a city in northwestern Bulgaria, in the northern foothills of the Stara Planina (Balkan Mountains). Administrative center of the Vratsa district. Population, 48,000 (1969). It is a transportation junction. On the basis of local raw materials, the gas and cement industries are developing near Vratsa. A large-scale combine operates in Vratsa producing nitrogen fertilizers using the gas of the Chiren field. Vratsa also has a textile industry (cotton, silk, and hemp products), food and wood-processing enterprises, and machine building. In the center of Vratsa there is a monument to the poet-revolutionary Kristo Botev, who was killed near the city. The karstic Ledenica Cavern is in the Vratsa area.