The city of Bourgas came into existence almost 2000 years ago. At first it served as a trade and military settlement of the town of Apollonia (Sozopol).

Most of the residents were military veterans. The town had various military and fishermen towers, which led to its name being “Pyrgos,” meaning ‘tower.’ Slight changes lead to the nowadays name of the city.

Bourgas, the current name, is connected to the writings of Ottoman historians, who mention it for the first time in 17th century.

Until the end of the 19th century Bourgas remained small and lacked any major role. The first school and church of the settlement were built in 1868. After the end of the Ottoman rule, Bourgas developed into a modern, European city. A conflagration in XIX century destroyed almost the entire city, which had to be rebuilt afterwards. This event contributed to the modern look of the city.

The port of Bourgas was built in 1903 and its trade high school appeared in 1905. The high school prepared young experts to deal with the expanding trade relations with foreign cities. The state mechanical and technical school opened doors in 1925. The high institute of chemistry and technology appeared in 1963.

Today the port of Bourgas is the largest cargo port on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. The airport in the city is one of the busiest in Bulgaria, especially during the summer tourism season.

Contemporary Bourgas features as the largest southeast Bulgarian city and the fourth largest in the country. In terms of trade, it plays a key role. Bourgas is also strategic energy centre because of the presence of Neftochim Bourgas, the largest refinery in the country.

During the summer hundreds of tourists visit the city. Various foreigners are among them. Bourgas offers excellent vacation conditions. It combines beautiful nature and beaches with the commodities available in a bigger city.

Restaurants, caf?s and hotels offer various types of services for the different tourist groups. The marine garden is a quite place giving visitors the chance to take a quite walk and get acquainted with the work of artists and musicians.

Bourgas hosts cultural events, apart from being a tourist center. Its international folklore festival already has 35 years of history and attracts the lovers of Balkan folk music. The national flowers exhibition brings together people enchanted by colors and aroma. Bourgas and the Sea, a national music competition has become important event for Bulgarian musicians.

The romantic proximity to the seashore probably affected Bourgas and made it the birthplace of many famous poets, painters and musicians. All of them contributed significantly to the development of Bulgarian art and culture.

The St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (Bulgarian: Храм-паметник „Свети Александър Невски”, Hram-pametnik „Sveti Aleksandar Nevski”) is a Bulgarian Orthodox cathedral in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Built in Neo-Byzantine style, it serves as the cathedral church of the Patriarch of Bulgaria and is one of the largest Eastern Orthodox cathedrals in the world, as well as one of Sofia’s symbols and primary tourist attractions.

The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is a cross-domed basilica featuring an emphasized central dome. The cathedral’s gold-plated dome is 45 m high, with the bell tower reaching 50.52 m. The temple has 12 bells with total weight of 23 tons, the heaviest weighing 12 tons and the lightest 10 kg. The interior is decorated with Italian marble in various colours, Brazilian onyx, alabaster, and other luxurious materials. The central dome has the Lord’s Prayer inscribed around it with thin gold letters.

The construction of the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral started in 1882 (having been planned since 19th February, 1879), when the foundation stone was laid, but it was in fact built between 1904 and 1912 in honour to the Russian soldiers who died during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, as a result of which Bulgaria was liberated from Ottoman rule. The cathedral was designed by Alexander Pomerantsev, aided by Alexander Smirnov and Alexander Yakovlev, as the initial 1884-1885 project of Ivan Bogomolov was radically changed by Pomerantsev. The final design was finished in 1898 and the construction and decoration were done by a team of Bulgarian, Russian, Austro-Hungarian and other European artists, architects and workers, including the aforementioned architects, as well as Petko Momchilov, Yordan Milanov, Haralampi Tachev, Ivan Mrkvi?ka, Vasily D. Bolotnov, Nikolay A. Bruni, A.A. Kiselyov, Anton Mitov and many others. The marble parts and the lighting fixtures were created in Munich, the metal elements for the gates in Berlin, while the gates themselves were manufactured in Karl Bamberg’s factory in Vienna, and the mosaics were shipped from Venice.

The name of the cathedral was briefly changed to the Sts. Cyril and Methodius Cathedral between 1916 and 1920, but then the initial name was restored. The St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral was proclaimed a monument of culture on 12th September, 1924.

There is a museum of Bulgarian icons inside the cathedral crypt, part of the National Art Gallery. The church claims that the museum contains the largest collection of Orthodox icons in Europe. Around the cathedral one can buy handmade textile and antiques on a small flea market. The St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia occupies an area of 3170 m? and can take 5,000 people inside.

The Rock-hewn Churches of Ivanovo (Bulgarian: Ивановски скални църкви, Ivanovski skalni tsarkvi) are a group of monolithic churches, chapels and monasteries hewn out of solid rock and completely different from other monastery complexes in Bulgaria, located near the village of Ivanovo, 20 km south of Rousse, on the high rocky banks of the Rusenski Lom, 32 m above the river. The complex is noted for its beautiful and well-preserved medieval frescoes.

The caves in the region had been inhabited by monks from the 1220s, when it was founded by the future Patriarch of Bulgaria Joachim, to the 17th century, where they hewed cells, churches and chapels out of solid rock. At the peak of the monastery complex, the number of churches was about 40, while the other premises were around 300, most of which are not preserved today.

Second Bulgarian Empire rulers such as Ivan Alexander and Ivan Asen II frequently made donations to the complex, as evidenced by donor portraits in some of the churches. Other patrons included nobles from the capital Tarnovo, with which the monastery complex had strong ties in the 13th and 14th century. It was a centre of hesychasm in the Bulgarian lands in the 14th century and continued to exist in the early centuries of the Ottoman rule of Bulgaria, but gradually decayed.

The monastery complex owes much of its fame to 13th- and 14th-century frescoes, preserved in 5 of the churches, which are thought of as wonderful examples of Bulgarian mediaeval art. The rock premises used by the monks include the St Archangel Michael Chapel (”The Buried Church”), the Baptistery, the Gospodev Dol Chapel, the St Theodore Church (”The Demolished Church”) and the main Holy Mother of God Church, with the 14th-century murals in the latter one being arguably the most famous of all in Ivanovo and noted as some of the most representative examples of Palaeologan art. Many century-old inscriptions have also been preserved in the monastical premises, including the famous indented inscription of the monk Ivo Gramatik from 1308-1309.

The Rock-hewn Churches of Ivanovo were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979.

Lom is a town in northwestern Bulgaria, part of Montana Province, situated on the right bank of the Danube, close to the estuary of the Lom River. It is 162 km north of Sofia, 56 km southeast of Vidin, 50 km north of Montana and 42 km west of Kozloduy. It is the second most important Bulgarian port on the Danube after Rousse.

Antiquity and Middle Ages
Lom was founded by the Thracians under the name of Artanes in Antiquity. After them the Romans called the fortress and the town Almus, from where the name of the today’s city and of the Lom River comes.

There are no reports proving that there existed a big settlement in the Middle Ages. It was not until Ottoman rule that it enlarged but for a long time it was under the shadow of the dominant towns of Vidin, Nikopol and Silistra. It is assumed that the Ottoman village was founded in 1695 by Kara Mustafa and Murad Bey, who were defeated at Vienna in 1683 and who came here sailing rafts along the Danube.Ottoman rule and

Bulgarian National Revival
The name Lom Palanka was mentioned for a first time in 1704. The settlement then called “palanka” was something between a village and a town in size and importance. In 1798 Lom suffered from brigand raids. With the development of shipping along the Danube after 1830, the importance of the town grew. The road to Sofia contributed to its progress and turned it into a main export port to Vienna (Austria). By 1869 there were 120 shops, 148 trade offices, 175 food shops, 34 coffee bars, 6 hotels and 2 mills. The town was centred around the old Kale (fortress), which was entered through three kapii (gates) – Vidinska, Belogradchishka, Sofiyska. The tradesmen from Lom offered goods at the biggest fairs in the region and beyond. In 1880 there were 7,500 inhabitants in the town.

Lom is proud of its traditions from the period of the Bulgarian National Revival. In 1856 the first community centre in Bulgaria was founded in the town, the first women’s society in the country was also established in 1858 and one of the first theatre performances took place in the town. Krastyu Pishurka, a noted educator, also worked in Lom.

Until the Second world war it was a major market town. After the 1944 the industry developpes – sugar factory, can factory, grain industry. It becomes a port for the southwestern part of Bulgaria.