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This town is
placed at the foot of the Eastern Balkan Range, 279 km east of Sofia.
Population of 107 000. A station along the railway line Sofia-Bourgas.
A characteristic climatic feature is the cold northern wind (bora).
In late antiquity in the place of the modern town a trade center
springs to life. Remains of the late Roman citadel Tuida have been found.
During the years of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom 24 monasteries are built
in the vicinity. Remains of medieval fortresses have been uncovered.
In the 17th C. Sliven is a center of crafts, vine growing, cattle
breeding, one of the biggest Bulgarian fairs is held here.
In 1834 Dobri Zhelyazkov opens the first textile factory in the
Ottoman Empire.
After the Liberation of 1878 Sliven becomes a center of the woolen
textile industry.
The
following buildings have been preserved: St. Sophia Church, St. Demetrius
Church, a clock-tower from 1808, typical commercial buildings, wine
cellars, a compound of National Revival houses - Marinkev house, Patkoolou
house (with a museum), the house of Panayot Hitov - a voivode at the time
of the national-liberation struggles (with a museum) and the house of
Dobri Chintoulov - a schoolmaster and an author of revolutionary songs
(museum-house).
Sinite kamuni (The Blue Stones) - a national park north of Sliven. It
includes the highest regions of Sliven Mountain with picturesque rock
formations (Kouklite, Buchvata, Kamilata, Halkata), caves, deciduous
forests of beech and oak, red deer, deer, rabbit, wild boar, fox, etc.
The park encompasses the mountain climatic resort Karandila (a
rope-way to Sliven). Sliven mineral baths - a balneological resort, 12 km
south-west of Sliven on Toundzha River, at an altitude of 245 m. The
mineral water (temperature of 45 oC,
hydrocarbonate-sulphate-sodium-calcium, nitrogen-carbon-acid) is suitable
for the healing of liver-biliary, nephrological-urological, gynecological
diseases.
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