Peshtera ( Bulgarian : Пещера [ˈpɛʃtɛrɐ] , sometimes transliterated as Peštera ) is a town in the Rhodope Mountains , southern Bulgaria . It is located in Pazardzhik Province near the towns of Batak and Bratsigovo . The town is the third largest in the province after Pazardzhik and Velingrad and is the forty-fifth largest in Bulgaria. It is the administrative center of the municipality Peshtera. According to the 2021 census, Peshtera has a population of 15,175 inhabitants. At about 5 km to the south, along the road to Batak, is one of the most visited caves in Bulgaria — Snezhanka . Near the town is located the Peshtera Hydroelectric Power Station . The town is well known for producing the alcohol beverage mastika under the brand Peshterska .
7-534: The Peshtera Hydro Power Plant (before 1992: Kimon Georgiev Hydro Power Plant ) is an active underground hydroelectric plant in Peshtera , Bulgaria . It is part of the Batak Hydropower Cascade . It has 5 individual Pelton turbines which can deliver up to 136 MW of power. This article about a Bulgarian building or structure is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about
14-604: A hydroelectric power plant is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Peshtera Peshtera (461 m asl) is located in the foothills of the Rhodope Mountains, at 18 km from Pazardzhik and 38 km from Plovdiv and 125 km from the national capital Sofia . The river Stara reka , a right tributary of the Maritsa , flows through the town. The local climate is temperate and sudden temperature fluctuations are uncommon. Peshtera average annual temperature
21-473: A population of 4,704 and 876 households. Industry is the most important sector of the town's economy. The two largest factories are "Biovet Peshtera", producing antibiotics and medicines, and "Vinprom Peshtera", producing alcoholic beverages. A number of smaller plants produce metal constructions, footwear and food. Peshtera Glacier on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands , Antarctica
28-491: Is 12.6 °C. Rainfall is relatively high – from 670 to 680 L/m year. The population of Peshtera includes several ethnic communities. Bulgarians are prevailing, but there are also Turks, Roma and Aromanians . The latter ones have established an Aromanian cultural organization in Peshtera and have their own cultural tradition in the town. The number of Roma in the municipality is approximately 4,000. Different ethnic groups in
35-608: The town have always lived in harmony and tolerance. Peshtera presents an example of integration and understanding of all ethnic groups. The first traces of human presence in the area date from the Neolithic . The Thracian tribe of the Bessi inhabited the area in Antiquity and the settlement in the Peshtera Valley emerged in the fourth century BC. The earliest piece of writing documenting
42-714: The town's name dates from 1479, when Peshtera was part of the fief of a certain Mustafa in the Ottoman Empire . During the Bulgarian National Revival , many churches, bridges, fountains, schools and houses were built. The first secular school in Peshtera was opened in 1848, while the Nadezhda ('hope') community centre emerged in 1873. Many local residents took part in the armed struggle for the Liberation of Bulgaria . Peshtera
49-504: Was liberated during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 on 6 January 1878. In 1876, the town had 800 households, of which 500 Bulgarian , 60 Aromanian and about 250 Turkish and Romani . The first official Bulgarian census in 1880 stated 758 households and 3,871 inhabitants, of which 2,618 Bulgarians, 856 Turks, 341 Greeks (mostly Aromanians counted as such), 53 Roma and a single Karakachan . Five years later, in 1885, Peshtera had
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