Chiprovtzi
The town is situated in the northern slopes of Chiprovtsi Mountain of the Western Balkan Range, 35 km west of Montana. Population 3100. In Roman times it stands out as a major mining centre extracting iron, silver, gold and copper.
Chiprovtzi is a small town nowadays. It is assumed that towards the 13th century, when Saxon ore-miners settled here, Chiprovtzi was granted special privileges. As time went by, the Germans were Bulgarized, but the positions of Catholicism in the town were continuously strengthened owing to the intensive activities of the Franciscan monks. For a long period of time Chiprovtzi was the seat of the Bulgarian Catholic custody, which comprised towns and villages now situated on the territories of Hungary and Roumania. It was one of the centres of Catholic propaganda in the Balkans and in Eastern Europe.
There are traditions in the crafts, however, are still vital.
Chiprovtzi is famous for its rug industry. There is no evidence so far of carpet-weaving before the 17th century, but the perfection of the design, composition and colour schemes of the oldest rugs is indicative of an earlier tradition. From Chiprovtzi the carpet industry spread to the near by villages, where women have been engaged in rug-weaving for centuries ever since. It is typical of the rug industry in these quarters that, more or less, production has always been market-oriented. This contributed to the fame of the Chiprovtzi rugs - both in Bulgaria, and on the Asian and Central European markets.
Places near by: Montana | Berkovitsa | Bistrilitza | Boichinovtsi | Chiprovtsi | Georgi Damianovo | Iakimovo | Lom | Vurshets | Vulchedrum |
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