Harmanli

Coat of arms

Harmanli

Location of Harmanli

Coordinates: 41°56′N 25°54′E / 41.933°N 25.900°E

Country

Bulgaria

Province
(Oblast)

Haskovo

Government

• Mayor

Maria Kirkova

Elevation

60 m (200 ft)

Population (December 2009)

• Total

18,557

Time zone

EET (UTC+2)

• Summer (DST)

EEST (UTC+3)

Postal Code

6450

Area code(s)

0373

Harmanli (Bulgarian: Харманли, Turkish: Harmanlı) is a town in Haskovo Province, South-central Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Harmanli Municipality. As of December 2009, the town has a population of 18,557 inhabitants.

Harmanli came into being in about 1510 along the road that connects Central Europe and Anatolia.

Its territory spreads over some parts of the Upper Thracian Lowlands between the oblique south slopes of the Sredna Gora and precipitous north slopes of the Rhodope Mountains. The south boundary of the Thracian lowlands is outlined by the north Rhodope foot, along which it leans close on the north Rhodopes, between the lower end of the Momina Klisura defile (at 300 m elevation) and the beginning of the Harmanli defile (at 80 m elevation).

The Maritsa River flows near the city. The climate of the area is temperate continental, which determines the variety of the vegetative types, some of which pertain to the evergreen groups (south of Harmanli). The soils are mainly maroon and woody. It is located 270 km from the capital Sofia

The first historical records of it date back to 1530, with the memoirs of Benedit Kuripešič, who would sojourn there as an interpreter in his mission. Skilful masters built a solid caravansaray on the right bank of the Harmanli river (then Oludere). In order to facilitate travelers and tradesmen, a vaulted bridge was built in 1585 by the order of the Ottoman administrator Siyavuş Pasha. The marble inscription on the bridge reads as follows: "The world is a bridge, across which the way of the king and the poor man passes." The hunchbacked bridge has been saved almost intact to this day.

...
Wikipedia