Vidin - Lom trip

Rising proudly on the southern bank of the Danube, the impressive Baba Vida fortress is probably the greatest pride of Vidin, as well as the most famous tourist attraction in this area.       

Baba Vida was built in the tenth century, establishing the city of Vidin as the key fortress of this often rebellious and separatist north-western region of the Bulgarian empire. Although conquered for a short while by Hungarians and Austrians, the Turks were the last to use the castle as a fortification until the end of the 18th century.

Remarkably, the Baba Vida fortress has been preserved in its entirety, including a moat, two curtain walls and numerous defence towers to be visited and walked across. Cross the swing bridge in the main courtyard to see the medieval prison and torture chambers, and then climb the tunnel to the upper level to admire canons from the Ottoman era and be fascinated by the views of the river!

The Belogradchik rocks are among the most famous landmarks in the region of Vidin and also in Bulgaria. They can be seen in the western part of Belogradchik and are made up of hone and conglomerates in shifting colours from Triasic, the Mesozoic era.

The natural site has been protected since 1987 and offers fantastic outlines - silhouettes of people, towers, ships, mushrooms, obelisks, palaces and animals. The most remarkable are: Adam and Eve, Sphinx, Schoolgirl, Nun, Bear, Madonna, Marriage, Dinosaurs, Lion and others.

The Belogradchik rocks are a natural site and a national area of unique beauty.

Ratsiaria was a big and important city on the Danube. Its remains lie in the Kaleto area, 1 km northeast of the actual village of Archar, about 27 km southeast of Vidin

The city was built during the Roman Empire, but on these lands there was a Thracian settlement in the 4th century BC. In Roman times there lived Roman patricians (aristocrats), and nearby Bononia (today Vidin) was only a small military camp.

An important period for the city of Ratsiaria is the years of the emperor Vespasian (69-79). There are many discoveries of that time, including silver and gold coins. During his administration, the city became stronger and the Danube fleet was strengthened.

Archaeological studies have discovered a lot of valuable architectural fragments, sculptures, funerary stones and inscriptions, sarcophagi, etc.

"Venetsa" cave is located in Kraishte locality, about 3 km. away by Gara Oreshets village. It was discovered in 1970 during blasting a quarry near station of Oreshets.

In subsequent years, the cave has been studied and mapped by the cave Club "Bell prilep" (White bat). The cave has corridors with a length of 200 meters and 5 falls.

"Venetsa" is one of the most unique and beautiful caves in Bulgaria. It is declared a natural monument because of its exceptionally beautiful colourful stone formations and ice crystals, resembling flowers, figures and animals.

Unfortunately, in the past the cave was broken several times and stalactites and stalagmite were destroyed. In order to safe it against attacks of vandals, years ago its entrance was concreted.

Konaka museum in town of Vidin is housed in building that is a unique architectural and cultural monument of local significance.

It was built up in the XVIII-th century and served as a Turkish police station. After the Liberation from the Ottomans it was reconstructed and Bulgarian Renaissance architecture elements were introduced.

The museum was open in 1956. The exposition traces back the history of the Vidin region from the remote past to the Liberation.

Konaka museum is part of Vidin Regional Historical museum.

Address of Konaka museum: 2, Obshtinska Str., Vidin

The construction of the cathedral church in Vidin began in 1885, and due to its elaborate architecture, it remains one of the largest and most beautiful Orthodox cathedrals in Bulgaria.

Designed by Bulgarian and Austro-Hungarian architects and Italian engineers, St. Dimitar Cathedral Temple combines Orthodox and Western influences. And it’s clock on the tower, built by the Munich watchmaker, Johann Mannhardt, has been operating without error since 1900!

Inside the church you can see some impressive and unusual Art Nouveau frescoes from the 1920s. On one of the walls, the artist painted heroes of the Bulgarian Renaissance in the XIXth century, such as Vasil Levski, Hristo Botev and Georgi Rakovski. The heroes are depicted in medieval clothing! Moreover, they are all illustrated as being blessed by the Bulgarian national saint, John of Rila, who lived in the tenth century. For the interior of a religious site, the painting is truly bizarre and truly unorthodox!

Island of Ibisha (aka Tsibar) is situated along the Danube river, near the village of Dolni Tsibar (east of town of Lom and west of Kozlodiy). With its surface area of ​​0.9 km2 the island gets 23rd position among the Bulgarian Danube Islands.

Island of Ibisha consists mainly of river sediments - sand and silt. It is overgrown mostly with typical for the Danube islands floodplain forests and low shrubs.

At the island are declared two protected areas - the protected area "Island Tsibar" at the northwest part and the reserve "Ibisha" in the southeastern part.

Here is the biggest for Bulgaria colony of herons and cormorants. In 1997 the area was designated by "BirdLife International" as an Important Bird Area.  

The Municipal Museum of Varshetz was founded in 1999. The building, where the museum is housed, has unique architecture. 

Museum exposition:

- "Antique"

- "Archaeological Finds and Coin Collection"

- "Wellness"

- "Ethnography"

The museum has lots of exhibits and Treasures from Thracian and Roman times, documents and archival photographs of the town's history as a spa resort , and a rich ethnographic collection of clothing and household items of people from the region.

Prominent among the exhibits is an unique bronze statue from IIc BC. of a Thracian boy - god TELESPHOR which today is a symbol of Varshetz.

Address of Municipal Museum Varshetz: street "Republic", 3540 Varshetz

The Art Gallery in Varshetz is housed in the building of the old secondary school, built in 1872. The Gallery has more than 600 paintings and sculptures from wood, clay and gypsum.

The gallery is compiled by the donations of art workshops held during the traditional "Feast of the resort, mineral water and the Balkans".

The Historical Museum in Lom was founded on September 20, 1925, as the Lom Archaeological Society "Almus" with a museum, initiated by Dr. Petar Kardzhiev (graduated in St. Petersburg, former Mayor of Shumen).

The building in which the Historical Museum is located today was built after the Liberation (1878) on the initiative of the First District Chief of Lom, Captain Pavel Dmitrievich Nechayev, for the purpose of a Municipal House. On the western and southern facades of the building and on the insistence of captain Nechayev were installed  five epigraphic monuments from the Roman era.

            At present the museum has the following departments: "Archeology", "Bulgaria XV - XIX c.", "New and Recent history", "Ethnography" and "Art". The permanent exhibition is situated on the two floors of the museum building, as follows: "Krustiu Pisturka and the first theatrical performances in Lom", "Lomski skella (harbor)", "Deities and images from Crete and Mycenae (late bronze necropolis near Orsoya village , "Lom - the last decades of the XIX century - the 40s Of XX century (administrative structure, economy, crafts and cultural life), "Cold and fire weapons. " The museum has a hall for temporary exhibitions.

The Ancient Fortress of Almus is located in the present-day city of Lom, in the residential quarter of Kaleta. It was declared a cultural landmark in Issue № 98 of the State Decrees for 1971. There was ongoing research at the site from 1986 to 1990, undertaken by a team of archaeologists from the Lom Museum of History.

The Almus Fortress is mentioned in a number of ancient accounts, and the fortress is also identified on Western European maps of the 16th-18th centuries.

There has been ongoing archaeological research on a site that is 70 meters long on the western fortress wall. The western wall is 2.2 meters high and has a total length of 200 meters. The fortress is in the shape of an irregular pentagon with the approximate dimensions of 250 meters on the north, 200 meters on the west, and 220 meters on the east, with rectangular towers and corners.

The fortress covers an area of 4.1 hectares.

Excavations at the fortress have unearthed many artefacts from the ancient world and from the Middle Ages. These are now preserved in the Lom Museum of History.

The remains of the fortress Castra ad Montanesium are located in south-western edge of town of Montana (Northwestrn - Bulgaria), about 40 m above the level of the town. The archaeological excavations in the region have revealed a gate with a big tower (a brilliant example of III - IV century fortress construction), military buildings, basilica and masonry from the Roman era, stone  houses dating back to the Copper Age, Slavic homes and sanctuaries.

The fortress was destroyed in VI - VII century in one of the Avarian or Slavic raids. A Slavic village was later built over the ruins.

Most of the finds discovered here are kept in the Historical Museum of Montana.

Art gallery „Kiril Petrov” stated its activity with a small exhibition in 1971. Collection gathered for decades preserved and promotes creations of generations of artists from the mid-19th c to the present day. Among the works are painting of Nikolay Pavlovich, Ivan Markvichka, Georgi Danchov, Yaroslav Veshin, Vladimir Dimitrov – the Master, Sirak Skitnik, Dimitar Boyadzhiev, Kiril Petrov, Dechko Uzunov, Georgi Pavlov – Pavleto and many other classics of Bulgarian art. There are also contemporary Bulgarian artists who worked in the late 20th c.: Genko Genkov, Dimitar Kazakov- Neron, Svetlin Rusev, Emil Stoychev, Georgi Bojilov – the Elephant and others. In the fund of the gallery there are painting of authors from Montana: Prof. Galilei Simeonov, Teodosi Antonov, Venelin Zahariev, Nikolay Penkov, Evgenya Kraicheva and other. According to the specialists, the collection of paining in the Art gallery is one of the richest in the country. General fund contains about 2 500 Nos. creations, and the permanent exhibition in the newly opened building – about 150 Nos. works, mostly classics in fine and applied arts. Works of printmaking, painting and small sculpture represent the different stages of Bulgarian fine art development. Impressive by its art value is the collection of icons.