a city in southern Bulgaria, on the Maritsa River. Picturesquely situated in the hills of the western part of the Upper Thracian Lowland, 25 km north of the Rhodope Mountains. Administrative center of Plovdiv District. Second largest city in Bulgaria; also second in economic and cultural importance. Population, 260,000 (1973).
A transportation junction, Plovdiv is an important center for the machine-building and electrotechnical industries. Local enterprises manufacture electric motors, electronic equipment, hydraulic machinery, and woodworking machines. The food and condiment industry is represented by enterprises that produce canned goods, sugar, and tobacco, and the textile industry, by plants that produce cotton cloth and silk. Other industries include the production of garments, footwear, glass, and pulp and paper and the processing of leather and furs. A growing chemical industry produces chemicals for agricultural uses, pharmaceuticals, and essential oils. Near the city is a large lead and zinc combine.
International trade fairs have been held in September since 1933. Educational establishments include medical, agricultural, and food-processing institutes. There are scientific research institutes for vegetable growing, fruit growing, and the food and condiment industry. Plovdiv has archaeological and ethnographic museums, a municipal art gallery, and drama and people’s amateur opera theaters.
Trimontium, the old section of Plovdiv, has an irregular layout. It was declared a historic district in 1956. Architectural monuments include remains of ancient fortifications, a minaret built in 1456, and the Dzhuma Mosque, which dates from the 15th to 16th century. Among numerous buildings from the Bulgarian Renaissance are the Church of St. Constantine and St. Helen, which dates from 1832 and has murals painted by Z. Zograf, and houses decorated with carving and painting. The latter include the Lamartine house and the Koumdzhioglu house, which was built in 1847 and is now the Ethnographic Museum. Since 1944, new residential areas have been built, as have the International Fair complex (1948–49), the Wedding Palace (1962), the Maritsa Hotel (1967), and the monument to the Soviet Army Alesha (1955–57, sculptor V. Radoslavov).