Elshitsa

Elshitsa Елшица
Village
Elshitsa Town Hall Building
Elshitsa Location in Bulgaria
Coordinates: 42°22′0″N 24°13′0″E
Country	Bulgaria
Province	Pazardzhik
Municipality	Panagyurishte
Government
• Mayor	Peter Chunensky (BSP)
Area
• Total	53,721 km2 (20,742 sq mi)
Elevation	452 m (1,483 ft)
Population  (2024)
• Total	532
Postal code	4538
Area code	03538
Vehicle registration	РА

Elshitsa (Bulgarian: Елшица) is a village in the Panagyurishte municipality, western Bulgaria, with 574 inhabitants as of 2024.

Geography

A church in Elshitsa

The former copper mine

The village is situated in a hilly region at an altitude of 400–450 m, lying in the southern foothills of the central part of the Sredna Gora mountain range as it descends to the Upper Thracian Plain. It is located between the drainage basins of the rivers Luda Yana and Topolnitsa, both left tributaries of the Maritsa. The village falls within the temperate continental climatic zone. The soils are mainly cinnamon forest.

Administratively, Elshitsa is part of Panagyurishte Municipality, located in the northwestern part of Pazardzhik Province. It has a territory of 53.721 km². It is situated almost half-way between the municipal seat Panagyurishte and the provincial center, the city pf Pazardzhik. The closest settlements are the villages of Popintsi to the northeast, Levski to the east, Kalugerovo to the southeast, and Lesichovo to the west. It is served by a municipal road that branches off the second class II-37 road between Panagyuriste and Pazardzhik.

History and culture

The area of Elshitsa has been inhabited since antiquity. The village was mentioned in Ottoman registers of 1586. It participated in the anti-Ottoman April Uprising of 1876 and in the aftermath of its suppression was burnt down by the Ottoman bashi-bazouk. In 1923 it participated in the Communist insurrection, known as the September Uprising.

The village has a school since 1864, a kindergarten, a medical center, a sports hall and a church. The local cultural center, known in Bulgarian as a chitalishte, was established in 1925 was named after the Bulgarian revolutionary and national hero Vasil Levski. There is a monument to the fallen for the national unification in the Balkan Wars and the First World War.

Economy

The region has seen substantial mining, including the Elshitsa epithermal deposit, a large open-pit copper mine active between 1928 and 1999. After the mining activity has been discontinued, the backbone of the economy has returned to agriculture. Crops include cereals, grapes, tobacco. Livestock breeding is also developed, mainly sheep. There is a deer breeding reserve some 4 km northwest of the village.

References

• Георгиев (Georgiev), Владимир (Vladimir) (1981). Енциклопедия България. Том II. Г-З [Encyclopaedia Bulgaria. Volume II. G-Z] (in Bulgarian). и колектив. София (Sofia): Издателство на БАН (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Press).
• Мичев (Michev), Николай (Nikolay); Михайлов (Mihaylov), Цветко (Tsvetko); Вапцаров (Vaptsarov), Иван (Ivan); Кираджиев (Kiradzhiev), Светлин (Svetlin) (1980). Географски речник на България [Geographic Dictionary of Bulgaria] (in Bulgarian). София (Sofia): Наука и култура (Nauka i kultura).