when Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Serbia and Greece, on 29 June 1913. Bulgaria had a prewar agreement about the division of region of Macedonia...

 in 1913 and again after the First World War in 1919 but this was met with resistance by the local Bulgarian population and its Internal Dobrujan Revolutionary Organisation
Internal Dobrujan Revolutionary Organisation
The Internal Dobrujan Revolutionary Organisation or IDRO was a Bulgarian nationalist and revolutionary organisation active in Romanian Dobruja from 1923 to 1940...

. In 1940 the town was ceded back to Bulgaria by 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...

.

Dobruja and the Sea Display

The Dobruja and the Sea Display is a small maritime museum. It is situated in an approximately restored Turkish
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 bath, the Hamam. It was built in the beginning of the 15th century and represents a massive beehive bath from stone, situated in the beginning of the valley leading to the port, and half a kilometre apart from the town centre. Many stone anchors, amphorae and ceramics found during the underwater archaeological expeditions are exposed there. Coins from different epochs and a golden Thracian treasure can be seen in the Treasure House Hall The ancient and mediaeval colour painting expend our concepts for the ancient navigation around Dobruja's coasts.

Town Museum

The Town Museum can be found in the building of the local library. Materials, revealing the thousand-year old history of the town are displayed in its exposition. Evidence for the life of the people in the region since ancient times are represented here. A model of prehistoric cave-dwellings, many tools, guns, rifles and pistols from the War of Liberation, as well as ethnographic materials — clothing, finery, folk-style cloth, are also exhibited

Ethnographic Museum

The Ethnographic Museum represents an old house from the end of the 19th century that belonged to a rich family. Its interior reveals the customs and culture of the people inhabiting that part of the country; premises typical for Dobruja houses, tools from the culture and the daily round of the people. The building is surrounded by a garden full of mulberry trees, peonies and tulips.

Churches

There are two churches in the town both located in the town centre. The Church of Saint George
Saint George
Saint George was, according to tradition, a Roman soldier from Syria Palaestina and a priest in the Guard of Diocletian, who is venerated as a Christian martyr. In hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic , Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox...

 was built in 1836 and the Dormition of the Theotokos Church in 1860. Both churches played an important role during the 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...

 rule and after the Liberation as educational and cultural centers.

The old fountains

These were 12 spring fountains situated along the valley to the port. A part of them were destroyed and the rest were restored recently. The great amount of spring water forms a small river.

Culture

Since 2004 the town has turned in one of the centres of musical life in Bulgaria. Kavarna has been the host to several rock and roll concerts. In 2005 the most popular band to play in the town's stadium was Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...

. The other notable performers were mostly legends of German rock and heavy metal music
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

, such as Scorpions
Scorpions (band)
Scorpions are a heavy metal/hard rock band from Hannover, Germany, formed in 1965 by guitarist Rudolf Schenker, who is the band's only constant member. They are known for their 1980s rock anthem "Rock You Like a Hurricane" and many singles, such as "No One Like You", "Send Me an Angel", "Still...

, Axel Rudi Pell
Axel Rudi Pell
Axel Rudi Pell is a German guitar player, playing melodic heavy metal. He started off with the band Steeler before leaving to start his solo career in 1989 with the eponymous band Axel Rudi Pell...

, Gamma Ray
Gamma Ray (band)
Gamma Ray is a power metal band from Hamburg, northern Germany, founded and fronted by Kai Hansen after his departure from the German power metal Helloween. Hansen is the current lead vocalist, guitarist as well as the chief songwriter of Gamma Ray. The band is known as one of the most prominent...

, Masterplan and Destruction
Destruction (band)
Destruction is a German thrash metal band. They are considered one of the "three kings" of the Teutonic thrash metal scene, the others being Kreator and Sodom...

. On 27 August 2005 Accept
Accept
Accept is a German heavy metal band from the town of Solingen, originally assembled by former vocalist Udo Dirkschneider, guitarist Wolf Hoffmann and bassist Peter Baltes. Their beginnings can be traced back to the late 1960s...

, another German band, played here its last show with original lead vocalist Udo Dirkschneider
Udo Dirkschneider
Udo Dirkschneider is a German heavy metal singer who is best known as the vocalist in German heavy metal band Accept and later U.D.O.After leaving Accept in 1987, Dirkschneider formed the band U.D.O....

. There is also a mural of Whitesnake
Whitesnake
Whitesnake are an English rock band, founded in 1978 by David Coverdale after his departure from his previous band, Deep Purple. The band's early material has been compared by critics to Deep Purple, but by the mid 1980s they had moved to a more commercial hard rock style...

 singer David Coverdale
David Coverdale
David 'Jack' Coverdale is an English rock singer, most famous for his work with the his own hard rock band Whitesnake which achieved massive commercial success.-Early life:...

.
In 2006 started Kaliakra Rock Fest
Kaliakra rock fest
Kaliakra Rock Fest is a Bulgarian rock/metal festival. Kaliakra Rock Fest takes place every year at the Kavarna Stadium in Kavarna. In 2010 the festival's name was changed to Kavarna Rock Fest.-2006:...

 - A Metal festival (renamed to Kavarna Rock Fest
Kaliakra rock fest
Kaliakra Rock Fest is a Bulgarian rock/metal festival. Kaliakra Rock Fest takes place every year at the Kavarna Stadium in Kavarna. In 2010 the festival's name was changed to Kavarna Rock Fest.-2006:...

 in 2010) including many metal bands . The same year followed the tradition with concerts of more metal bands as well as some pop and dance musicians. For example, Russian pop star Filipp Kirkorov sang there in September.
In 2007, performers included Heaven and Hell
Heaven and Hell (band)
Heaven & Hell were an English and American heavy metal supergroup active from 2006 to 2010. The band was a collaboration featuring Black Sabbath members Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler along with former members Ronnie James Dio and Vinny Appice....

, John Lawton
John Lawton (musician)
John Lawton is a rock and roll and blues vocalist best known for his work with Lucifer's Friend, Uriah Heep and the Les Humphries Singers.-Biography:...

 Band, Manowar, Motörhead, Robert Plant
Robert Plant
Robert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...

, and Ronnie James Dio
Ronnie James Dio
Ronald James Padavona , better known as Ronnie James Dio, was an American heavy metal vocalist and songwriter. He performed with, amongst others, Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Heaven & Hell, and his own band Dio, which means God in Italian. Other musical projects include the collective fundraiser...

. The next year saw the return of Manowar within Kaliakra Rock Fest
Kaliakra rock fest
Kaliakra Rock Fest is a Bulgarian rock/metal festival. Kaliakra Rock Fest takes place every year at the Kavarna Stadium in Kavarna. In 2010 the festival's name was changed to Kavarna Rock Fest.-2006:...

 with a 5 hour attempt to set a world record for the longest heavy metal concert. The next two days Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...

, Slayer
Slayer
Slayer is an American thrash metal band formed in Huntington Park, California, in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King. Slayer rose to fame with their 1986 release, Reign in Blood, and is credited as one of the "Big Four" thrash metal acts, along with Metallica, Megadeth and...

 and In Flames
In Flames
In Flames is a Swedish heavy metal band from Gothenburg, formed in 1990. Since the band's inception in 1993, they have released ten studio albums and one live DVD...

 held concerts. In July 2009, Motley Crue
Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1981. The group was founded by bass guitarist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee, who were later joined by lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil...

 will be headlining the rock-fest, with Scorpions, Blind Guardian
Blind Guardian
Blind Guardian is a German power metal band formed in the mid-1980s in Krefeld, West Germany. They are often credited as one of the seminal and most influential bands in the power metal and speed metal subgenres...

 and Dream Theater
Dream Theater
Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung, and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of their studies to further concentrate on the band that would...

 also participating.

Honour

Kavarna Cove
Kavarna Cove
Kavarna Cove is a 2 km wide cove indenting for 1.2 km the south coast of Livingston Island that is entered between Elephant Point and Bond Point...

 in Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands
South Shetland Islands
The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands, lying about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, with a total area of . By the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, the Islands' sovereignty is neither recognized nor disputed by the signatories and they are free for use by any signatory for...

, Antarctica is named after Kavarna.

Trivia

1. Manowar sang the Bulgarian national anthem on their concerts in 2007 and 2008.
2. There are several apartment building in Kavarna where you can see the portraits of famous bulgarian and foreign metal singers like: Tarja Turunen
Tarja Turunen
Tarja Soile Susanna Turunen Cabuli is a Finnish singer-songwriter and composer. She is a full lyric soprano and has a vocal range of three octaves....

, Emil Trifonov (Kembalat),Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...

and many more.

External links

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