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Centralnorth Bulgaria > Troyan > History
History of Troyan
The name of the town comes from the ancient Roman road crossing the Balkan Mountain through todays Troyan Pass - Via Trayana, which linked Misia with Thrace and the Aegean Sea. The origin of the todays settlement is thought to go back somewhere at the beginning of the 15th century, when, after Bulgaria fell under Ottoman Rule, a lot of Bulgarian refugees settled down in this hard-to-reach and forested region running away from the arbitrary rule of the Turks. Later on the migrations continued and Troyan grew up but about the year 1800 the town suffered three invasions of the kurdzhalii (Turkish brigands) who devastated it. In spite of this during the 19th century the town reached a high material and cultural prosperity. The crafts were those, which reached their greatest development, pottery and woodcarving in particular. More than half of the population of the town made their living on the basis of these crafts till World War II. The bright and intelligent mountain dwellers realised that their future lays in faith and enlightenment. Talented master builders created magnificent patterns of the Bulgarian Revival church architecture in the town and within the region - in 1835 Saint Paraskeva Church in Troyan and The Assumption Church in the Troyan Monastery were built (refer to the Stara Planina related chapter herein). In 1839 the Saint Nikolai Letni Church was erected in the area of Goumoshtnik whose wood-carved iconostasis is a unique of its kind work of the Bulgarian Revival Art. In 1870 a Community Cultural Centre was set up in Troyan, in which 2 years later the commencement of the theatrical activities in the town was set up with the performance of Genoveva the Martyr.
In 1872 the Yellow School was built up in the town, in which the modern secular program of teaching was introduced involving studies of the French language as well. The inhabitants of the town of Troyan did not let the revolutionary processes go past them either. In 1869 they enthusiastically met the Apostle Vassil Levski and Matei Preobrazhenski - Mitkaloto. Two years later a secret revolutionary committee was set up there at Levskis initiative. During the Russian-Turkish War of Liberation in August 1877Troyan was devastated by the bashibozouks (Turkish army of volunteers), but its population rendered invaluable assistance to General Kartsov when his army passed the Balkan Mountain through the Troyan Pass. After the liberation the town was rebuilt out of the ashes.
In 1911 the first electric bulb was lit and soon after that Troyan became the third electrified town in Bulgaria (after Sofia and Plovdiv). The building of the railway line Lovech Troyan gave an impetus to the development of the town - it commenced in 1929and was completed in 1948. Troyan is the birthplace of Ivan Hadzhiiski (our greatest sociologist and nations psychologist), Prof. Dr. Nikola Shipkovenski (psychiatrist) and a lot of other outstanding names. In the autumn of 1998, 130 years of the proclamation of Troyan as a town were solemnly celebrated.
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