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Top Attractions in Vidin Province

Magura Cave

The Magura Cave is located in north-western Bulgaria close to the village of Rabisha, 18 kilometres from the town of Belogradchik in Vidin Province. The total length of the 15-million-year-old cave is 2.5 km . The largest inland lake in the country, Rabisha Lake, is located in the vicinity of the cave and the whole region has been declared a natural landmark. Thanks to its prehistoric paintings, Magura is, with Grotta dei Cervithe most important and extended European post-Palaeolithic painted cave. Bones from different prehistoric species like cave bear or cave hyena have been discovered in the Magura Cave. Cave paintings dating from the late Neolithic, Epipaleolithic and early Bronze Age decorate some of the caves walls. The drawings may represent religious ceremonies, deities and hunting scenes, and are unique for the Balkan peninsula. One grouping from the late Neolithic has been interpreted as a solar calendar, the earliest such representation yet discovered in Europe. The medium used to create the art was bat guano. More than 750 images have been identified. Painted signs can be organised into four thematic groups: anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, geometric, and symbolic figures. For the first group, we may cite bitriangular silhouettes with raised rounded arms – sometimes stylised like a “bottle opener” –, archers, ithyfallic figures, copula, linear schematic anthropomorphic figures with raised arms – sometimes like dancing – and “fungiforms”. Regarding zoomorpic items, it is possible to list caprids, bovids, dogs, “ostrich-like” animals and schematic linear quadrupeds. Geometric signs show T-shaped figures, vertical parallel lines, horizontal zigzags, vertical parallel zigzags, branch-like or tree-like figures, chessboard patterns, rhombi, horizontal stair-like patterns, crossed networks, honeycomb networks and crossed circles. Few rayed circle figures, mainly the two unica of the so-called calendar scene, likely represent a sun depiction. Taking count of some associated figures, it is possible to recognise dancing, hunting, and mating scenes. In the so-called Cult Hall a large horizontal dance and hunting scene is depicted, arranged in two main rows: these are the best known and most reproduced Magura Cave images. Access to the area of the paintings is restricted in an effort to preserve them. In 1984 the site was placed on the Tentative List for consideration as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The cave is very wide – concerts are held inside for Christmas and Easter – and does not cause any feeling of claustrophobia nor, on the contrary, of vertigo. The main gallery is composed of six chambers, variously sized; the largest one, the so-called Arc Hall, is 128 m long, 58 large and 21 m high; along the way, you can admire impressive vaults, stalactites and stalagmites, named as The Poplar, The Pipe Organ, The Oriental City and The Cactus. The inner temperature is constantly 11-12 °C. During 1974-75 summers the cave was utilised for speleotherapy and asthma treatment, with highly successful results, by doctor Vassil Dimitrov. Thirty patients slept in the cave for twelve consecutive nights, taking advantage of allergens absence, constant humidity and temperature. A part of the cave is now used for ageing sparkling and red wines, labelled Magura, thanks to conditions similar to those of the French Champagne cellars. Guided visits are well conducted by the staff of Belogradchik municipality, to which the management of the cave was transferred in 2012 by the Bulgarian Council of Ministers

Baba Vida

Baba Vida is a medieval fortress in Vidin in northwestern Bulgaria and the towns primary landmark. It consists of two fundamental walls and four towers and is said to be the only entirely preserved medieval castle in the country. Baba Vida is situated at an altitude of 39 m. The construction of the fortress began in the 10th century at the place of an Ancient Roman watchtower. The building of Baba Vida is tied to a legend, according to which a Danubian Bulgarian king who ruled at Vidin had three daughters: Vida, Kula and Gamza. Prior to his death, he divided his realm among the three. Vida, the eldest, was given Vidin and the lands north to the Carpathians, Kula was awarded Zaječar and the Timok Valley, and Gamza was to rule the lands west up to the Morava. Although Gamza and Kula married to drunkard and warlike nobles, Vida remained unmarried and built the fortress in her city. The name of the castle means "Granny Vida". Baba Vida served as Vidins main defensive installation during the course of the Middle Ages and acted as the most important fortress of northwestern Bulgaria. The Baba Vida stronghold stood an eight-month-long siege by Byzantine forces led by Basil II, but was destroyed and once again erected during the rule of Ivan Stratsimir, as whose capital it served. Between 1365 and 1369, the fortress was in Hungarian hands. Vidin was suddenly attacked by the forces of Louis I of Hungary, but it took several months to conquer Baba Vida. In 1369, Ivan Sratsimir managed to regain control of his capital, albeit having to remain under Hungarian overlordship. In 1388, the Ottomans invaded Sratsimirs lands and forced him to become their vassal. In 1396, he joined an anti-Ottoman crusade led by the King of Hungary, Sigismund, placing his resources at the crusaders disposal. The crusade ended in the disastrous Battle of Nicopolis at Nikopol, Bulgaria, with the Ottomans capturing most of Sratsimirs domains shortly thereafter, in 1397. The fortress played a role during the Ottoman rule of Bulgaria, serving as a weapon warehouse and a prison, also as residence for Osman Pazvantoğlu, as it has been no longer used for defensive purposes since the end of the 18th century. Today, Baba Vida is a fortress-museum, where finds and intelligence about its history are kept. Being a popular tourist attraction, the fortress has been restored to its former appearance.

Belogradchik Fortress

The Belogradchik Fortress, also known as Kaleto, is an ancient fortress located on the north slopes of the Balkan Mountains, close to the northwestern Bulgarian town of Belogradchik and is the towns primary cultural and historical tourist attraction, drawing, together with the Belogradchik Rocks, the main flow of tourists into the region. It is one of the best-preserved strongholds in Bulgaria and a cultural monument of national importance. The fortresss walls are over 2 metres thick in the foundation and reaching up to 12 m in height. Three separate fortified yards exist that are connected with each other through gates. The fortress has a total area of 10,210 square metres . The Belogradchik Fortress was reconstructed to later become a proclaimed cultural monument. It is managed by the local historical museum authority.

Albotin Monastery

Albotin Monastery is a presently inactive Bulgarian medieval cave monastery on the territory of Kula bishopric of Vidin Diocese of Bulgarian Orthodox Church, in the locality Albotin along river Topolovets between villages Gradets and Rabrovo, nearby village Deleyna. The monastery complex was built in the limestone rock massif on the northern side of the river, on some 25 metres height, using shallow natural caves and rock sheds, with additionally hewn premises and niches with religious and every-day purposes. The monastery is reached by a steep and narrow sandy pathway in the beginning of which was constructed a water tap, known as Haiduk cheshma. Being easily accessible, in later times the cave monastery was used by shepherds and stone-cutters as a shelter, and robbed and vandalized by treasure-hunters. Albotin monastery was active in the 14th century according to the account of the preserved fragments of frescoes and inscriptions, as well as adornments found in the 29 discovered Christian graves. The large number of burials of laity among the clergymen is an evidence that the monastery was a reputable sanctuary and a desired place for the eternal peace of its donors. Among the scarce historic records, it is noteworthy the mentioning of the nowadays non-existent village Altovin in a registry of Vidin kaaza from year 1560. The monastery complex consists of eight premises in a row, with the church located in the middle sector, in the most concave part of the rock massif curve. The church contains three naves and is oriented according to the canon from west to east, its southern and southwestern parts being fully devastated. The presence of a baptisterium bespeaks of the temple being used not only for monastic praying but also for public liturgies. In the north-western of the monastery, there is a second floor, containing the second largest premise of the monastery, which was presumably used for a refectory. In the western part of the monastery other cloiser premises were located: the monks cells, kitchen, cellar, store-rooms. Two water tanks can also be seen. The name of the monastery church is unknown, but there are suppositions that it was devoted to the Resurrection of Jesus, due to the preserved old tradition of playing chain dances in the memory of the deceased on the second day of Easter. This custom is widely observed by Vlachs who hang the portraits of their dead relatives on the branches of a venerable tree in the meadow under the monastery. Each of the chain dances played before noon-time is devoted to a separate dead man, and the afternoon dances are devoted to the living people. Bulgarians and Vlachs pick up dictamnus and hand out a sprig per each deceased relative. The Albotin cave monastery was announced monument of culture in the Bulgarian state gazette on 28 December 1927, Issue 221, and on 26 December 1969, Issue 100.

Vrav

Vrav is a village in northwestern Bulgaria, part of Bregovo municipality, Vidin Province. Located on the right bank of the Danube at the place where the Timok River empties into it, Vrav is the northernmost populated place in Bulgaria and the first Bulgarian port along the Danube's course. The village has a Romanian population and lies 30 kilometres from the provincial capital Vidin and 12 kilometres from Bregovo. As of 2008, the village has a population of 423. and the mayor is Sofroni Nikov. Vrav is situated at 44°11′N 22°44′E, at an elevation of 42 metres above mean sea level. Vrav lies opposite the Romanian village Gârla Mare in Mehedinţi County, to which the residents of Vrav are related through kinship ties. The area is known for its characteristic horo dance. The locals are part of the ethnographic group of the "wet Vlachs" (мокри власи, mokri vlasi), known as such because they live at the confluence of the Timok and the Danube, to contrast them with the "bushy Vlachs" of the mountains to the southwest along the Serbian border. The population is Eastern Orthodox and speaks an old Romanian dialect or "Vlach language" alongside Bulgarian. According to some researchers, the Vlachs came to those areas in the 18th century. They declare themselves to be Bulgarians, however, as the 2001 census recorded only 155 Vlachs and 16 Romanians in the entire Vidin Province. There are some Ancient Roman ruins near the village, presumably part of the Danubian limes: to the west was the Roman post of Dorticum and to the east was what the locals call chetate (cetate, "fortress"). Vrav already existed in the early 18th century, as it was marked on Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli's map of the area of 1711. According to semi-legendary evidence, the village was founded by seven refugee families from the Banat, with the remainder of the population coming from the surrounding Vlach villages in Serbia and Romania. Its old name was Kosheritse, but as the locals moved it to a hilltop, they changed the name accordingly. In 1900, the village had a population of 1,974 and in 1926: 2,178.
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