The History of Lovech

Lovech is one of the oldest towns in Bulgaria. Its territory and surroundings have been inhabited ever since the remote past, a prerequisite for which is the favorable geographic situation between the mountain and the plain.

Remains of the Old Stone Age, the New Stone Age, the Bronze and the Iron epoch have been found in the caves Tabashka and Vasil Levski in the town of Lovech. The first “official” inhabitants of the town were the Thracian tribe, the “Meldi”, whose traces date as back as IV-III century BC. They founded here their capital, called Melta. It was situated at the place of today’s neighborhood and architecture reserve “Varosha”.
Later, when the Romans colonized the Balkan peninsula, they established a Roman station and named it Prezidium. It had a huge strategic importance along of the biggest Roman roads – “Via Trayana”, which connected the White sea with the Danube river.
The Turkish invasion in the mid XIV century didn’t pass the town, but the citadel of Lovech “Hisarya” was captured last of all, in 1446, but for a long time after the town enjoyed some privileges such as a prohibition on Turkish people living in the town or to take Bulgarian children as “enichars”.
In XVII century Lovech was a strong trade centre again and one of the richest town s in Bulgaria. That’s why the town was called “Altan Lovech” (Golden Lovech, from Turkish) at the time.
1784 is the most horrible year in the history of the town, when it was almost totally burnt and destroyed by a Turkish army. From 20 000 citizens there were only 4 600 survivors.
In the times of revolutionary organizations against the Turkish enslavers, Lovech was the centre of operations of the “International Revolutionary Organization” of Vasil Levski, called the “Secret Reviolutionary Committee”. He was arrested by the Turkish military near Lovech, and later hanged in Sofia. Now in the old town “Varosha” is the biggest museum of Vasil Levski in Bulgaria containing many personal items such as notebooks, clothes, weapons etc.

During the years the town developed not only as a commercial, but as an important educational and cultural center as well. The people of Lovech participated actively in the struggles for an independent Bulgarian church. Today Lovech is a beautiful and modern town, which carefully keeps the atmosphere of the previous century.