Ruse Province ( Bulgarian : Област Русе , romanized : Oblast Ruse ), or Rusenska Oblast ( Bulgarian : Русенска област , former name Ruse okrug ) is a province in northern Bulgaria , named after its main city, Ruse , neighbouring Romania via the Danube . It is divided into eight municipalities with a total population, as of February 2011, of 235,252 inhabitants.
7-556: The Danube Bridge , one of only two bridges opened over the Danube, is located in the province. One of the versions of a folk song, inspired by the Ruse blood wedding , can be heard in the province. The Ruse province ( област , oblast ) contains eight municipalities ( община , obshtina ; plural общини , obshtini ). The following table shows the names of each municipality in English and Cyrillic ,
14-647: Is a steel truss bridge over the Danube River connecting the Bulgarian bank to the south with the Romanian bank to the north and the cities of Ruse and Giurgiu respectively. It is one of only two bridges connecting Romania and Bulgaria, the other one being the New Europe Bridge between the cities of Vidin and Calafat . Opened on 20 June 1954 and designed by Soviet engineers V. Andreev and N. Rudomazin,
21-506: Is mobile and can be lifted for oversized boats passage. The maintenance of the mobile part is Romania's responsibility and is periodically checked. The bridge was constructed in two and a half years with the aid of the Soviet Union . The Soviets named it the "Friendship Bridge", but, since the fall of the communist regimes in both countries, the bridge got the more functional name of "Danube Bridge". Border control stations are present on
28-516: The 2001 census, when 266,157 people of the population of 266,213 of Rousse Province identified themselves (with percentage of total population): Religious adherence in the province according to 2001 census: Danube Bridge The Danube Bridge (also known as the Friendship Bridge ; Bulgarian : Мост на дружбата , Most na druzhbata or, more commonly, Дунав мост , Dunav most ; Romanian : Podul Prieteniei or Podul de la Giurgiu )
35-412: The bridge is 2,223.52 m (7,295.0 ft) long and was, at the time, the only bridge over the Danube shared by Bulgaria and Romania, with other traffic being served by ferries and land routes. Decorations were designed by Bulgarian architect Georgi Ovcharov . The bridge has two decks; a two lane motorway and a railway. Sidewalks for pedestrians are also included. The central part of the bridge (85 m)
42-642: The bridge, due to its serving as a border crossing between the two countries. Since January 2007 there is no more customs control and the passport/identity card control is done "on one desk" either by the Bulgarian or the Romanian border police, being an "internal border" within the European Union . Border control will be completely removed when Bulgaria and Romania join the Schengen Agreement . On 3 September 2011
49-648: The main town (in bold) or village, and the population of each as of December 2009. The Ruse province had a population of 266,213 (266,157 also given) according to a 2001 census , of which 48.7% were male and 51.3% were female . As of the end of 2009, the population of the province, announced by the Bulgarian National Statistical Institute, numbered 249,144 of which 25.8% are inhabitants aged over 60 years. Total population (2011 census): 235 252 Ethnic groups (2011 census): Identified themselves: 216,612 persons: Ethnic groups according to
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