Berkovitsa

Berkovitsa ( _bg. Берковица) is a town and ski resort in northwestern Bulgaria. It is located in Montana Province and is close to the town of Varshets. Berkovitsa is situated on the northern slope of Kom Peak of the Berkovska Stara Planina Mountain along the valley of the Berkovitsa River, which is a tributary to the Barziya River, at an altitude above sea level 405 m. The town was mentioned for the first time in Ottoman documents of 1488 (see Nicoara Beldiceanu, Les actes des premiers sultans conservés dans les manuscrits turcs de la Bibliothèque Nationale a Paris, II, Paris, La Haye, 1964, p. 218, nota 2). It is the successor of an old fortified settlement on the way from Sofia to Lom.

The remains of a fortress and a church were discovered at the Kaleto elevation west of the town. The settlement was known as early as the reign of King Kaloyan, and was mentioned as a border settlement in the period of the Vidin Kingdom.

Honour

Berkovitsa Glacier on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named for Berkovitsa.

External links

* [http://www.pbase.com/ngruev/berkovitsa Nikola Gruev’s photo gallery of Berkovitsa]
* [http://www.berkovitsa.com/ Official website]
* [http://bulgaria.domino.bg/berkovitsa/ Berkovitsa at Domino.bg]