
Yambol (the Republic of Bulgaria)

Official web page
Geographical location
The city of Yambol is a municipal and administrative center of Yambol region. The city covers an area of 90.72 square kilometers. It’s located in the Eastern part of the Upper Thracian Valley along the middle course of Tundzha River, 93 kilometers from Black Sea and 65 kilometers from the Turkish border.
History
Due to its history which goes back more than 1700 years Yambol is considered one of the most ancient cities in Bulgaria
as well as in Europe. The medieval fortress in
Economic profile
Industry
Yambol has traditions in the fields of machine-building, metal processing, chemical industry as well as textile industry and furniture production. New industrial branches are also developed in Yambol including production of automobile electrical equipment and plastic waste recycling.
Agriculture
Yambol is a centre of a highly developed agricultural area with favourable soil and climatic conditions along with effective irrigation system. Here field crops such as wheat, barley, maze, sunflowers are grown as well as perennial plants – vineyards, fruit orchards.
Significant attention is being paid towards ecological and bio-crops planting. There is also an interest in breeding animals in conditions similar to their natural environment. Animal breeding is represented by milk cattle-breeding, pig-breeding, poultry-farming, bee-keeping.
Yambol region is one of the leading in the country in terms of freshwater fishing.
Yambol is the city which:
-Is currently implementing EU projects for over EUR 72 million;
-Is open to serious business initiatives;
-Offers excellent conditions for investment in the economy and infrastructure;
-Is a natural logistic centre.
Culture
The popularity of Yambol as a festival city has been increasing during the past years. Municipality of Yambol implements an active policy for preservation and development of local culture. The cultural calendar of the Municipality includes numerous activities and events that set up the unique cultural appearance of the city. Traditional events are “Kukerlandia”, National Celebration of Koledari, National Festival of Puppet Theatre “Mihail Lakatnik”, Theatre Festival “Nevena Kokanova”, Music Festival “Golden Diana”, Thracian Choir Festival, Festival of Brass Music, Biker Convention in the area of “Bakadzhik”. The Municipality is a member of the Federation of European Carnival Cities.
Mummers’ festival “Kukerlandia”
The Mummers’ Festival “Kukerlandia” is the largest festival in town. Since 2005 international participants have been featured in the festival. Yambol has hosted mummers from Ireland, Slovenia, Serbia, Turkey and Macedonia. The number of related events has increased and the leading one today is a photography exhibition – a competition between photographs of mummer’s festivals. Since the beginning of 2010 “Kukerlandia” is a trade mark of Municipality of Yambol protected by patent.
National Celebration of Koledari
The National Celebration of Koledari gathers diversity of Koledari groups from all over the country in Yambol. The festival has a competitive character. It is held every year on the 25th of December. The city of Yambol is proud of its unique Koledari who are the only ones in Bulgaria performing typical dances and songs.
Places of interest
The Bezisten
Yambol Bezisten is a unique architectural monument.Built to meet the commercial needs of town during the time of the Ottoman Empire it is peculiar both with its functionalism and beautifully-curved Oriental shapes of cupolas and arches. Today the exterior part of the Bezisten houses small shops and cafes and together with ”Eski Mosque” construction built at the same time just a few meters away impresses visitors with the beauty of the architectural ensemble in the centre of town. Today the Bezisten runs as a Tourist center.
St. Nicholas the Wonderworker Church
After the liberation of Bulgaria from Turkish slavery at the place of two deserted Turkish houses Russian soldiers built a chapel named “St. Nicholas the Wonderworker” which was officially inaugurated on August 6, 1878. For some time the chapel was the only place for worship in town due to impossibility to hold services in the Holy Trinity and St. George the Conqueror churches. On the place of the former chapel a new church was built in the last decade of the 19th century which up to nowadays inspires with its authentic architecture and internal décor.
The Observatory
The Planetarium in the city of Yambol is the only one in the southeast Bulgaria. It was founded in 1971 and back then was considered the third planetarium in Bulgaria. Thousands of students and residents visit the starry hall annually. Along with the educational and promotional work scientific research is done in the People’s Astronomical Observatory and Planetarium in Yambol. In 1996 a geographical complex was founded at the People’s Astronomical Observatory and Planetarium with a headline “The Man – The Earth – The Sky”. In has a collection of minerals and rocks and hosts educational meteorological platform. An exposition of sundials is available as well.
The
The city park is one of the landmarks of
Bakadzhik Hills
The Bakadzhik Hills are a group of hills located southeast of Yambol along the valley of Tundzha River. The main watershed
of
National Archeological Reserve Kabile
In the vicinity of Yambol the ruins of an ancient town of Kabile are located. It originated as a Thracian settlement around the end of the 2nd and the beginning of the 1st century BC. At the beginning of the 3rd century BC during the rule of two Thracian kings, Spartok and Skostok, it became a capital city of Thracia. In the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC Kabile was the only town in Thracian lands that coined its own money. During the time of Roman domination the town was considered one of the most significant Roman military camps within the province of Thracia. At the end of the 6th century it was destroyed by the Avarian tribes. During the period of 11th – 14th century a small medieval settlement existed there. In 1972 the territory of the town was declared to be a national archeological reservation.
“George Papazov” Art gallery
The gallery was established in 1952 as an artistic department of the
Museum of Military Glory - a call from the past
Yambol Museum of Military Glory is unique in its kind in the country and is located on the ground of former barracks. Here one can see buildings, machines and weaponry presenting the history of Bulgarian army after the Liberation. In a separate exposition maps and photos, uniforms, cold steel,military crosses, medals and flags of the soldiers from 29th Yambol regiment, 42nd and 46th infantry regiments that became famous with their legendary heroism are displayed.
Areas of cooperation between twin-cities
The agreement on cooperation between the commune of the city of
The areas of the cooperation:
- Exchange of creative teams;
- Organization of summer vacation for
- The Russian Centre functioning;
- Exchange of experiences in local self-government.