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Rousse is the largest Bulgarian city (184,000 residents) on the Danube river. It is situated in the north-eastern part of Bulgaria, at 300 km from the capital Sofia.
The town was founded at the time of the Roman emperor Vespasian over the period of 69 - 79 AD as a fortress called Sexaginta Prista, meaning Harbour of the Sixty Ships. The fortress existed up to the 6th century when the Avars brought it to ruins.
In the Middle Ages the region of Rousse was among the most developed areas of the Bulgarian state. At the time of the Ottoman Yoke Rousse (Rouschouk) was an important fortress and the maingate to the north of the Turkish empire.
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In the 19th century, Rousse was the first town in Bulgaria to acquire a pronounced European look. For its economic and cultural prosperity at the turn of the century the town gained the nickname "Little Paris". |
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The first newspaper printed in Bulgaria in Bulgarian came out in Rousse in 1865. The building of the Rousse - Varna railway which was the first of its kind in the Balkan Peninsula largely contributed to the growing significance of the town. The first public pharmacy and the first bookshop were opened in Rousse. In 1871 the first teachers' association was set up here.
After the Liberation in 1878, still one of the largest towns in Bulgaria, Rousse became the cradle of the Bulgarian shipbuilding when the first iron ship was built in 1881. The first private bank ”Girdap” with authorized capital of 5 million golden francs and the insurance company ”Bulgaria” |
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were established in 1881.
The first Chamber of commerce and industry in Bulgaria was established in Rousse in 1895. In 1897 just two years after the show of the Lumiere brothers in Paris, the residents of Rousse were the first to see the motion pictures.
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Rousse is the most active and authoritative cultural centre on the lower Danube. It is the host-town of several significant annual cultural events: |
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the March Music Days International Festival of symphony, cantata and oratorio music, the International Jazz Festival, the Golden Rebec Folk Festival and the International Theatre Festival ”Danube - European river, Danube - Balkan river”. |
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Rousse District Library was established in 1888 and actively participates in the town’s cultural life. It helds British, French and German information centres. The library possesses today over 700,000 books and documents in 18 languages.
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Rousse Museum of History was established in 1904. It has five departments – Archaeology, Nature, Ethnography, Bulgarian history of the 14th - 19th centuries and New history. |
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Rousse has 3 permanent exhibitions: in the Museum of 19th - 20th centuries town’s life and culture; in the House-museum ”Zahary Stoyanov” and in the National Revival Pantheon.
Rousse Art Gallery was opened in 1933. It preserves and exhibits national and foreign artworks.
Some 23 km south-west of Rousse there is an unique archeological reserve - the remarkable Ivanovo rock monasteries. Located at a height of 6 to 8 metres, the cells have been inhabited by monks until the 17th century. Chronicles and the preserved church murals show that the community of hermits also created a blossoming literary center during the 13th - 14th centuries. The rock monasteries have been evaluated as an important stage in the development of European culture and recorded on the UNESCO List of World Cultural Heritage. The Ivanovo churches contain some of the best frescoes of Bulgarian religious art.
At 7 km south-west of Ivanovo is the Fortress of Cherven, dated from the Middle Ages. It was one of the most important military, economical, cultural and religious centres of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom. The ruins are restored and can be visited.
The river Rusenski Lom is a flow into the Danube south-west of Rousse, hewing out a picturesque canyon in the Danubian valley with its meanders and vertical rocks. To preserve this natural wealth, the area was pronounced a National Park. The biggest treasure of the Park are the birds, so it is included in the List of Europe's most important ornitological sites. |
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