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Montana
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2458
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13092005
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478
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3460
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09554
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43° 23'
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22° 53'
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Ivan Pavlov
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(Чипровци) is a town in
Montana Province of northwestern
Bulgaria , about 30 km from
Montana , on the shores of the river
Ogosta at the foot of western
Stara Planina .
An ore-miner settlement has been existing on the present location of Chiprovtsi since
Thracian times. It was then populated by the
Slavs , who named it ''Kiprovets''. In the
13th Century , the town received special privileges, as it was settled by
Saxon Ore-miners , who later accepted the Bulgarian language, but preserved the strong position of
Roman Catholicism in the town thanks to
Franciscan Monks . Due to this influence, Chiprovtsi grew into a centre of Catholicism in the
Balkans and
Eastern Europe .
On the ground of ore-mining, handicrafts and trade blossomed in Chiprovtsi, wares were exported to Central and Eastern Europe. The economic heydey attracted Bulgarian noblemen from the whole country, leading to a revival of culture and religion.
The modern town reached the peak of its cultural, economic and political development during the first three centuries of
Ottoman Rule In Bulgaria , becoming the most significant centre of goldsmith's trade in the Balkans.
A secular school was built in the beginning of the
17th Century , where
Bulgarian and
Latin were taught. The population of Chiprovtsi was half Catholic, half
Eastern Orthodox by the time. Sons of the town's distinguished families, such as
Petar Parchevich and
Petar Bogdan Bakshev , studied theology in
Italy , issuing books and becoming a part of European aristocracy.
In
1688 , after heavy casualties were caused to the
Ottoman armies by the coalition of
Austria n,
Polish and
Venetian forces, Bulgarians from Chiprovtsi initiated the
Chiprovtsi Uprising against Ottoman rule, which failed due to lack of assistance by the coalition, and was brutally crushed by
Janissary troops, who burned numerous villages in the area to the ground, forcing people from the whole region to flee to neighbouring countries, some of them setting up a Bulgarian community in the
Banat , the
Banat Bulgarians .
