Pleven

At the 2021 census its population was 89,823. Internationally known for the siege of Plevna of 1877, today it is a major economic centre of the Bulgarian Northwest and Central North and the third largest city of Northern Bulgaria after Varna and Ruse.

• Image Caption — Pleven • Image Flag — Flag of Pleven.svg • Subdivision Type — Country • Subdivision Name — Bulgaria • Subdivision Type1 — Province (Oblast) • Timezone — EET • Utc Offset — +2 • Timezone Dst — EEST • Utc Offset Dst — +3 • Map Caption — Location of Pleven • Pushpin Map — Bulgaria#Balkans#Europe • Pushpin Map Caption — Location of Pleven • Postal Code Type — Postal Code • Image Shield — Pleven-coat-of-arms.svg • Leader Title — Mayor • Leader Name — Dr. Valentin Hristov (GERB) • Subdivision Name1 — Pleven • Established Title — First human settlement • Established Date — 5th millennium BC • Population Total — 90,209 • Population Urban — 110,843 • Population As Of — 2022 • Area Total Km2 — 85 • Elevation M — 116 • Postal Code — 5800 • Area Code — 064 • Iso Code — BG-15 • Registration Plate — EH • Website — Official website • Settlement Type — City Pleven (pron) is the seventh most populous city in Bulgaria. Located in the northern part of the country, it is the administrative centre of Pleven Province, as well as of the subordinate Pleven municipality. It is the biggest economic center in Northwestern Bulgaria. At the 2021 census its population was 89,823. Internationally known for the siege of Plevna of 1877, today it is a major economic centre of the Bulgarian Northwest and Central North and the third largest city of Northern Bulgaria after Varna and Ruse.

The name comes from the Slavic word plevnya ("barn") or from plevel, meaning "weed", sharing the same root, and the Slavic suffix -en.

Pleven is in an agricultural region in the middle of the Danubian Plain, the historical region of Moesia, surrounded by low limestone hills, the Pleven Heights. The city's central location in Northern Bulgaria defines its importance as a big administrative, economic, political, cultural and transport centre. Pleven is 170 km from the capital city of Sofia, 320 km west of the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and 50 km south of the Danube. The river Vit flows near the city and the tiny Tuchenitsa river (commonly known in Pleven as Barata, literally "The Streamlet") crosses it.

Pleven, like all cities in Bulgaria, is divided into a number of neighbourhoods and residential complex's. Residential areas are often denoted with zhk. (жк.) that stands for residential complex (Bulgarian: Жилищен Комплекс). The two main and larger residential complex's in Pleven are Storgozia (Bulgarian: жк. Сторгозия) and Druzhba (Bulgarian: жк. Дружба) which are among the cities largest residential areas. These two residential areas are mostly composed of brutalist-style apartment blocks built during Bulgaria's communist era. The centre of Pleven features large squares, restaurants, stores, cafés and banks. It serves as a major commercial and social area of the city. A big part of the centre is the water cascades and fountains, the Regional Historical Museum, the Pleven Municipality Hall, the Svetlin Rusev Donative Exhibition, St George the Conqueror Chapel, the Ivan Radoev Dramatic Theatre and the City Garden. Pleven is home to a wide variety of nature and greenery. The largest park in Pleven is the Kaylaka Park (Bulgarian: Кайлъка) covering approximately 10 km². It is a protected area which is home to reservoirs and the Tuchenitsa River which flows through parts of the city. The park features some hotels, restaurants and children's play areas as well as a tennis court, the Pleven Zoo and the Summer Theatre (Bulgarian: Летен Театър) which hosts a variety of music performances. The Kaylaka Park contains the ruins of the Roman fortress, Storgosia. Other parks in Pleven include Skobelev Park (Bulgarian: Скобелев Парк) where the Pleven Panorama is located, the City Garden and 10-ti-dekemvri Park. The north of Pleven houses large industrial zones with a diverse range of companies and factories. The industrial zones feature, but are not limited to, automotive components and repair services, textile manufacturing, engineering and metalwork, wholesale and trade facilities, general manufacturing and rail freight and industrial rail sidings Pleven is also home to a large amount of villa zones (Bulgarian: Вилна зона) and other peripheral localities. Villa zones are generally a low density area typically in the outskirts or less densely populated area of a city.

Pleven has a humid continental climate (Köppen Climate Classification Dfa). Winters are cold with snow: temperatures can fall below -20 C overnight. Springs are mild, with temperatures around 20 C. Summers are warm, and temperatures have exceeded 38 C on occasion. The average annual temperature is around 12 C.

The earliest traces of human settlement in the area date from the 5th millennium BC, the Neolithic. • Illustration — The central streets of Pleven Numerous archaeological findings, among them the Nikolaevo treasure found in Bulgaria, evidence the rich culture of the Thracians, who inhabited the area for thousands of years. In the beginning of the new era, the region became part of the Roman province of Moesia, and a road station called Storgosia arose near present-day Pleven on the road from Oescus (near modern Gigen) to Philippopolis (now Plovdiv). It later evolved into a fortress. One of the most valued archaeological monuments in Bulgaria from the period is the Early Christian basilica from the fourth century discovered near the modern city.

• Illustration — Pleven Regional Historical Museum During the Middle Ages, Pleven was a well-developed stronghold of the First and the Second Bulgarian Empire. When Slavs populated the region, they gave the settlement its contemporary name Pleven, it was first mentioned in a charter by Hungarian king Stephen V in 1270 in connection to a military campaign in the Bulgarian lands.

During the Ottoman rule, Pleven, known as Plevne in Ottoman Turkish, preserved its Bulgarian appearance and culture. Many churches, schools and bridges were built at the time of the Bulgarian National Revival. In 1825, the first secular school in the town was opened, followed by the first girls' school in Bulgaria in 1840, as well as the first boys' school a year later. Pleven was the place where the Bulgarian national hero Vasil Levski established the first revolutionary committee in 1869, part of his national revolutionary network.

The city (then mostly known as Plevna outside Bulgaria) was a major battle scene during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 that Russian Tsar Alexander II held for the purpose of the liberation of Bulgaria. The joint Russian and Romanian army paid dearly for the victory, but it paved the path for the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in this war, the restoration of Bulgaria as a state and the independence of Romania from the Ottoman Empire. It cost the Russians and Romanians 5 months and 38,000 casualties to take the town after four assaults, in what was one of the decisive battles of the war. The siege is remembered as a landmark victory of the Romanian War of Independence, as on 28 November 1877 the Plevna citadel capitulated, and Osman Pasha surrendered the city, the garrison and his sword to the Romanian Colonel Mihail Cerchez. • Illustration — Pleven Panorama, one of the town's best known sights In the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition of 1911 J.H.V. Crowe concluded his lengthy entry on Pleven (transcribed as Plevna) with the memorable dictum: Plevna is a striking example of the futility of the purely passive defence, which is doomed to failure however tenaciously carried out... Victories which are not followed up are useless. War without strategy is mere butchery. On the other hand, the siege of Plevna stands out among other countless sieges and military actions in the region because of its significance. Plevna is one of the few engagements that changed the course of history.

The events of the Russo-Turkish War proved crucial for the development of Pleven as a key town of central northern Bulgaria. The town experienced significant demographic and economic growth in the following years, gradually establishing itself as a cultural centre of the region. The Bulgarian Agrarian National Union, a leading interwar party representing the Bulgarian peasantry, was founded in the town in December 1899. Prior to the Bulgarian orthographic reform of 1945, the name of the town was spelled Плѣвенъ (with yat) in Cyrillic.

• Illustration — The town hall of Pleven According to census 2021, Pleven has a population of 89,823 inhabitants as of December 2021. The ethnic breakdown is 97% Bulgarians among others. The number of the residents of the city reached its peak in the period 1988-1991 when exceeded 135,000.

• Illustration — Two banks in central Pleven A major centre of oil processing, metalworking, machinery construction, of light and food industries in Socialist times. However, the late 1990s and early 2000s saw a revival of light industry and the development of branches such as knitwear and store clothes production. Tourism, which had attracted many people from the Soviet Union prior to 1989, and had experienced a slump in the following years, is on the rise again. In 2015, the unemployment rate in Pleven district was 9.2%. The most important economic sectors in Pleven are chemical, textiles and foodstuffs industries, the manufacturing of cement and glass, machine building, tailoring, agriculture, retail and services. The city has seen a number of major foreign investments in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Particularly noticeable is the mass construction of hypermarkets, with two Billa, two Kaufland, two Carrefour, DM, Plus, ELEMAG, METRO, two LIDL stores, a Praktiker, HomeMax and a number of other hypermarkets being opened As of 2006. The Pleven City Center and Central Mall Pleven were opened in 2008. A new mall called Panorama mall was opened in 2014.

The international railway Sofia — Bucharest — Moscow runs through Pleven. The international road E 83 passes just north of the city. The national A2 Hemus highway Sofia — Varna is projected to pass 16 km south of Pleven. Over 90% of the inner city transportation in Pleven is maintained by trolleybuses. There are 14 trolleybus lines, and 75 km trolleybus network. The trolleybus fleet consist of ZIU-682 (1985–1988) and Skoda 26-TR Solaris trolleybuses, produced in 2014. A project for 12 km trolleybus routes extension is underway. When the extension is completed Pleven will become 100% covered by trolleybus transport.

Near Pleven, there is a large facility for medium wave and short wave broadcasting. Pleven medium wave transmitter, working on 594 kHz, uses as antenna two 250 m tall guyed mast radiators insulated against ground. These masts belong to the tallest structures of Bulgaria. • Illustration — Museum of the Liberation of Pleven

Most of the sights of the town are related to the Russo-Turkish War. The monuments related to the war alone are about 200. Some of the more popular include the St George the Conqueror Chapel Mausoleum in honour of the many Russian and Romanian soldiers who lost their lives during the siege of Plevna and the ossuary in Skobelev Park. Another popular attraction is Pleven Panorama, created after (and reputedly larger than) the Borodino Panorama in Russia on the occasion of the anniversary of the siege of Plevna.

The Pleven Regional Historical Museum is another popular tourist attraction, while the Svetlin Rusev Donative Exhibition, situated in the former public baths, exhibits works by Bulgarian artists, as well as noted Western European art figures. The Ivan Radoev Dramatic Theatre is the centre of theatrical life in Pleven. A number of community centres (chitalishta) are also active in the city. Medical University - Pleven, one of the five medical universities in Bulgaria, was established in 1974, aiming to expand the horizons, size and reputation of the City Hospital, founded in 1865.

Pleven is often regarded as an important centre of sports in Bulgaria, with many noted Bulgarian sportspeople having been born and/or trained in the town, including Tereza Marinova and Galabin Boevski. The city hosts two football clubs, Spartak Pleven and Belite orli, which have separate stadiums. Both teams play in the second Bulgarian league and haven't had any major successes in the past, although Spartak Pleven has been the first team for a couple of former Bulgarian internationals such as Plamen Getov. Spartak Pleven is also a basketball team, a national championship winner in 1995 and national cup winner in 1996 (then named Plama Pleven). Other than that, the team is a regular first league participant. Pleven is famous for its Kaylaka (where the ruins of the Storgosia fortification can be found) and Skobelev parks. The latter is home to the Pleven Panorama and is situated on the original location of the battle during the Russo-Turkish War.

• Ilia Beshkov, artist • Detelin Dalakliev, boxer • Dora Deliyska, classical pianist • Lucy Diakovska, singer • Emil Dimitrov, singer and composer • Ghena Dimitrova, operatic soprano • Silvia Dimitrova, artist • Sabetay Djaen, rabbi • Dionisii Donchev, artist • Tereza Marinova, triple jump athlete, 2000 Summer Olympics gold medallist • Svetlin Rusev, artist • Slavi Trifonov, popular showman politician • Svetla Vassileva, publicist and blogger • Neviana Vladinova, rhythmic gymnast • Alexander Litschev, academic

Pleven is twinned with: • Agadir, Morocco • Brăila, Romania • Bitola, North Macedonia • Bursa, Turkey • Central Administrative Okrug (Moscow), Russia • Charlottesville, United States • Chernivtsi, Ukraine • Edessa, Greece • Gornji Milanovac, Serbia • Jinzhou, China • Kaiserslautern, Germany • Kavadarci, North Macedonia • Ponta Delgada, Portugal • Płock, Poland • Rostov-on-Don, Russia • Segovia, Spain • Volos, Greece • Yangquan, China

• Illustration — Holy Trinity Church • Illustration — Medical University Pleven • Illustration — Pleven monument • Illustration — St George the Conqueror Chapel Mausoleum