Belitsa Municipality Община Белица | |
|---|---|
Municipality(Obshtina) | |
.png) Location in Blagoevgrad province Location on map of Bulgaria  | |
| Coordinates:41°57′N23°34′E / 41.950°N 23.567°E /41.950; 23.567 | |
| Country | Bulgaria |
| Province(Oblast) | Blagoevgrad |
| Seat | Belitsa |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Radoslav Revanski (DPS) |
| Area | |
• Total | 293.54 km2 (113.34 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 952 m (3,123 ft) |
| Population (2011) | |
• Total | 9,927 |
| • Density | 33.82/km2 (87.59/sq mi) |
| Demonym | Belichanin / pl. Belichani |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
| Website | www |
Belitsa Municipality (Bulgarian:Община Белица,Obshtina Belitsa) is located in the southwestern part ofBulgaria in the northeastern part of theBlagoevgrad Province. Theadministrative center is the town ofBelitsa and there are also 11 villages and the ski resortSemkovo.
Belitsa municipality is situated in a mountainous area, including parts of theRila andRhodope Mountains and the valley of the upper flow of theMesta river.Belitsa is situated on the southern foothills ofRila, whileSemkovo is much higher and is actually the highest part of the municipality. The villagesDagonovo,Kraishte andGorno Kraishte are in the valley ofMesta river and the rest of the villages are in theRhodope Mountains.
The entire area of the municipality is 293,536decares, of which 221,862 are wooded areas and 62,205 are farmlands. The terrain is mostly mountainous and hilly. The territory includes parts ofRila, theRhodopes, and thedale of theMesta river. East of the valley, on the river Belichka, there are parts of the eastern (Musalenski) section of the Rila Mountains.
The region has been populated 8000 years BC. The remains from that period have been found at the archaeological site Raven nearBelitsa. There areThracian remains nearBabyak andBelitsa, some of them with big importance – a wooden sarcophagus exposed in the historical museum in Belitsa and a marble plate with the images ofZeus andHera, now in theNational Historical Museum inSofia. The nameBelitsa has been noted for first time inOttoman documents from 1576 year. In 1716 the first Christian church has been built. According to theTreaty of Berlin (1878) the region was returned to theOttoman Empire. After theIlinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising in 1903 the town of Belitsa was destroyed and burnt. Since 1920 after theTreaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine in 1919 Belitsa and the surrounding villages have remained inBulgaria.
In the years of the Second World War thePartisan movement engaged people from Belitsa and the near villages, who formed detachment that merged with the bigger detachmentNikola Parapunov.During the Communist government there has been several acts of renaming the people with non-Bulgarian (Islamic) names, that caused discontent in thepomak people.
| Town/Village | Area (km²) | Population |
|---|---|---|
| Belitsa (Белица) | 72.923 | 3 278 |
| Babyak (Бабяк) | 16.662 | 781 |
| Chereshovo (Черешово) | 9.335 | 270 |
| Dagonovo (Дагоново) | 15.802 | 724 |
| Gorno Kraishte (Горно Краище) | 6.159 | 1,167 |
| Galabovo (Гълъбово) | 4.471 | 80 |
| Kraishte (Краище) | 10.523 | 2,375 |
| Kuzyovo (Кузьово) | 14.548 | 272 |
| Lyutovo (Лютово) | 5.477 | 242 |
| Ortsevo (Орцево) | 15.146 | 213 |
| Palatik (Палатик) | 22.313 | 251 |
| Zlataritsa (Златарица) | 34.021 | 133 |
| Total | 227.38 | 9,786 |
Most of the people live in the town ofBelitsa and in the villages nearMesta river. The mountainous villages are less populated (see the table above). After the last count in 2011 a slight positive growth is noticed.
| Population | Live births | Deaths | Natural growth | Birth rate (‰) | Death rate (‰) | Natural growth rate (‰) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 9,748 | 115 | 91 | 24 | 11.8 | 9.3 | +2.5 |
| 2001 | 9,604 | 113 | 98 | 15 | 11.8 | 10.2 | +1.6 |
| 2002 | 9,558 | 129 | 95 | 34 | 13.5 | 9.9 | +3.6 |
| 2003 | 9,539 | 121 | 84 | 37 | 12.7 | 8.8 | +3.9 |
| 2004 | 9,543 | 123 | 104 | 19 | 12.9 | 10.9 | +2.0 |
| 2005 | 9,518 | 120 | 93 | 27 | 12.6 | 9.8 | +2.8 |
| 2006 | 9,487 | 148 | 105 | 43 | 15.6 | 11.1 | +4.5 |
| 2007 | 9,488 | 132 | 102 | 30 | 13.9 | 10.8 | +3.2 |
| 2008 | 9,497 | 139 | 114 | 25 | 14.6 | 12.0 | +2.6 |
| 2009 | 9,541 | 165 | 89 | 76 | 17.3 | 9.3 | +8.0 |
| 2010 | 9,493 | 121 | 112 | 9 | 12.7 | 11.8 | +0.9 |
| 2011 | 9,911 | 128 | 98 | 30 | 12.9 | 9.9 | +3.0 |
| 2012 | 9,834 | 94 | 125 | -31 | 9.6 | 12.7 | -3.2 |
| 2013 | 9,762 | 85 | 105 | -20 | 8.7 | 10.8 | -2.0 |
| 2014 | 9,706 | 109 | 114 | -5 | 11.2 | 11.7 | -0.5 |
| 2015 | 9,617 | 115 | 131 | -16 | 12.0 | 13.6 | -1.7 |
| 2016 | 9,541 | 87 | 95 | -8 | 9.1 | 10.0 | -0.8 |
| 2017 | 9,426 | 91 | 128 | -37 | 9.7 | 13.6 | -3.9 |
| 2018 | 9,316 | 81 | 107 | -26 | 8.7 | 11.5 | -2.8 |
The vast majority of the population, especially in the villages areMuslim. There areChristians in Belitsa. The first church in Belitsa, dedicated toSt Demetrius of Thessaloniki was built in 1716. The second church, dedicated toSt George was built in 1833–1835 with a clock-tower. In the village ofBabyak, there is an old mosque from the 17th century. Mosques are built recently in Belitsa and in other villages.
According to the latest Bulgarian census of 2011, the religious composition, among those who answered the optional question on religious identification, was the following:
| Orthodox Christianity | 22.0% | |||
| Islam | 74.7% | |||
| Protestantism | 0.3% | |||
| Catholicism | 0.2% | |||
| No religion | 0.6% | |||
| Prefer not to answer, others and indefinable | 2.2% | |||
The seat of the municipality is the town ofBelitsa. The mayor of the municipality acts as mayor of the seat. There are also elected mayors in the villages: Babyak, Dagonovo, Kraishte and Gorno Kraishte. The other smaller villages have suffragan mayors, appointed from the Municipal Council.Semkovo is not an autonomous township and has no mayor. There is a police station and a post in Belitsa.
In the town ofBelitsa work several GP physicians and dentists. The Emergency health care is provided fromRazlog.
The forestry andwood processing is the most developed branch of the industry in the municipality – there are more than forty industrial subjects, situated in Belitsa and the villages near the main road. From the wood they produce paper, furniture and construction elements.Clothing and food industry are also important for the region. Harvesting are gardening are present only in the valley and sheep and goat farming in the mountains. There is a bank for currency exchange.
There is only one national secondary road fromVelingrad toRazlog, connecting the central part of Bulgaria with southwestern part of the country, that passes through the municipality. Municipal roads connect the villages. The roads need improvement and transportation is difficult, especially in the winter. Regular bus lines run toSofia,Plovdiv,Blagoevgrad,Velingrad,Razlog,Bansko andYakoruda daily. There are no municipal lines organized.
Septemvri-Dobrinishte narrow gauge line, running alongMesta river is having stops inDagonovo andBelitsa station. The station is 4 km south from the town in the village ofKraishte. There is no water transport or air transport in the municipality. The ports ofThessaloniki andKavala and the international airports ofSofia,Plovdiv,Thessaloniki andKavala are the nearest sea and airports.
Central water supply exists only inBelitsa,Kraishte andGorno Kraishte and in the ski resortSemkovo. The other smaller villages use local water sources. Sewerage works inBelitsa andDagonovo and inSemkovo. Electrical power supply is well organized and all the inhabited places have electricity. Phone lines are not available in the remote villages and there exist radio connected phones. Mobile connections are limited because of the terrain, but generally available in all villages. Internet via cable is accessible only inBelitsa.
TheRila andRhodope Mountains are forming the natural characteristics of the municipality. There are many natural phenomenons and interesting places near Belitsa, Babyak and Semkovo. There is a park for "dancing bears", where live bears, collected from people in Bulgaria and near countries.
There are no hotels in Belitsa, but only inSemkovo. Restaurants with traditional and European cuisine are available in Belitsa and Semkovo. The picturesque nature offers a lot of places for sightseeing and picnic.
Media related toBelitsa Municipality at Wikimedia Commons
Capital:Belitsa | |
| Villages | |
| Landmarks | |
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