Information about the town of Shumen

The town of Shumen has a population of 89 054 and is 220 m above sea-level. It is situated at the eastern mouth of the Shumen Plateau, on either bank of the Bokloudga river. The town is 380 km north-east of Sofia, 115 km south-east of Ruse, 90 km west of Varna, 140 km north-east of Veliko Tarnovo, 41 km east of Targovishte, 49 km south-east of Razgrad, 113 km south of Silistra, and 56 km north-east of Vurbitsa.

History & Landmarks
History: Shumen is an old town of fortresses. Its foundation and development were connected with the fortresses at the eastern end of the Shumen Plateau. The famous fortress of Shumen was built in four basic periods: early and late antiquity, and early and late Middle Ages. It was first created by the Thracians and then consequently inhabited and built on by the Romans, the Byzantine, the Bulgarians and the Turks.

Together with Pliska and Preslav, Shumen was an old Bulgarian fortification of 7th-10th centuries and it developed into a feudal town with a castle and an interior fortress, a number of churches, workshops (12th-14th centuries). This is the place where Tsar Ivan Shishman’s inscription was found. The inscription announced the Tsar’s visit to Shumen.

The Arabian traveller Idrisi first mentioned it as Simeonis (Shimeonit) in 1153. Some consider that it comes from Tsar Simeon’s name. In 14th century people called it Shoumna or Shumen. Most probably it has the meaning of “shouma” (foliage) or “zaShumen” (covered up with branches) because it was situated in such an area. In 12th-14th centuries Shumen was a significant military, administrative and economic centre surpassing even the old capital of Preslav, and growing outside the fortifications.

The town fell under Turkish rule after a long siege. It was turned into a well-fortified military town with a big garrison within the fortress. It housed a lot of Turks, Jews, Tartars, and Armenians. The town was mentioned with different names like Shumena, Shoumna, Shoumoular, Soumounoum, and of course in the last centuries of the domination as Shumen. In 18th and particularly in 19th century it developed as an important crafts centre, which was one of the preconditions for an active cultural life. On 22nd May 1813 here was held the first in Bulgaria civil celebration of the day of the Saint brothers Cyril and Methodius, and the first theatre performance. In 1828 the first monastery school for young girls was founded. In 1846 the first amateur associations in the schools were established. After the defeat of the Hungarian Revolution (1848) many Hungarian revolutionaries emigrated to Shumen with Layosh Koshout at the head; these actively participated in the cultural life of the town. Due to them in 1851 the first symphonic orchestra conducted by Shafran was set up. Shumen is the town of the first class school for young girls and the first communal cultural centre (1856). The first works of drama were written in Shumen: “Mihal” (1853) by Sava Dobroplodni. The town hosted one of the first theatre performances (1856). The first Bulgarian short story “Miserable Family” (1860) by Vassil Droumev from Shumen, founder of Bulgarian theatre, was written here, as well as “School Theatre - the Wealthy Man” (1864) by Dobri Voinikov from Shumen, too. Born in Shumen, Panayot Volov was one of the main apostles of the Fourth Revolutionary District at the time of the April Rebellion (1876). He died on 25th May 1876 near Byala (Rousse district).

After the Liberation the town fell in decay because of the loss of markets for the crafts, the migration of Turks and the comparatively cheap and of high quality industrial goods from the West competing with the local production. The town gradually recovered and in 1882 the first Bulgarian brewery was established with Czech capital; “Shumen Beer” is still among those much sought after.

In the period between 1950-1965 the town bore the name of Kolarovgrad but after that it regained its old name of Shumen. Because of its proximity to the first capitals of Danubian Bulgaria (Pliska and Preslav), and the Madara Knight, as well as because of its rich historical past, in 1981 Shumen was chosen as centre of the celebrations dedicated to the 1300th anniversary of the foundation of the Bulgarian state by Asparuh. The great Bulgarian composer Pancho Vladigerov was born in the town. The historical conditions and the natural environment make it a first-class tourist centre.

Landmarks: The “Founders of Modern Bulgaria” complex is located on Ilchov Bair south of the town. With the means of architecture and sculpture the whole of the Bulgarian history from Khan Asparuh to Tsar Simeon is depicted. It was officially opened in 1981. There is an information centre and two restaurants.

The Town Museum of History was founded in 1904 by Rafail Popov. The Pancho Vladigerov Museum Complex. The Layosh Koshout House-Museum. The Panayot Volov House-Museum. The Dobri Voinikov House-Museum.

There are four interesting cultural monuments in Shumen traced back to the epoch of late Middle Ages. The first one is called Bezistena; it was built to serve the traders from Doubrovnik in 16th century. At present an original restaurant is housed there. The second one is The Clock Tower of 1741 being a stone prism with a built-in drinking-fountain (with rich ornamentation and an inscription). The interesting Kourshoum Cheshma (Bullet Drinking-Fountain) (1744) is located in the most lively in the past administrative and commercial part of the town. The drinking-fountain is covered with lead tiles where its name comes from.

The Sveto Vaznesenie Church (St. Ascension) of 1829 is of great interest, too. Kazandgiiska Street has been restored, a reminder of the 50 crafts in the past. You can see beautiful houses from the Revival Period in the Cherkovna Quarter.

There are a number of cultural institutes in Shumen as well: Vassil Droumev Theatre of Drama. The Patilancho Puppet Theatre. The Elena Karamihailova Art Gallery. Shumen is a university centre. There is the Konstantin Preslavski University.

Accommodation: The Shumen Hotel Complex is a four-star, in the central part of the town. It offers 430 beds, restaurants, bars, cafes, discos, halls, a swimming pool. The Madara Hotel (three-star, in the centre of the town). It offers 200 beds, a restaurant, cafe-confectioneries. The Orbita Hotel (two-star). It offers 30 beds, a restaurant and a cafe. The Lyubomir Targovski Tourist House. It offers 14 beds in two-, and three-bed rooms.

Transport: There are regular bus lines from Shumen to Varna, Rousse, Turgovishte, Razgrad, Silistra, Karnobat, Pliska, Preslav and other smaller towns and villages in the district. The central bus station and the railway station are next to each other situated in the eastern part of the town, behind the town park. Shumen is an important railway station on Sofia-Varna railway line. It is a starting point for the railway line to Karnobat. Near Shumen is the town of Kaspichan where the railway forks to Rousse and Silistra. The nearest operating airport is that in Varna. There is public bus transport in Shumen.

Surrounding areas: The Kyoshkovete Park is located in the west proximity of the town, on the territory of the Shumen Plateau National Park. There are wonderful venerable beech-trees, numerous alleys, rest homes, tourist routes and Boukatsite Mountain Hut (5 km away from Shumen, 1.5 km from the village of Troitsa, and 3 km from the village of Osmar; a bus line connects the three villages. It offers 20 beds; there are medieval monasteries cut in the rock). In the Kyoshkovete are the remains of the Shumen Fortress (2 km west of the town) - a real treasure for archaeologists (see the historical information). There is public bus transport.

Some 15 km east of Shumen is the unique Madara Historical-Archaeological Reserve consisting of several sights of exceptional value. First of all, this is the rock bas-relief of the Madara Knight representing a horseman with a sceptre in the right hand and a shepherd’s crook in the left; a lion, a dog and a snake are depicted under the horse. It was considered a symbol of the victorious march of Bulgarian rulers at the dawn of the Bulgarian state. The latest approach to the inscription is based on the Persian (East Indo-European) heritage. The horseman is the Earth correspondence of the Sun, the dog – of the Moon, the lion refers to the Lion constellation with the Regul main star. The computer analysis based on the latest software related to astronomy implies that the position of the Sun, the Moon and the Regul star as is on the bas-relief, has happened in 165AD (the year of the Snake). This year amazingly coincides with the year considered a beginning of Bulgarian statehood, as specified in the Name List of Bulgarian Khans, a written monument of the 8th century. These lead to the conclusion that Bulgarians have Indo-European roots and culture and are a highly civilized state-founding people. This unique monument of worldwide importance is under the protection of UNESCO. At the bottom of the steep cliffs near the relief are the remains of buildings of various epochs - palaces, an ancient Bulgarian pagan sanctuary of 9th century, churches and monasteries of 11th-14th centuries.

A flight of 386 steps in the rock lead to the Madara Plateau and the Madara Fortress - the remains of the Bulgarian fortress called Matora existed till 1386. At the south-west mouth of the Plateau is the Roman Villa - the remains of a Roman mansion (living and farm houses). The whole of Madara region is known as “the Bulgarian Troy”. A tourist village sprang up in the immediate vicinity of the rocks; there is a rich archaeological museum, a hotel, a camping site and Madara Knight Chalet (80 beds in two-, three-, four-, five-bed rooms)

One and a half kilometre away from the Madara Rocks and the tourist village is the village of Madara itself with a railway station on the Sofia-Varna line and a regular bus line to Shou-men. Eight kilometres south-west of Shumen is the village of Osmar famous for its renowned red wine called Osmarski Pelin (Osmar’s Wormwood), which has as an ingredient the bitter herb of wormwood. There is regular bus transport.

The Kabiyuk studfarm is several kilometres north of the town. It is situated in a beautiful park with own race-course and ride hall (70 m long, 24 m wide). You can find here the unique horse museum, the summer residence of Prince Alexander Batenberg (a museum at present), a chapel with valuable icons. An excellent place for rest and horse riding practice. Regular bus transport available.