Belogradchik (; ) is a town in Vidin Province, northwestern Bulgaria, and is the administrative centre of the homonymous municipality. The town is situated in the foothills of the Balkan Mountains just east of the Serbian border and about 50 km south of the Danube River. The town is close to the Belogradchik Rocks, which are major tourist attraction. , it had a population of 4,601.
Geography
thumb|left|[[Belogradchik Rocks at the town]]
thumb|left|Entrance of the [[Belogradchik Fortress]]
Belogradchik is situated at an altitude of 520 m in the western part of the Fore-Balkan, a mountainous chain straddling north of and in parallel with the Balkan Mountains. The town lies next to the Belogradchik Rocks, a major rock formation reaching some 30 km in length that contains outcrops reaches up to 100 m in height, which form a dramatic outline of the town. Close to the town is the source of the Gradska reka, a tributary of the Salashka reka, itself a tributary of the Archar of the Danube drainage.
Belogradchik falls within the temperate continental climatic zone, moderated by the surrounding elevations, which makes the mean annual temperatures higher in comparison with settlements at the same altitude; the average January temperature is −1.4 °C, while in July it is 21.6 °C. The predominant winds are northwestern, northern and western. The annual precipitation reaches 673 mm, with a maximum in January (79 mm) and a minimum in February (32 mm). Snow cover lasts for about 60 days.
History
The region of Belogradchik has been inhabited by humans for over 1 million years. The Kozarnika Cave, located some 6 km north of the town, was used as a hunters' shelter as early as the Lower Paleolithic (1.6–1.4 million BP) and keeps some of the earliest evidence of human symbolic behaviour, as well as the earliest European Gravette flint assemblages. There was a Roman castrum at Belogradchik. During the middle ages the town was part of the First and Second Bulgarian Empires. In the late 14th or early 15th century the settlement was conquered by the Ottomans as a result of the Bulgarian–Ottoman wars. It was mentioned in Ottoman registers of 1454–1455 and by 1560 it was the center of a nahiyah, a regional administrative division. During the Bulgarian National Revival the local population founded a monastery school in 1821. During the Uprising in Northwestern Bulgaria of 1850 the Bulgarian rebels besieged the Ottoman garrison of the Belogradchik Fortress but were defeated by Ottoman reinforcements. On 25 February 1878 the town was liberated as a result of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 and joined the reestablished Bulgarian state. During the Serbo-Bulgarian War of 1885 the Serbs were defeated while trying unsuccessfully to capture Belogradchik.
Demography
The population of Belogradchik increased steadily until the 1980s, after which its growth is negative. According to the 2021 Bulgarian census the town had a population of 5,049, of which 3,825 identified as Bulgarians, 1,052 as Gypsies, 4 as Turks and 168 did not identify or did not respond. The predominant religion is Christianity with some 4,317 people. Most others did not respond, have no religion or could not determine a religion.
There are three schools, two kindergartens and a medical center. The most important architectural landmark is the Belogradchik Fortress, which has some traces of the medieval Bulgarian fortification but its modern appearance dates from an early 19th century Ottoman renovation. Covering an area of 10,210 m<sup>2</sup>, it is spectacularly located among the natural rock surroundings.
The most important landmarks are the Belogradchik Rocks, which consist for various groups of dramatically shaped sandstone and conglomerate rock formations spanning a territory of about 50 m<sup>2</sup>. The rocks vary in colour from primarily red to yellow. They were included in the vote for the New 7 Wonders of Nature.
Another tourist attraction within the municipal borders is the Magura Cave near the village of Rabisha, containing cave paintings dated to 8000 BC. The site is included in the UNESCO's tentative list of World Heritage. Close to the cave is Lake Rabisha, the largest inland natural freshwater lake in Bulgaria.
Gallery
<gallery mode="packed">
File:Belogradchik (Белоградчишк) - view from fortress.JPG | A view of the town
File:Белоградчишки скали,Belogradchik rocks - panoramio (11).jpg | Panoramic view of the rocks
File:Белоградчик - panoramio (14).jpg | The central square
</gallery>