Dimitrovgrad (Serbia)

Dimitrovgrad Димитровград Caribrod
Town and municipality
Panorama of Dimitrovgrad
Coat of arms
Location of the municipality of Dimitrovgrad within Serbia
Coordinates: 43°01′N 22°47′E / 43.017°N 22.783°E / 43.017; 22.783Coordinates: 43°01′N 22°47′E / 43.017°N 22.783°E / 43.017; 22.783
Country	Serbia
Region	Southern and Eastern Serbia
District	Pirot
Settlements	43
Government
• Mayor	Veselin Veličkov (DS)
Area
• Municipality	483 km2 (186 sq mi)
Elevation	545 m (1,788 ft)
Population (2011 census)
• Town	6,247
• Municipality	10,056
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	18320
Area code	+381 10
Car plates	PI
Website	www.dimitrovgrad.rs

Dimitrovgrad (Serbian Cyrillic: Димитровград) is a town and municipality located in the Pirot District of the eastern Serbia. According to 2011 census, the municipality of Dimitrovgrad has a population of 10,118 people and the town 6,278.

The official Serbian name is Dimitrovgrad (Димитровград), but the name Caribrod (Цариброд) is also used in Serbian. In Bulgarian, the name Tsaribrod (Цариброд) is preferred because there is another town called Dimitrovgrad on the Maritsa river in Bulgaria and Tsaribrod was used before the town was named after Georgi Dimitrov, a Bulgarian Communist leader who advocated a union between the Bulgarians and remaining Yugoslav nations to form the Balkan Federation. The idea was abandoned when Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito failed to reach agreements with Joseph Stalin (Tito-Stalin split), however Dimitrov himself did not become unpopular in Yugoslavia from the breakdown and subsequently, the name of the town continued to be in honour of him despite many Bulgarians themselves having preferred Caribrod.

There have been attempts to return the old name, Caribrod, but the last referendum, held on Sunday, June 13, 2004, was invalid due to a low turnout. Only 47.8% of the 9,811 voters on the electoral roll turned out to vote, while 50% was the required minimum. Of those who voted on the issue, 2,586 were in favour of keeping the name Dimitrovgrad, while 1,786 wanted the name Caribrod to be returned.

The Roman road Via Militaris was built in the 1st century AD and went through the town. In May 2010, well-preserved remains of the road were excavated during the work on Corridor 10.