CHIPROVTSI - REGIONAL PROFILE

The municipality of Chiprovtsi is located in Northwestern Bulgaria and is one of the constituent municipalities of Montana Region. With its area of 286,881 km2 (7,89% of the territory of the Montana Region) it ranks seventh among the eleven municipalities of the region. The relief of the municipality is high and medium mountainous, and its territory is entirely within the Western Balkan Mountains and the Western Pre-Balkan. The main water artery of Chiprovtsi Municipality is the Ogosta River, which flows through it with part of its upper course. 53.4% of the territory of Chiprovtsi Municipality is forest and 44.2% is agricultural. The urbanized areas are only 1.5%. The cadastral coverage is 98.5%.

The municipality of Chiprovtsi is not one of the largest in terms of territory and population, but it possesses significant natural resources and historical monuments, which are potential for its future development. The transport and geographic location of the municipality is sufficiently favourable - relatively close to the transport corridor №4, but at the same time peripherally located in relation to the busy thoroughfares, which helps to preserve the quality of the environment. The natural conditions are extremely favourable for the development of tourism (rural, pilgrimage, sports and ecotourism).

The municipal centre – the town of Chiprovtsi is situated at an altitude of 508 m and has an area of 65,467 km2. Its population is 1395 people.

Chiprovtsi is a very old settlement, dating back to Thracian times, when the area was probably inhabited by Tribals. The mining in this area dates back to that time, with deposits of silver, lead, iron, copper and gold. During the Roman era, this was one of the most important gold mining areas in the Balkans. The first written records of the settlement are in Latin and Turkish sources from the second half of the 16th and early 17th centuries, in which its name has many different forms - Chiprovac, Cipurovac, Kiporovets, Chiporovtsi, Kiporovac, Kiprovtsi, Ciprofce, Chiporuftsa. It is widely believed that the name of Chiprovtsi comes from the Latin cuprum (copper) and is related to the copper mines in the area.

At the end of the Middle Ages, Saxon miners settled in Chiprovtsi, attracted to improve the technology of mining (their number is estimated at several dozen), who contributed to the establishment of a Catholic community in the town. It is believed that at the end of the 14th century, the area of Chiprovtsi was in the possession of the Boyar family of Soimirovichi. After the conquest of Chiprovci by the Ottoman Empire, they moved to Dubrovnik, where they were part of the local aristocracy for centuries. Under Ottoman rule, Chiprovci and the neighbouring mining settlements retained certain privileges in order to maintain the mining industry. The mining itself was leased out (iltizam) for a certain annual fee, including to the Dubrovinians, and towards the end of the 16th century the locals complained that intensive mining and prospecting had destroyed much of the arable land in the valley.

During the first three centuries of foreign rule Chiprovtsi reached its economic, political and cultural heyday. Of the crafts, goldsmithing developed the most. High-art production marked the town as an important goldsmith centre on the Balkan Peninsula in the 16th and 17th centuries along with Constantinople, Thessaloniki and Belgrade. After 1600, Chiprovtsi became a kind of Catholic centre and attracted many vigilant Bulgarians from almost all parts of the country. The families of Parčević, Pejačević, Knežević, Marinović and others settled here.

In the 16th century Chiprovtsi established itself as the main stronghold of the Dubrovnik trade in northern Bulgaria, followed by the decline of ore mining in the mid-17th century due to the exhaustion of easy to develop deposits. Many of the former privileges of the mining settlements were virtually abolished, and the local administration began to resort frequently to arbitrary violence. The situation of the indigenous population deteriorated severely. A struggle for national independence began, led by Petar Bogdan and Petar Parčević. In 1688, the Chiprovo Uprising broke out, suppressed by the Ottoman troops and ending with unheard of massacres and atrocities. More than half of the population was massacred. Many of the survivors sought refuge in Wallachia, Hungary and Croatia. The city was burned, devastated and ruined, never afterwards reaching its past grandeur.

In 1738 Sultan Mahmud I granted amnesty to the returned Bulgarians, and in 1741 their properties were returned. About 50 years after the return of the Orthodox, the Catholics also resettled. The number of inhabitants of Chiprovtsi grew without the development of mining, and carpet-making provided only a living.

Protected areas, natural and historical sites

Chiprovski Waterfall Protected Area covers a beech forest in the valley of the Stara Reka. It is 18 m high. The waterfall can be reached in 1-2 hours along the eco-trail "Dejanitsa". It is most beautiful when the snow melts on the mountain ridge in spring.

Protected area "Dejanitsa" is about 30 ha. It is located below the peak Tri Chuki (1938 m) and the peak Vraja glava (1936 m).

Ravnensko Gradishte Protected Area is located near the village of Ravna with an area of 186 ha. It contains the remains of a Thracian fortress and a Roman mint.

Mishin Kamak Natural Landmark is a cave located between the villages of Prevala and Gorna Luka in the Yazova Mountains, in a forest park of the same name.

Protected area "Sto ovtsi" or also called Razchepati stone is located 9 km east of the village of Prevala.

The Chiprovtsi Monastery "St. Ivan Rilski" is a national monument of culture with a ten-century history and is located 4 km northeast of Chiprovtsi, above the left high bank of the river Ogosta.

Population  

According to the last population census in 2021, the ten settlements in Chiprovtsi municipality have a total of 2,859 inhabitants, which is 856 less than in the previous census (2011). The natural growth rate is dramatically low -40.8‰.

99% of the inhabitants of the municipality are of Bulgarian ethnicity and about 1% are of other ethnicities. The majority of the population of Chiprovtsi until the suppression of the Chiprovtsi Uprising in 1688 practiced Catholicism. Today's inhabitants are Orthodox. More than half (52.6%) of the inhabitants of the municipality are over 60 years of age, and the active population (between 20 and 60 years) is 39.5%. Compared to the indicators defining the educational structure of the population, the values of Chiprovtsi municipality are lower than those of Montana region and the country - only 7.7% of the population has higher education, and the largest share (47.2%) has secondary education.

Economy

The municipality is economically underdeveloped, with serious problems in the areas of entrepreneurship, employment, investment, material and technical security, low competitiveness and labour productivity. The municipality's economy is focused on primary sector development - agriculture and extractive industries. The best developed sectors are mining, ore processing, timber harvesting and processing, food processing, services and tourism. 94% of enterprises operating in the municipality are micro (up to 9 employees).

On the territory of Chiprovtsi municipality there are deposits of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, but at this stage they are of no industrial importance.

Favourable soil and climatic conditions contribute to the development of agriculture in the region. Crop production in the municipality is represented by cereal and grain-food crops, potato production, herbalism, fruit growing, viticulture. The municipality has extensive areas of natural meadows and pastures, which allow the development of pasture livestock farming.

Manufacturing industry in Chiprovtsi municipality is poorly developed. It is mainly represented by the food industry. On the territory of the municipality there are canneries, bread and bakery enterprises. There are still enterprises which preserve the tradition of producing Chiprovtsi carpets.

According to the latest available NSI data (for 2021), the average gross monthly salary in Chiprovtsi municipality is BGN 838 and the output per capita is BGN 5543/year.  

The unemployment rate in the municipality is one of the highest in the country - 27.7% (compared to the average for Bulgaria around 4%). The permanent unemployment rate is also high - 14.15%.

According to the calculations of the Institute for Market Economy, the local tax burden index is 35.9 - in comparison, for Sofia it is 68.4.