BULGARIA

Location of Bulgaria

Bulgaria is bound on the north by Romania, on the east by

the Black Sea, on the south by Turkey and Greece, and on

the west by Serbia and Montenegro (formerly the Federal

Republic of Yugoslavia) and the Former Yugoslav Republic

of Macedonia.

Physical Map of Bulgaria

Over half of Bulgaria is made up of mountains. The Balkan Mountains cross the country from the northwestern corner to the Black Sea and the northern side of the Balkan Mountains slopes gradually to form the northern Bulgarian plateau, which ends at the Danube River. The central portion of the southern side of the range is bordered by a series of narrow plains. The southern part of the country has broad and irregular Rhodope Mountains, which form the boundary with Greece. At the western end of these mountains, in southwestern Bulgaria, are the Rila Mountains, which rise to a maximum elevation of 9,596 ft at Musala, the highest peak in the Balkans.

Including part of the Central Stara Planina mountain, the

picturesque Troyan Balkan offers a combination of incredible

mountain nature, fresh air, abundance of curative mineral

springs and preserved Bulgarian traditions and crafts. The

characteristics of the region determine the development of

mountain, ecological, and spa tourism.

In Troyan - a town with rich history, situated on the

beautiful banks of Beli Osam river, The Museum of people's

art crafts and applied arts has collected the best models of the

art crafts in the region.

MMMMunicipality hillunicipality hillunicipality hillunicipality hill

Centrum of the townCentrum of the townCentrum of the townCentrum of the town

Our ceramicOur ceramicOur ceramicOur ceramic

TroyanTroyanTroyanTroyan MonasteryMonasteryMonasteryMonastery

Bulgarian alphabetBulgarian alphabetBulgarian alphabetBulgarian alphabet

The Cyrillic alphabet is currently in use by several eastern European languages. This set of characters is usually attributed to St. Cyril (827-869), who, along with his brother St. Methodius (826-884), was sent from Thessalonica, Greece, by Emperor Michael III to Christianize the Khazars. The Khazars were a Tatar people of the Balkan region (now Slovakia) who practiced Judaism. It is apparent that the missionary effort was not very successful, since the Khazars were probably the source population of much of European Jewry.