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Vidin
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68 506
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13092005
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34
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3700
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094
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43° 59'
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22° 52'
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Ivan Cenov
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( in northwestern
Bulgaria . It is close to the borders with
Serbia And Montenegro and
Romania , and is also the administrative centre of
Vidin Province .
Vidin is the westernmost important Bulgarian Danube port and is situated on one of the southernmost sections of the river. A ferryboat complex, linking Vidin with
Calafat on the opposite side of the river, is located 2
Km from the town. The complex is to be replaced by a bridge over the Danube.
Vidin is the 19th town by population in Bulgaria, but serious demographic problems have been experienced in the area since
World War II .
Vidin emerged at the place of an old
Celtic settlement known as ''Dunonia'', where a
Roman fortified town called ''Bononia'' was later constructed. The town grew into one of the important centres of the province of Upper
Moesia , encompassing the territory of modern northwestern Bulgaria and eastern
Serbia . Roman rule lasted until
46 AD .
When
Slavs settled in the area, they called the town ''Badin'' or ''Bdin'', where the modern name comes from.
Vidin's main landmark, the
Baba Vida fortress, was built in the period from the
10th to the
14th Century .
In
1356 , Bulgarian tsar
Ivan Alexander isolated Vidin from the Bulgarian monarchy and appointed his son
Ivan Stratsimir (
1356 -
1396 ) as absolute ruler of Vidin's new
City-state . In
1365 , the
Despotate Of Vidin was occupied by
Magyar Crusaders . Under
Hungarian rule, the city became known as ''Bodony'', but the occupation was short-lived.
In
1369 , a united Slavic Bulgarian empire drove out the Hungarian military, but in
1393 the whole of Bulgaria, along with the rest of the surrounding region, fell to the
Ottoman Empire . This brought an end to Bulgaria's medieval state empire. Vidin was now the only region controlled by the indigenous Slavic population and not the invading
Ottoman Turks .
The Ottomans went on to conquer the despotates of
Dobrudja ,
Prilep and
Velbazhd as well. Vidin's independence did not last long. In
1396 , Stratsimir contributed soldiers to assist the Slavic nations' bid to overturn the Ottoman Empire. Following defeat at the hands of the Ottomans outside the city of
Nicopolis , Vidin finally fell under the sphere of the Ottomans, led by
Bayezid I , as a punishment for their role in the hostilities.
In the late years of
Ottoman Rule , Vidin was the centre of Turkish rebel
Osman Pazvantoglu 's breakaway state.
Vidin boasts two well-preserved mediaeval fortresses,
Baba Vida and
Kaleto , as well as many old Orthodox churches such as St Pantaleimon, St Petka and St Greatmartyr Dimitrius (all from the
17th Century ), a Jewish
Synagogue (
1894 ), a mosque and a library of
Osman Pazvantoglu , a Turkish police office (
18th Century ).
