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Centralsouth Bulgaria > Chirpan > History
History of Chirpan
Chirpan is considered the heir to the Roman settlement Sherampol, which was established close to the Roman town of Pizus (the Hissarluka Area close to the village of Rupkite, 7 kilometres to the north of today’s Chirpan). It has been accepted that Sherampol (translated “the city of nice friends”) was established by fleeing refugees. The present name of the town is supposed to derive from the Roman Sheramnol although todays town emerged at a much later stage - most probably in the 17th century around Tekira Springs under the name of Dzherpan. During the Bulgarian Revival (18th - 19th century) the settlement grew as a town with well-developed agriculture and crafts. During the struggle for the independence of the Bulgarian Church it was the people of Chirpan who made the first sacrifices - Velko Boyadziyata and Kaba Ivan. After the Liberation crafts were in decay due to the loss of markets in the Ottoman Empire but in their place vine-growing and wine-making underwent a rapid development. The town was severely hit by the earthquake of 1928.
It is the birthplace of the great Bulgarian lyric and revolutionary Peyo Kracholov Yavorov, of the painter Georgi Danchov – Zografina, one of Levski’s comrades, of the painter Nikola Manev known far beyond Bulgarian borders and of the poet Dimitur Danailov.
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