Location: Vidin is a town in North-west Bulgaria. The town is situated on the bank of the Danube River and is the first large Bulgarian port along the river. It is located 216 km away from Sofia and 379 km away from Ruse.
Population: With its 56 000 residents, Vidin is the 19th city in a row in Bulgaria with regard to its population.
History: Vidin is a city with centuries’ long history. It emerged at the place of the ancient Celtic settlement of Dunonia, where the Romans later built a fortress town with the name of Bononia. During the time of the Roman Empire it was one of the main cities of Upper Moesia Province, which covered the territories of today’s North-west Bulgaria and East Serbia. The Bulgarians called the town Bdin and during the 9th century it became the centre of one of the ten Bulgarian districts. Its governor for a certain period during the second half of the 10th century was Samuil, who became the Bulgarian Tsar later (997-1014). In 1002 the Byzantine Emperor Basil II managed to invade the town after an eight-month siege. Bdin was liberated from the Byzantine rule at the very beginning of the rebellion of Asen and Peter (1185-1187). The greatest growth of the town took place at the end of the 14th century, when it became the capital of the Vidin Kingdom of Ivan Sratsimir (from 1364 till 1396) and it posed great resistance to the invasion of the Ottoman Empire. Vidin turned into an important administrative and economic centre and an arena of the conflicts between the Ottoman state and Austria and it was invaded several times by the Austrian army. It was liberated from the Ottoman rule after the Russo-Turkish war from 1877-1878.
The citizens of Vidin are proud of their ancient town and its rich cultural and historical heritage.
Landmarks:
- Baba Vida Fortress is the only medieval castle in Bulgaria that is completely preserved. It is located at the bank of the Danube River in the north-east part of the town of Vidin, 216 km north from Sofia. It is the main tourist attraction and symbol of the town. The fortress was erected at the place of a Roman observation post and it was used during the entire medieval period. It was completed in the 14th century, when it was turned into a royal castle of the Tsar of Vidin Ivan Sratsimir.
- St. Dimitrius Cathedral in the city of Vidin is the second largest Eastern Orthodox Church in Bulgaria after the Alexander Nevsky cathedral. It was built toward the end of the 17th century, according to a cross-dome plan with three longitudinal and one transverse nave. The central dome is carried by four pillars that are freely hanging and it has a height of 33 meters – an impressive architecture solution that is untypical and illegal during the time of the Ottoman rule, when the churches could not be higher than 3 meters, due to which they were often dug several meters below the ground level. Today, the St Demetrius Cathedral is a cultural monument of national significance.
- Exarch Antim I Mausoleum – The mausoleum of the first Bulgarian exarch Antim I is located in the yard of Vidin metropolitan. It was built in 1934 and designed by architect Iliya Popov. A portrait of Antim I, made of mosaic, is placed at the entrance, while the premise has sculpture and art decoration. The sarcophagus, where the remains of exarch Antim I are laid, is placed in the basement.
- The Synagogue is located close to Baba Vida Fortress. The building was constructed for one year – in 1894, with the support of the Jews from all over Bulgaria. It is the second largest synagogue after the one in Sofia and constitutes a three-nave, single-apse basilica, with a narthex, galleries and four towers. The interior impresses with its vivid impact and the use of ancient Jewish and classic architecture shapes. Today the building is under a restoration process.
- The old Turkish post office was built during the second half of the 19th century especially for postage purposes. It was probably completed in 1859, when Vidin was connected to different European cities through a telegraph. It is a massive two-floor building with a treasury in its basement. This is the only preserved old postal office in Bulgaria. It is located in the Danube Park near the mosque and the library of Osman Pazvantoğlu. It was proclaimed as a cultural monument.
Surroundings
- Magura Cave is one of the largest and most beautiful caves in Bulgaria. It is located close to the village of Rabisha. The total length of its galleries is 2,5 kilometres. It is also famous for its pre-historic rock drawings, which date back to the Paleolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, due to which the cave is under the special protection of UNESCO, having an international statute of a cultural monument. There are only three more places in the world with similar rock drawings as the ones in Magurata cave – France, Spain and Siberia. The largest inland lake in Bulgaria – The Rabish lake is also located nearby.
- The Rocks of Belogradchik are unique rock formations; located in the western Pre-Balkan and they cover a region that is 30 km long and 15 km wide. They are located 30 km south from Vidin. This delightful natural phenomenon was sculpted by the draining rain water and the winds during a period of 200 million years, which turned the shapeless stone into sculptures that resemble mythical creatures, human silhouettes, animals and birds. These rock pillars elevating to a height of up to 200 m form a natural fortress, whose defence potential was exploited since ancient times. The fortress fortifications were built and reconstructed in three time periods: Roman (1st -4th century), medieval (17th - 19th century) and Ottoman (1805-1837). The Belogradchik rocks were pronounced as a natural landmark in 1949.
- The Roman fortress Castra Martis in Kula – Castra Martis is a late Roman fortress, whose remnants are located in the centre of the town of Kula. It was built at the end of the 3rd and the beginning of the 4th century as part of the defence facilities of the Danube border with the Roman Empire. The fortress occupied crucial positions through the westernmost passage of the Balkan Mountain – Vrashka chuka and it guarded the important Roman road to Singidunum (Belgrade).
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