The town of Kilifarevo

Kilifarevo is situated in the North part of Bulgaria, 12km south of Veliko Tarnovo. The information about the history of the town is very poor. The mounds in the area are a proof for the existence of Thrace tribes. Tracks from the Roman time were found as well. In that period the fortress called Hisaria was built. In its southern parts remains from an old wall, 1m wide, were found. There was a ditch around the fortress. There were also towers, 11m wide and 17m long in its ends. Teodosii Tarnovski received one of the fortresses, guarding the passage Hainboaz, from Tzar Ivan Aleksandar. It was turned into a school, known as the School of Teodosii Tarnovski. A lot of monks were being trained in it. The first written information was from the writings of St. Teodosii Tarnovski. They read that a Kefalia governed then the borough. From here is the name of today’s town of Kilifarevo. During the Ottoman slavery the fortress was seized and burnt down. Later the today’s Monastery of Kilifarevo was built here. A lot of crafts appeared during the Renaissance – the fuller’s trade, the broadclothing, the cart-wright’s trade, the pottery-making, the combing, the house painting, the saddle-making, the fur trade, the goat’s-hair rugs making and the braid making. In 1864 the first factory for paper in Bulgaria was opened.