|• Mayor||Krasimir Mirev (BSP)|
|• City||87.427 km2 (33.756 sq mi)|
|Elevation||170 m (560 ft)|
|• City||37 341|
|• Urban||56 868|
|Time zone||EET (UTC+2)|
|• Summer (DST)||EEST (UTC+3)|
It is situated at the northern foot of the low mountain of Preslav on both banks of the Vrana River. The town is 335 kilometres (208 miles) north-east of the capital Sofia and about 125 km (78 mi) west of the city of Varna and Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. Targovishte is known as an old market settlement.
Archaeological studies prove that in these places there were people in the Cooper-Stone Age (Chalcolithic) - between the 5th and the 4th millennium BC. In the city's vicinity are the remains of Thracian settlements (5th-3rd century BC), a Roman settlement (2nd-4th century AD) and a fortress from the early Byzantine period (5th-6th century). A Bulgarian settlement was founded in the 10th century during the First Bulgarian Empire, however due to its proximity to the capital Preslav, it did not develop until the 12th century. In the 12th century, due to its location on a main road from the new capital Veliko Turnovo, a fortress by the name "Сборище" (Sborishte) was built.
In the 18th and 19th centuries it became a famous market for animals and craft products called Eski Cuma ("old bazaar" in Turkish). A monastical school was opened in the 18th century and a secular one, called the Slaveykov School and situated in the old Varosha Quarter was established in 1846, with Petko Slaveykov being a teacher there; a chitalishte was also built. Industrial development began after the Second World War. Factories producing car batteries and machines for the food industry were opened; later, furniture and textile industries developed. One of Bulgaria's largest wine production factories is located there. Targovishte is home to one of the largest glass factories in Europe. The investment in the factory was $380,000,000 and employs 1,500 people.
The town is a cultural centre. In 2000, ruins of an Ancient Roman town called Missionis (Мисионис) were unearthed near Targovishte. The town art gallery named after the eminent Bulgarian arstist Nikola Marinov, who was born here, has a considerable collection of his works.
In January 2012, Targovishte was inhabited by 37 341 people within the city limits, while the Targovishte Municipality with the legally affiliated adjacent villages had 56 868 inhabitants. The number of the residents of the city (not the municipality) reached its peak in the period 1980-1990 when exceeded 45,000 with a highest rate in 1989 numbering 47,798. The following table presents the change of the population after 1887.
|Highest number 47,798 in 1989|
|Sources: National Statistical Institute, „citypopulation.de“, „pop-stat.mashke.org“, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences|
Ethnic, linguistic and religious composition
- Bulgarians: 27,825 (79.4%)
- Turks: 6,222 (17.8%)
- Gypsies: 633 (1.8%)
- Others: 138 (0.4%)
- Indefinable: 235 (0.7%)
- Undeclared: 2,558 (4.2%)
The ethnic composition of Targovishte Municipality is 33229 Bulgarians, 14883 Turks and 3902 Gypsies among others.
Targovishte is the administrative centre for the Targovishte Municipality, one of five municipalities of the Targovishte Province. In addition to Targovishte, which has the status of town (in Bulgarian: град, transliterated as grad), the municipality contains 51 other localities with the status of village (in Bulgarian: село, transliterated as selo).
The following list shows the names of localities transliterated in Latin alphabet, followed in parentheses by the name in the Bulgarian Cyrillic alphabet (which links to the corresponding Bulgarian Wikipedia article).
- Sveti Sedmochislenitsi High School
- Profesor Nikola Marinov High School
- Mitropolit Andrey High School
- Hristo Botev Comprehensive School
- P.R.Slaveykov Comprehensive School
- John Atanasov Vocational School
- Nikola Simov Vocational(Sport) School
- St. John of Rila School for children with hearing problems
Notable Natives and Residents
- Andrey, Metropolitan of New York
- Nikola Marinov (artist)
- Nikola Simov - Kuruto (revolutionary)
- 100 Kila (musician)
Twin towns – Sister cities
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to Targovishte.|
- (Bulgarian)National Statistical Institute - 2012
- (Bulgarian)Николай Мичев, Петър Коледаров. „Речник на селищата и селищните имена в България 1878-1987“, София, 1989.
- Shishedzham inauguration
- (Bulgarian)National Statistical Institute - Towns population 1956-1992
- (English) Bulgarian National Statistical Institute - Bulgarian towns in 2009
- (English) „WorldCityPopulation“
- (Bulgarian) Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
- (Bulgarian) Population on 01.02.2011 by provinces, municipalities, settlements and age; National Statistical Institute
- Population by province, municipality, settlement and ethnic identification, by 01.02.2011; Bulgarian National Statistical Institute (Bulgarian)
- Geonames Search at National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) - reference for location names
- Targovishte Municipality at Guide-Bulgaria.com - reference for location names
- "International Contacts". Targovishte Municipality. Archived from the original on 2007-08-13. Retrieved 2013-08-29.
- "Our twin cities- Cottbus". http://www.cottbus.de/. Retrieved 2013-06-24.
- Official website of Targovishte municipality
- Info portal of Targovishte municipality
- Targovishte the portal
- Another info portal of Targovishte
- Portal of Targovishte