History of Dryanovo

The settlement reached its greatest prosperity (since 1883 it has already been proclaimed as a town) during the Revival Period. Dryanovo became famous for its masters - builders and wood-carvers. The most outstanding representative of Bulgarian construction genius during the Revival period - the self-educated architect and master-builder Nikola Ivanov Fichev (Master Kolyu Ficheto, 1800-1880) was born here.

The inhabitants of Dryanovo took an active part in the national liberation movement. There were citizens of Dryanovo in Velchos Conspiracy, in Georgi Rakovskis legion in Belgrade, in the detachments of armed volunteers of Stefan Karadzha and Hadzhi Dimitar, of Hristo Botev. In 1875Georgi Izmirliev established a revolutionary committee here. During the fateful spring of 1876, in spite of the readiness of the citizens of Dryanovo for struggle, due to the lack of an eminent leader, no uprising burst out here. The settlement, however, gave revolutionaries for the detachment of armed volunteers of Pop Hariton and Bacho Kiro, which heroically fought for more than a week in the Dryanovo Monastery under siege. During the Russian-Turkish War of Liberation 88 citizens of Dryanovo fought in the Bulgari� volunteer forces.

Nowadays the town and its surrounding areas develop more and more as a center of internal and foreign tourism. Dryanovo is the birthplace of the writers Racho Stoyanov, Atanas Smirnov and of the composer Todor Popov. In relation to its healthy climate and high average life expectancy the town is often referred to as the town of centenarians.