About Bulgaria - Lovech

Traditional Houses in Lovech

The town of Lovech is situated in the northern part of Bulgaria, east of Sofia and just north of the E772 highway, which continues to Veliko Turnovo. At 200 meters above sea level, Lovech has a beautiful location with many parks and rest areas.

In Stratesh Park, the highest point of the town, there are a great number of lilac bushes, easily seen from the whole town.

The view in the spring is just wonderful! Due to this, Lovech is well- known as the town of lilacs.

It is also one of the oldest towns in Bulgaria. Traces of human activities from very ancient times were found in the region, mainly in the caves near the town.

This is most likely due to its juxtaposition with the mountains, the nearby plains and the river Osam, which runs through the town.

The former Roman citadel Hisarya, which is situated on the hill of the same name, was the place where, in 1187 the peace treaty between Bulgaria and the Byzantine Empire was signed and the independence of Bulgaria was officially declared, marking the restoration of the Bulgarian Empire.

In the 12th century Lovech was a great trade centre and one of the most famous towns in Bulgaria.

However, in 1784 the town was almost totally destroyed by a Turkish army, and of the 20,000 inhabitants only 4,600 survived.

In revolutionary times (against the Ottoman enslavers), Lovech was the centre of operations of the Internal Revolutionary Organization of Vasil Levski, who was arrested by the Turkish military in a village near Lovech called Kakrina and later hanged in Sofia.

The biggest museum of Vasil Levski in Bulgaria, containing many personal items such as notebooks, clothes and weapons is situated in the old town part of Lovech.

Between 1872 and 1874, the Bulgarian master-builder Nikola Fichev,built the famous Covered Bridge over the Osam River, the only one of its kind in the Balkans.

The bridge was burned out in 1925, but rebuilt in 1931. Now it connects the new and the old part of the town and it's full of cafes, small restaurants and many souvenir shops.