Information about the town of Omurtag

Omurtag municipality is located in the eastern part of the region, ranking third in Targovishte Region in area of its territory and population level and in socio-economic and infrastructure plan has a leading position in the region.

The municipality includes parts of the historical and geographical areas Gerlovo Slanik. Has common borders with the municipalities of Targovishte, Antonovo of Targovishte district. On the east it borders the municipality of Shumen Region Vurbitsa and south with the municipality of Kotel Municipality of Sliven. Omortag municipality is crossed by important routes of national and regional importance.
Agricultural land is with the largest absolute and relative share in the land resources of the municipality. They account for 67.4% of the total area of the municipality. They have their own internal structure, of the total amount arable land covers 69.4% and uncultivated areas - 30.6 percent.
Overall the environmental characteristics of the municipality Omurtag is excellent. The favorable geographical location and preserved natural environment create conditions for the development of rural tourism, hunting and fishing. This is one of the main directions of development. The region has abundant game resources represented by red deer, roe deer, wild boar. The municipality has forests and mountain huts. 16 km from Omurtag is Mount Lisets 1130 m, where there are real conditions for the development of winter tourism.
The appearance of the modern landscape is a mosaic character - characterized by hilly, flat, mountainous. This character of the relief is due to the inclusion within the territorial scope of the general parts of the northern slopes East Stara Planina Mountain. Omurtag rid also serves as a link, as a boundary between Lisa and Preslav Mountain Range. Through it also separate the historical and geographical areas Gerlovo and Slanic. The nearest airport is Targovishte. The nearest Sea Ports to which may be directed cargo traffic to and from the municipality are Rousse and Varna. Omurtag municipality in the administrative territorially bounded to the east by the Shumen region , to the west with the municipality Antonovo north of Antonovo and Targovishte and south of Sliven .
The climate is temperate - continental, with hot summers and cold winters. There are some influences that come through the spring from southwest and west moist air masses and transport of tropical air masses originating in the summer. The maximum rainfall is in June, and the minimum - in February. The relative humidity is 72%.   
Available water resources in the municipality are formed by surface water and groundwater. Surface are Ticha River (a tributary of Golyama Kamchiya), Big River (a tributary of Yantra). The rivers have rain - snow mode with a maximum flow in the spring. The river flow is unstable.
Formed low debit springs of fresh, hydro - calcium - magnesium water with total mineralization 0.4 - 0.5g/l.
The municipality prevailing light gray /pseudopodzolic/ soils formed on Mesozoic rocks. Widely distributed are shallow, poorly differentiated skeletal texture and sandy soils that are highly affected by corrosion associated with anthropogenic impact on the land. Soil conditions are average agronomic qualities.
Municipality of Omurtag have a pronounced hilly - foothill and low character. Here dominate pure and mixed forests of oak,hornbeam, beech and linden srebrolista. The trees growing here are mostly spruce, white and red pine. In many places there are red oak , cherry, ash , poplar, acacia and others.
The municipality Omurtag has no designated or proposed to declare protected areas and sites.
The fauna of the municipality is interlinked with certain environmental conditions provided by vegetation, climate, water ,anthropogenic impact. The fauna may be referred to the Northern zoogeographical subregion of Bulgaria. It dominated terrestrial animals typical for Central and Northern Europe. Typical fauna in deforested , rocky terrains are: viper, lizard, black stork, raven, bat , marten, badger, fox, jackal.
Forests of oak and hornbeam inhabited by these species: blindworm, different snakes, lizard, woodpecker, oriole, forest creeper, hare, wild cat, deer, marten, wild boar, wolf.
For about a hundred years nature has completely lost some of its inhabitants - the bear, the lynx. Most of them were destroyed by hunting sites. Others are very rare and endangered. The reasons are complex . One of the main problems in the area is poaching released in respect of certain fauna - deer, wild boar, pheasant.
Omurtag municipality is part of Targovishte and falls in North area. It falls in the list of municipalities outside the urban agglomeration areas experiencing acute need for investment and promoting the development. According to regional statistical office in Targovishte municipality of Omurtag population is 27,371 people, 4965 were adults of retirement age. This makes over 18 % of the population, two thirds of adults are women, mostly living alone. 1440 of the elderly residents of the municipal center Omurtag and constitute 14% of the population of the city. Children up to 18 years, 5783 people, of which under - 7 years old- 1949, 7 - 13 years old- 2864 and 14 -18 years old- 1965 people. The municipality is characterized by high unemployment, which contributes to strong internal and external migration of people of working age; ethnically mixed population: Turkish ethnic group - 67.5 % ; Bulgarian - 20.4%; Gipsy- 11.6%. Unemployment and migration leads to an increase in single elderly people who remain socially isolated in their homes, without the possibility of support and care of the younger members of their families.
Social policy in the region is aimed at improving the quality of life of persons with low income, elderly, disabled, orphans, single mothers, children in need of protection and sick citizens.
Social policy of the Municipality Omurtag seeks to build on the idea of​​:
- Improve and increase the volume of existing social services;
- Providing new forms of social services and improving access to them at risk populations;
- Extension of the partnership with NGOs and other institutions;
- Support for socially vulnerable people and disadvantaged people.
The municipality supports:
Home for children deprived of parental care
Omortag specialized institutions for provision of social services for children from 3 to 7 years.
The institution serves children across the country. Distribution in two groups on the first floor, two on the second - care programs, bedrooms, bathrooms, medical room, kitchen and more.
Capacity is 60 children.
The main target groups are:
- Children in disadvantaged /at-risk/ - children of single parents, orphans or semi-orphans, children whose parents are in a permanent inability to grow them, children whose parents without good reason consistently fail to take care of them children large families;
- Children on the street;
- Children who are victims of violence and crime.
Purposes are:
- Reducing the number of children in the group of permanent residence;
- Improving the quality of life and well-being of children in institutions;
- Provision of educational services to children in mainstream kindergartens with socializing and educational purposes;
- Provision of alternative services - development of professional and voluntary foster care;
- And others.
Day center for adults
The day care center for the elderly at present is implemented by the municipality Omurtag in partnership with the "Centre for Regional Development" Targovishte.
Historical Museum Omurtag
On January 26.1973 in the town Omortag opens museum of Russian -Bulgarian and Bulgarian- Soviet friendship. In 1994 it developed into a historical museum. Today the museum has three restored buildings presents its exposures.
Historical museums exhibition was built to house of Ivanka Hadjiikata. It is the last representative building preserved from the old Osman market (today Omortag ), which revealed to generations the beauty of the painted ceiling iconostasis and the skills of the old masters.
The first impression of the museum visitor gets from the size of the lobby. There in the nineteenth century, the owners were welcoming guests. The chandelier brought from the "Holy Grave", chairs from Vienna, prints from Vasil Levski, Hristo Botev, King Osvoboditel, General Gourko immerse us in the charm of bygone years.
In the first room are presented exhibits and documents from the past Osman pazar under Turkish rule and enlightenment in education facts. Further, the visitor enters the specially constructed internal bath which denotes material capabilities of the owners.
The exhibition dedicated to the Renaissance and national liberation struggles are located in the second room. Their extension is traced in the third hall - Russo -Turkish War and the subsequent regulation of administrative power in the old Osman pazar.
Ground floor of the main museum building presents exhibition dedicated to crafts, economic development of Osman pazar, labor and socialist movement of the time before 1944.
Tangible evidence of the oldest human settlements near Omurtag are located in „Archaeology" section. They show the visitor that the area of the town was a favorite place for habitation even seven thousand years ago. Particular attention cause idol sculpture, pottery, bone and stone ornaments. The funds keep objects from ancient and medieval Bulgaria.
Ethnographic department of the museum is located in a separate building. The exhibition is divided into two parts. The first shows urban life - clothing, furniture, fabrics. Special silver reflections creates a tray that has been prepared as a gift to King Ferdinand I during his visit to the town in 1888. The Royal figure, however, left the city and today the tray, after 120 years of use is left to enjoy the museum visitors. The second hall of the exposition was to recreate rural life in the late nineteenth century. It teaches, especially the younger visitors that the bread was homemade and not taken from the store; that electricity and television are too recent benefits for mankind, that the fireplace that burns is not only a fashion thing but the focus of the family life, and only up until 60-70 years, and more and more...
Among the exhibits in the museum will be particularly important place takes the space suit of the born in Omurtag Alexander Alexandrov - the second Bulgarian cosmonaut.
To present to the scientific community and the general public; the rich history of the city Omurtag and the adjacent to it settlements- Gerlovo and Tozluka, Historical Museum issued two series of specialized collections of research: "City Omurtag and Omurtag region - history and culture" and " Sources for the history of Omortag city".
History
Omurtag City is a settlement with a rich historical past. The healthy climate, availability of water sources and the good conditions for the development of animal raising and agriculture made the region comfortable for living and development of different civilizations.
The earliest traces of human settlements in the area date back to 5000 BC. Researches shows that our ancestors were growing wheat and barley; kneading bread, raised domesticated animals, traded with the peoples inhabiting the shores of the Mediterranean, worked stone and bone to populate and cultivate lands.
With the development of civilization in the Bulgarian lands around the modern city Omurtag continued to attract settlers and settlement life in antiquity was not interrupted. This area, located at the crossroads near the Balkan passes acquires strategic importance. And it is no coincidence that the ancient peoples who inhabited these lands have built here many fortresses whose ruins can be seen today.
In the Middle Ages Omurtag region is an important military and commercial area, as it is located on the road between the old capital Preslav and Veliko Tarnovo.
With the arrival of the Ottoman Turks settlement life here was not interrupted. The city was named Ala Kilisa, and from the seventeenth century onwards - Osman pazar. It is an important road junction in which crossed are routes to Veliko Tarnovo, Ruse, Shumen, Varna, Kotel and south to Yambol, Sliven, Odrin, the Aegean Sea and Constantinople. Osman pazar gradually became an administrative center for a vast economic development.

During the Russo -Turkish War the city was partially destroyed, but quickly recovered from the damage.
From here on Osman pazar begins it`s new life within the free Bulgaria. In the region there is a significant demographic and population changes. Part of the Turkish population emigrated, and in its place came Bulgarians from Kyustendil, Tran, Bossilegrad. The city continues to be the administrative, economic and cultural center of Tozluka and part of Gerlovo.
In 1934 the town was renamed from Osman pazar to Omurtag.
Omortag city is the birthplace of Bulgarian martyr Saint John Trapezundski, Academician Daki Yordanov, the second Bulgarian cosmonaut Alexander Alexandrov.