Пещера

A town at the foot of the Rhodopes, famous for the Snezhanka cave and the centuries-old rakien cellars.

The lands around today's Cave have been inhabited since ancient times - archaeological findings in the Snezhanka and Yubileyna caves show traces of life since the Neolithic and Bronze Age. In antiquity, the area was inhabited by the Thracian tribe Besi, and the settlement itself in the Cave Hollow was formed in the second half of the IV century BC. Later, the lands fell successively under Roman and Byzantine rule, and in the Middle Ages they entered the borders of the Bulgarian state, and the area remained closely connected with the monastic life of the Rhodopes and the nearby Bachkovo Monastery. During the Ottoman rule, the settlement was called Peshtera because of the many caves in the vicinity and gradually established itself as a craft and trade center at the foot of the Rhodopes. An ancient fortress is also preserved in the city - Peristera, a late antique and medieval fortification, declared a cultural monument. During the Renaissance, Peshtera experienced a stormy cultural and economic boom. There are three of the most representative revival churches in the region - "St. Dimitar", "St. Petka" and "Assumption of the Virgin", and the Clock Tower (Saata), built around the middle of the 17th century, still marks the center of the city today. The residents actively participated in the national liberation struggles - from Peshtera came the Hajdush voivodes and revolutionaries, among them the brothers Dimitar and Atanas Gorovi. After the Liberation in 1878, the city remained within the boundaries of new Bulgaria and gradually developed craft and industrial production. In 1939, the "Vinprom Peshtera" plant was founded, which over the years became one of the leading Bulgarian producers of wines and high-alcohol beverages - the brands "Peshterska Grozdova", "Peshterska Muscatova" and mastic "Peshtera" became a symbol of the city far beyond the Rhodopes. In the 20th century, Peshtera also developed as a center of the shoe industry, pharmaceutical production and metalworking, along with traditional viticulture and winemaking. In 1961, the Snezhanka cave was officially opened - one of the most impressive underground formations in Bulgaria, with over 600,000 stalactites and stalagmites, which today is among the hundred national tourist sites of the country. Today, Peshtera is the third largest city in the Pazardzhik region, the administrative center of the municipality of the same name, and continues to combine industrial heritage with natural attractions — a gateway to the Western Rhodopes, Batak and Bachkovo Monastery.