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Top Attractions in Khaskovo Province

Ivaylovgrad

Ivaylovgrad is a town in Haskovo Province in the very south-east of Bulgaria set near the river Arda in the easternmost part of the Rhodope Mountains. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Ivaylovgrad Municipality. As of December 2009, the town has a population of 3,756 inhabitants. Byzantine eparchial lists from the time of the 9th-10th century mention a bishop's centre by the name of Lyutitsa on the site of present-day Ivaylovgrad. According to John VI Kantakouzenos , his infantry reached the fortress in 1342-1343. The settlement was destroyed by the Ottoman Turks during their invasion of the Balkans in the 14th-15th century. Information about the town during the Ottoman rule of Bulgaria is scarce, but it was the centre of a kaza under the name of Ortaköy in Edirne Province. Much of the Bulgarian population moved from the region due to organized robberies and internecine wars in the empire. Despite the Liberation of Bulgaria in 1878 and the Unification in 1886, the town remained a part of the Ottoman Empire until the Balkan Wars in 1912-1913 and suffered greatly from bashi-bazouk attacks. Landmarks in Ivaylovgrad and the surrounding area include the Ivaylovgrad Reservoir, the 2nd-3rd century Roman Villa Armira, the medieval Byzantine and Bulgarian fortress Lyutitsa, the 16th-century bridge Aterenski, as well as a number of ancient Thracian sites and 19th-century churches.

Svilengrad

Svilengrad is a town in Haskovo Province, South-central Bulgaria, situated at the border of Turkey and Greece. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Svilengrad Municipality. As of December 2009, the town has a population of 18,132 inhabitants. Svilengrad is close to the road borders of Greece and Turkey (supposedly one of the largest road customs in Europe). Svilengrad is located ESE of Sofia and Plovdiv, South of Varna and Burgas, West of Edirne and North of the nearest Greek community Ormenio and Alexandroupoli in Greece. There is a higher level of employment than in surrounding villages. Most people work for customs and border related industries e.g. TIR servicing, hotels, border police, etc. The town centre has a pedestrianized high street mostly filled with cafes, bars, phone shops and hotels. The town has 3 DVD rental shops, two cinemas and a library. The Maritsa river flows through Svilengrad. The Evros regional unit of Greece is bordered to the south. The Rhodope mountains lie to the west and southwest. The area to the southwest is famous for its fruit trees.

Thracian tomb of Aleksandrovo

The Aleksandrovo tomb is a Thracian burial mound and tomb excavated near Aleksandrovo, Haskovo Province, South-Eastern Bulgaria, dated to c. 4th century BCE. On December 17, 2000 the tomb was accidentally uncovered by an earth-moving machine. Looters subsequently entered the tomb, damaging some of its frescoes. In 2001 Bulgarian archaeologist Georgi Kitov led a rescue excavation of the tomb, discovering a round chamber of about 3 meters in diameter, accessible through a small antechamber and a tunnel, approximately 6 meters long. Both the antechamber and main chamber are decorated with well-preserved frescoes that reflect the artists knowledge of Late Classical and Early Hellenistic art. The fresco in the main chamber depicts a hunting scene where a boar is attacked by a mounted hunter and a naked man wielding a double-axe. The double-axe is interpreted as representing royal power, the naked man as representing Zalmoxis, the Thracian solar god corresponding to Zeus. A graffito in the chamber inscribed with the Thracian name Kozemases indicates either the tombs noble patron or its artist. The Thracian tomb of Alexandrovo is dated at early 4th century BC. Wall paintings exhibit the change in appearance due to Greek influence. In the wall-paintings beards, tattoos, cloaks, boots, hats, top-knots have disappeared. Greek footwear replaces their boots. The tomb may be that of Triballi. Also other changes are seen such as Thracians wearing gold or bronze torcs around their necks .

Villa Armira

Villa Armira is a 1st-century suburban Roman villa in southeastern Bulgaria, located in the proximity of Ivaylovgrad, Haskovo Province. Discovered in 1964 during reservoir construction, it is a primary historical attraction to the Ivaylovgrad area. It is classified as a monument of culture of national importance. Villa Armira lies some 4 kilometres southwest of Ivaylovgrad. It was named after the Armira River, a minor tributary of the Arda. Villa Armira, a sumptuous palace villa, is one of the largest and most richly decorated Ancient Roman villas excavated in Bulgaria. It features rich marble decoration and complex floor mosaics, some geometric and some depicting animals and plants. The villa dates to the second half of the 1st century AD and originally belonged to a noble of Roman Thrace who is thought to have been the governor of the surrounding area. The two-storey U-shaped villa spreads over 3,600 square metres amidst a garden, with an impluvium in the middle. Villa Armira had 22 separate rooms on the ground floor alone in addition to a panorama terrace. The entire ground floor was covered in elaborately decorated white marble. The villas floor mosaics display features typical of Ancient Roman art. The mosaics in the masters chamber depict the 2nd century AD owner with his two children: these are the only Roman-era mosaic portraits to be discovered in Bulgaria. A common theme in the villas decoration is the gorgon Medusa. In the 3rd century AD, Villa Armira was expanded eastward with a triclinium and a hypocaust. Villa Armira is thought to have been destroyed in the late 4th century, possibly by the Goths some time around the Battle of Adrianople of 378. Today, the 2nd-century mosaic portraits of the owner and his children can be seen in the National Historical Museum in Sofia, the ceramic findings are exhibited in the National Archaeological Museum, while copies of the marble decoration are part of the Kardzhali Regional Historical Museums fund. The villa itself, with many of the floor mosaics intact, underwent Phare-funded reconstruction and anastylosis and was opened for visitors in 2008.

Monument of the Holy Mother of God

The Monument of the Holy Mother of God is a monument in Haskovo, a city in southeastern Bulgaria. The monument is dedicated to Mary, the mother of Jesus and was unveiled in 2003. Standing at a total height of 31 metres or 102 feet, the monument has been certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the tallest statue of the Virgin Mary with the Infant Jesus in the world. However, despite certification Guinness Book of Records, this statue does not exceed height at Monument Lady of Peace in Trujillo, Venezuela. The Virgin Mary is the traditional patron saint of Haskovo. The Bulgarian National Revival-time Church of the Holy Mother of God, built from 1832 to 1837, was the first cathedral to be built in Haskovo in modern times. The feast of the Nativity of the Mother of God on 8 September has been celebrated as one of the most important holidays of that city. The earliest record of an organized celebration dates from 1896 and the feast was officially proclaimed the Day of Haskovo in 1993. Construction of the Monument of the Holy Mother of God started on the idea of mayor Georgi Ivanov, and his suggestion was unanimously approved by the Haskovo municipal council in September 2002. The required funding of 300,000 leva was secured thanks to donations by the citizens of Haskovo. 10,000 postcards were printed with the image of the future monument and were sold for 5 leva each, with the entire collected sum going for the construction. The Yamacha hill southwest of the city centre was chosen as the construction site so that the monument would be visible from the entire city even at night. The statue of the Virgin Mary installed on the monument was the work of several sculptors, including Petyo Aleksandrov and Nikola Stoyanov; the material that was used was polymer concrete. The entire monument measures 80 tonnes in weight, while the statue itself weighs 20 tonnes. The monuments pedestal includes the small Bulgarian Orthodox Chapel of the Nativity of the Mother of God, the interior of which resembles an ancient church and features a stone altar. A large Christian cross relief on the front side of the pedestal points to the chapel entrance. The Monument of the Holy Mother of God was unveiled on 8 September 2003 and consecrated by Arsenius, Metropolitan Bishop of Plovdiv. The monuments Guinness Book of World Records application was accepted and it was included in the 2004 edition of the book, as well as later editions. The monument quickly became one of the symbols of Haskovo, along with the medieval key on its coat of arms. Since 2009, it has also been included as #72 among the 100 Tourist Sites of Bulgaria. In 2010 a bell tower was constructed next to the statue of the Virgin Mary. With its height of close 30 meters, it is one of the highest bell tower on the Balkan Peninsula. 8 bells of varying sizes grace its belfry. The bell tower is open for tourists and its highest point allows a magnificent view of the town.

Mezek

Mezek is a village in southeastern Bulgaria, part of Svilengrad municipality, Haskovo Province. It lies at the foot of the eastern Rhodope Mountains, just north of the Bulgaria–Greece border and not far west of the Bulgaria–Turkey border. Mezek is famous for the well-preserved medieval Mezek Fortress and its two ancient Thracian beehive tombs, the Mezek and Sheynovets tombs. The village is also well known for its own winery and the Mezzek brand of Bulgarian wine. The Mezek Fortress, 6.5 decares in area, is claimed to be among the best preserved Bulgarian medieval castles. It dates to the 11th century. Along with the Thracian tombs, it was studied by a team under archaeologist Bogdan Filov in 1931–1932. The castle has nine towers, five of which lie at the vulnerable south wall. The Mezek Fortress was built out of stone, with two decorative lines of bricks on the outside. It suffered some destruction around 1900, when stones from the fortress were used for the construction of Ottoman barracks in Svilengrad. The Mezek Thracian tomb dates to the 4th century BC. It is a large, elongated tomb that includes a covered passage of 20.65 metres, two rectangular antechambers of different size and a round burial chamber with a stone sarcophagus. The number of burials of noble Thracians in the tomb was no less than four. Gold, silver, bronze, iron and glass items and pottery discovered in the tomb are today displayed in the National Archaeological Museum in Sofia. Mezek Peak in Imeon Range on Smith Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after Mezek.

Old Bridge

The Old Bridge or Mustafa Pasha Bridge is a 16th-century arch bridge over the Maritsa in Svilengrad, southern Bulgaria. Completed in 1529, it was built on the order of the Ottoman vizier Çoban Mustafa Pasha. The bridge was the first major work designed by the Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan, and was part of a vakıf complex that also included a caravanserai, mosque, bazaar and hamam. The bridge is 295 m long, 6 m wide and has 20 or 21 arches. The English traveler Peter Mundy crossed the bridge on 14 May 1620, by when the neighbouring town was already known as "Mustapha Pasha Cupreesee" : From Adrianople wee came to Mustapha Pasha Cupreesee, as much to say as the bridge of Must Pasha. Of this bridge it is thus reported for certaine, That Sultan Soliman the Magnificent haveing warrs with Hungary, att his Comeinge this way, saw the bridge, and demaundinge whoe caused it to be built, the afore named M.P. presented himselfe, sayeing hee did it. The Kinge then prayed him to bestowe it on him, where unto hee replyed that, in regard hee had built it for the good of his soule, it could not be given away. The Kinge, beinge discontented with this answere, would not passe over the Bridge att all, but sought a foorde a little above the said Bridge with his horses and followers; wherein passinge over there was drowned two of his owne Pages among the rest. Soe that it is a Custome to this day, when any Vizer or Basha hath occasion to passe this way on warfare, hee goeth not over the Bridge, but where the Kinge did passe. The rest of the Armie goe over the Bridge. A flood destroyed some of the arches in 1766. Reconstruction was completed in 1809. The Ottoman army unsuccessfully attempted to destroy the bridge as it retreated from a Bulgarian advance after the Battle of Lule Burgas during the First Balkan War in November 1912. At Mustapha Pasha, twenty miles in front of Adrianople, was a solid old stone bridge over the Maritza whose floods in the winter rains would be a nightmare to engineers who had to maintain a crossing with pontoons. If ever a corps needed a bridge second Bulgarian corps needed this one. They found that a small and badly placed charge of dynamite had merely knocked out a few stones between two of the buttresses, leaving the bridge intact enough for all the armies of Europe to pass over it; and the Turks did not even put a mitrailleuse behind sandbags in the streets or use field guns from the adjacent hills to delay the Bulgars in their crossing. A plaque on the bridge has inscriptions in Bulgarian, French and English. The English text reads: This bridge was built during Sultan Suleiman Hans time by his vezir Mustapha Pacha en 1529.
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