Gorno Cherkovishte
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Gorno Cherkovishte
Горно Черковище | |
|---|---|
  Gorno Cherkovishte Location of Gorno Cherkovishte in Bulgaria | |
| Coordinates: 42°34′21″N 25°18′54″E / 42.57250°N 25.31500°E | |
| Country | Bulgaria |
| Province (Oblast) | Stara Zagora |
| Municipality | Kazanlak |
| Population | |
• Total | 1,438 |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
| Postal code | 6165 |
Gorno Cherkovishte (Горно Черковище) is a village in southern Bulgaria, part of Kazanlak Municipality in Stara Zagora Province. It lies on the northern slope of the Sredna Gora mountains, in the southern part of the Kazanlak Valley, approximately 12 km south of the town of Kazanlak.[1][2]
The village lies on the northern slope of the Sredna Gora in the Kazanlak Valley. The relief is hilly, with coniferous and oak forests, and the cultivated land has sandy soil. The village is reached by an asphalt road, with Kazanlak located 12 km to the north. [3] The Gyurlya river, which rises in the Sredna Gora and flows into the Koprinka Reservoir, passes through the village; the reservoir lies 1.2 km to the north-west, where it begins with an arm called Golyama Gyurlya.[3]
According to local cartographic data, the population of the village is around 1,438 inhabitants. [2] The village's altitude lies in the range of 300 to 499 m above sea level, and its lands are the largest in area within Kazanlak Municipality. [1][3] The climate is moderate continental, with a mild winter and cool summer, an average annual air temperature of around +10 °C, mean January temperatures of around -2 °C and mean July temperatures of around 22 °C; these conditions, together with the Kazanlak Valley's soils, are particularly suited to the cultivation of the oil-bearing rose.[4]
The village is registered under EKATTE code 49076 and uses the postal code 6165, and Gorno Cherkovishte is the only settlement in Bulgaria with this name.[1]
Name
The original Turkish village on the site bore the name Sünet eri (Сюнет ери), derived from the medieval Muslim circumcision ritual (sünnet); under Bulgarian influence the name evolved into Sünetleri, then Simitleri (which in Turkish denotes simit bread). After the construction of the new church in the upper part of the village, the locality became known as Gorno Cherkovishte ("Upper Church-Place"). The settlement bore this name until the establishment of communist rule in Bulgaria in 1944, after which it was renamed Morozovo (Морозово), variously identified with the Soviet boy Pavlik Morozov or with the local partisan commander Srebri Babanov Morozov. After 1989 the name Gorno Cherkovishte was restored.[4]
Administration
Gorno Cherkovishte is an independent kmetstvo (mayoralty) within Kazanlak Municipality, comprising only the village itself. [1] The mayor's office is registered in the Bulgarian administrative register as a town hall under Kazanlak Municipality, headed by mayor Maria Matanova.[5]
History
The site of present-day Gorno Cherkovishte was originally a medieval Turkish village called Sünet eri, populated entirely by Turks. The first Bulgarians to settle in the area arrived from the east, along the courses of the Gyurlya and Sinyata rivers, and a Bulgarian quarter gradually formed east of the Turkish settlement. Near the river stood an old monastery with male and female cells, which housed the church of St. John the Baptist, built in 1858. [4] Because the monastery was repeatedly flooded by the spring rises of the Gyurlya, the villagers built a new church, dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel, in the upper part of the village in 1884; its frescoes are by Petko Ganin of Kazanlak. The church bell, considered one of the most melodious in Bulgaria, was cast in Russia and brought from Kazanlak railway station by ox-cart. [4]
About 5 km south-west of Gorno Cherkovishte once lay a village called Kanlăeri, inhabited by Qizilbash Muslims; after the Liberation of Bulgaria from Ottoman rule, its inhabitants began emigrating to Turkey, with the last group leaving in 1928, and their property was acquired by the residents of Gorno Cherkovishte.[4]
In the 1930s, the village had around 2,500 inhabitants, a community cultural centre (chitalishte), a credit and consumer cooperative called "Gyurlya", and a lower secondary school with first and second classes; it was at that time among the eight largest settlements in the Kazanlak district.[6][3]
Education
The village is home to the primary school "Sv. Kliment Ohridski", built in 1850, and the kindergarten "Detelina". In the schoolyard stands a soldiers' monument honouring 136 soldiers and officers from Gorno Cherkovishte who fell in the Balkan, Inter-Allied and First World wars, fighting in the ranks of the 23rd Shipka Infantry Regiment.[3]
Culture
The community cultural centre (chitalishte) of the village is named "Otets Paisii-1905" ("Father Paisii") and was founded in 1905. It has been awarded the order of "Saints Cyril and Methodius" first class, and a gold medal at the V Republican Festival of Amateur Art, among other distinctions. The chitalishte hosts a women's singing group, a children's dance formation "Char", a group for artistic recitation, a satirical company, and groups performing the traditional lazarki and rose-pickers' rituals. [7]
The largest event organised by the chitalishte is the annual "Rose-picking in Gorno Cherkovishte" festival, held in early June, when the village's rose gardens fill with visitors from across Bulgaria and abroad. The chitalishte also takes part in the Rose Festival of Kazanlak, sending decorated horse-drawn carts and rose-pickers who throw rose petals during the carnival procession.[7]
Recent events
2021 flooding
In January 2021, the Gyurlya river overflowed its banks during heavy rain, breaking a bridge linking the two parts of the village; three pedestrian bridges in the village were closed to traffic as compromised and dangerous, leaving only the central concrete bridge in service. The river spilled out of its bed for tens of metres at one end of the village, an event that local residents described as terrifying. [8]
