Panagyurishte

Panagyurishte (Панагюрище, also transliterated Panagjurište, panɐˈɡjuriʃtɛ) is a town in Pazardzhik Province, Southern Bulgaria, situated in a small valley in the Sredna Gora mountains. It is 91 km east of Sofia, 43 km north of Pazardzhik. The town is the administrative centre of the homonymous Panagyurishte Municipality. Panagyurishte is an important industrial and economic center. According to the 2021 census, it has a population of 15,275 inhabitants. The town is located in a mountainous area. It lies in the Sredna Gora Mountains. To the north of it, near Panagyurski kolonii, is Mount Bratizha (1519 m). The Luda Yana river flows through the town, which joins with its other part after the village of Popintsi to form the Luda Yana River. The railway station is the last station on the Plovdiv-Panagyurishte railway line. Through the town passes a road, which connects Dospat (in the Rhodope Mountains) through Zlatishki Pass in the Balkan Mountains with the main road A2 - Hemus motorway (at the village of Dzhurovo, Pravets Municipality). Panagyurishte is the administrative centre of the municipality, which includes 9 other settlements. Neighbouring settlements are: the resort settlement Panagyurski kolonii (15 km to the north), the village of Oborishte (10 km to the west), the village of Banya (11 km first to the south and then to the west), the village of Bata (8 km to the south) and the town of Strelcha (12 km to the east). There are dozens of Thracian mounds in the vicinity of the town. In one of them - the mound "Mramor", a burial of a Thracian chieftain was discovered. Not far from it, in 1949, the now world-famous Panagyurishte Treasure was discovered, dating back to the 4th-3rd centuries BC. It is made of pure gold and weighs 6,164 kg. Copies of the nine unique vessels are exhibited in the Historical Museum in the town, while the originals are in museums around the world and in Bulgaria. The convenient location, the nature and the favourable climate of the area attracted people to this region in the Middle Ages.