- Etropole
Etropole (Етрополе) is a town in western
Bulgaria , part ofSofia Province . It is located close to the northern slopes of theBalkan Mountains in the valley of the MalkiIskar 80 km fromSofia .History
The area was first settled by the Thracian tribe of the
Triballi in the 7th-6th century BC due to its position as an important crossroad connecting theDanube with Macedonia andThrace close to two key Balkan passes. The forces ofPhilip II of Macedon (339 BC),Alexander the Great (335 BC), theCelts and theRoman legion s passed through the valley in the Antiquity. The region developed as a centre of trade and economy, as evidenced by findings ofMacedon ian and Greek coins, Greek ceramics, luxurious items and decorations.The ore ledges brought Saxon miners to the town in the 16th century. They introduced the "samokov" hammer technology and helped for the area's establishment as a centre of craftsmanship and mining, with
gold ,copper ,silver andiron being extracted in the 16th and 17th century. Handicrafts such as iron-, gold- and coppersmithing and cutlery prospered. The economic upsurge of the settlement aided the development of culture and education in the nearbyEtropole Monastery in the period, where biblical andliturgical book s were copied in a specific original calligraphic style, of which 76 hand-written volumes were preserved.A monastery school was established in 1613 and a public one (yet still monastery) followed in 1811. One of the first school buildings in Bulgaria was constructed in 1828-1830 by merchants and rich craftsmen from Etropole. A revolutionary committee part of
Vasil Levski 'sInternal Revolutionary Organization was founded in Etropole in 1870 in order to help theLiberation of Bulgaria from Ottoman rule. The town was liberated on24 November 1877 byRussia n forces underJoseph Vladimirovich Gourko during theRusso-Turkish War of 1877-78 and served as a governing centre for the 40-day winter march of the Balkan Mountains of theImperial Russian Army .Honour
Etropole Peak onLivingston Island in theSouth Shetland Islands ,Antarctica is named after Etropole.External links
* [http://www.etropole.net/ Etropole.net - Etropole In The NET !!! ]
* [http://www.pbase.com/ngruev/etropolski Nikola Gruev's gallery of Etropole Monastery]
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