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Pazardzhik
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Batak
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4019
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15062005
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1036
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4580
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03553
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41° 57'
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24° 13'
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Petar Paunov
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(. It is located in
Pazardzhik Province and is close to the town of
Peshtera . Batak is a municipial centre with 3 villages included and a total population of 7,480.
Batak is situated in the northwestern slopes of the
Rhodope Mountains , 1036 m above sea level. It is surrounded by many peaks, clad with century-old pine and spruce forests. The climate is temperate continental with a characteristic southern warm wind. Batak became a town in
1964 and has a current population of 4,019 people.
There are numerous archaeological monuments of most ancient times in the region of Batak. A find of the
Old Stone Age was discovered in
1958 . Tools, objects, ceramic vessels, ornaments as well as bones of
Rhinoceros were found which proves that the climate was warmer in the
Quaternary . Twenty
Thracian , Thraco-
Roman ,
Byzantine and
Slavic fortresses, churches and monasteries, as well as Thracian mounds, Roman bridges, mines, mills and other archaeological sites were registered.
The exact origin of Batak is unknown, since there is a lack of historical data. The old-fashioned view that the settlement was founded by Bulgarians who escaped from the mass conversion into
Islam at the valley of
Chepino in 1866 is rejected. This is testified by an inscription on the fountain of
Virgin Mary Monastery Of Krichim built by the people of Batak in
1592 , a writ of the feudal possessions of Sultan
Suleiman I (1520-1566), in which the village of Batak is also mentioned, as well as the remnants of many churches and monasteries burnt down by the Ottomans during the conversion into Islam in this region. The origin of the name of Batak is not specified, too. In the old legends it is related to the Tsepino chieftain Batoy, while the history professors Yordan Ivanov and Vasil Mikov suppose that Batak is Potok, a settlement of
Cuman origin existing between the
11th and the
13th Century . It is, however, certain that the name of the village is Bulgarian, not Turkish as some authors assert.
During the centuries of Ottoman rule, many
Hajduk s in the region of Batak revenged for the outrages upon the people – Strahil Voivoda, Deli Arshenko Payaka, Gola Voda, Todor Banchev, Beyko, Yanko Kavlakov, Mityo Vranchev, etc. From these times have remained the old rebel names, such as ''Haydushka Skala'', ''Haydushka Polyana'', ''Haydushko Kladenche'' (spring), ''Sablen Vrah'' (''"Sabre Peak"''), ''Karvav Chuchur'' (''"Bloody Spout"''), as well as many legends.
Woodworking, trade and innkeeping were developed in Batak during the
National Revival . The prosperity of the population was conducive to the prosperity of education — a secular school was opened in
1835 and the ''St. Nedelya Church'' was built in
1813 . Batak has given many eminent figures of the Bulgarian Revival, such as clerics like archimandrite Yosif, Nikifor, Kiril and others, who worked in the
Rila Monastery , a centre of the National Revival. Famous men of letters are Georgi Busilin and Dragan Manchov.
Practically the whole population of Batak took part in the
April Uprising of
1876 . The will of the Bulgarian people, the heroism and self-sacrifice in the name of freedom are most strongly expressed here. The people of Batak rebelled on
22 April under the leadership of the revolutionary committee with main
Voivoda Petar Goranov. On
30 April the settlement was surrounded by an Ottoman army of many thousands. The unequal and heroic battles were carried on for five days.
The last stronghold of the rebels was the St. Nedelya Church. Five thousand persons were killed and the settlement was burned down to ashes. The world was horrified by the atrocities of the Ottoman oppressors and a powerful wave of protest in defence of Bulgarians arose. The Russian people were at the head of this movement of protest. On
20 January 1878 the people of Batak who had survived the uprising enthusiastically met the liberating Russian armies.
Today Batak is a renovated modern town famous for its historical monuments and a resort and tourist centre. A key hydropower system — ''Batashki Vodnosilov Pat'' — with five dams and hydroelectric stations was constructed in the
1950s . Rest houses, tourist complexes and villas are built along the dam banks.
