Sheynovo

Sheynovo is situated at an altitude of about 478 m in the Kazanlak Valley, part of the Sub-Balkan valleys, with the Stara Planina rising to the north. ^[5][2] Several rapid streams from the localities of Ormana, Hadzhievets and Choban Chair flow through the village, draining the southern slope of the mountain.^[6] The Koprinka Reservoir lies only a few kilometres from the village, providing opportunities for swimming and fishing.^[2] Climate is moderate continental, with mild winters and moderately warm summers, and high precipitation.^[2]

The village's lands cover an area of around 39.08 km². ^[5] It is registered under EKATTE code 83106 and uses the postal code 6144. ^[1] According to the GRAO register on 15 June 2022, its population was 1,964 inhabitants. ^[5] Sheynovo is the only settlement in Bulgaria bearing this name.^[1]

According to local tradition, the original name of the settlement was Ortukcha (Ортукча), which has been said to mean "to conquer and divide". ^[6] The Turks later called it Omuchoolu (Омучоолу), which has been interpreted as "village dressed in fine attire". After the Liberation, a 17th-century document was reportedly found in the local administration suggesting that the present name derives from the Ottoman commander Lala Şahin Pasha, who was active in the area. ^[7] A more widely accepted etymology derives the name from the Turkish words şen ("merry") and ova ("plain"), translating roughly as "merry plain", referring to the abundant vegetation and many rivers and springs in the area. The name "Sheynovo" was already recorded on Russian maps before the Liberation, alongside Shipka and Kazanlak.^[7]

The local school chronicle and the writings of the Ottoman traveller Evliya Çelebi, who visited the Stara Zagora and Kazanlak Valley regions on several occasions, place the founding of the village in 1663. ^[7] The earliest settlers were said to have been families displaced from the Rhodopes, followed by Turkish families who took advantage of the fertile plain and temperate climate at the foot of the mountain.^[7]

After 1937, the village was developed under the Bulgarian Labour Service Act (Trudova povinnost), under which every able-bodied Bulgarian citizen was required to work 10 to 15 days a year on local public-works projects. ^[7] A second floor was added to the school building between 1935 and 1936 to accommodate growing classes.^[7]

Following the fall of Pleven (29 November / 10 December 1877) during the Russo-Turkish War of Liberation, the Russian army crossed the Balkan Mountains in extremely arduous winter conditions and captured the Ottoman army of Vessil Pasha at the Sheynovo fortified camp on 28 December 1877 / 9 January 1878. ^[4] The battle resulted in the capture of the entire Central Ottoman Army (including 3 pashas, 765 officers and around 22,000 soldiers), and opened the way for the Russian advance through Thrace toward Edirne and Constantinople. ^[3] The victory at Shipka–Sheynovo was decisive for the outcome of the war, which led to the Treaty of San Stefano of 3 March 1878 and to the re-establishment of the Bulgarian state.^[8]

The walls of the Shipka Memorial on Shipka Peak bear the names of three of the major battlefields connected to the defence of the pass: Shipka, Sheynovo and Stara Zagora.^[3]

Sheynovo 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 Petya Borisova Leykova.^[5]

The Monument of Victory (Bulgarian: Pametnik na pobedata) stands on the site of the Battle of Sheynovo, in the open fields north-east of the village, where the army of Veisel Pasha was defeated and captured. ^[9] The monument forms part of the Shipka–Buzludzha National Park-Museum, established in 1956. ^[2] Each year on 9 January, the anniversary of the battle is commemorated with a gathering at the monument, with flowers, wreaths and military honours laid in memory of the Russian soldiers and Bulgarian volunteers who fell during the engagement.^[3][10]

On 14 October 2023, a soldiers' memorial honouring 115 Sheynovo natives killed in the Balkan, Inter-Allied, First and Second World wars was officially opened in the centre of the village. The project, conceived more than 17 years earlier by the late teacher Yanka Tasheva, was eventually realised by an initiative committee chaired by her grandson Yani Tashev, with the help of donations from the village.^[11][12] The names of the fallen were identified in part from a list preserved in the village church of the Annunciation, where Father Teodor had transcribed inscriptions before they were covered over during church repairs.^[12]

Within 1 km of Sheynovo lie several monuments of the Valley of the Thracian Rulers, including the Thracian tombs of Goliama Kosmatka and Mala (Small) Kosmatka. The Goliama Arsenalka burial mound, in which a Thracian temple was discovered, is also located close to the village.^[2]