Delčevo

Delčevo Делчево
Town centre of Delčevo
Flag Seal
Coordinates:
Country	Macedonia
Municipality	Delčevo Municipality
Government
• Mayor	Darko Shehtanski (VMRO-DPMNE)
Highest elevation	640 m (2,100 ft)
Lowest elevation	590 m (1,940 ft)
Population ()
• Total	11,500
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	2320
Area code(s)	+389 033
Car plates	ŠT; KO; DE
Climate	Cfb
Website	www.delcevo.gov.mk/

Delčevo (Macedonian: Делчево [ˈdɛɫtʃɛvɔ]) is a small town in the eastern mountainous part of the Republic of Macedonia. It is the municipal seat of the eponymous municipality. The town is named after revolutionary Goce Delčev.

Demographics

Delčevo has 11,500 residents.

	Number	%
TOTAL	11,500	100
Macedonians	10,761	93.57
Roma	564	4.90
others	175	1.52

Geography

The town of Delčevo is situated at the foot of Mount Golak on both banks of the river Bregalnica, 164 km (102 mi) to the east of Skopje. It is the biggest settlement in the Pianec region which covers an area of 585 km² (226 sq mi), between Mount Osogovo to the north and Mount Maleš to the south. The town lies at 590 m (1,936 ft) to 640 meters (2,100 ft) above sea level. Delčevo has a good geographical position and good traffic connections. All rural settlements and recreations centred on Golak are connected with the town of Delčevo by good asphalt roads of local and regional types. Golak's Tourist Center is located 10 km (6 mi) south of Delcevo at 1,300 m (4,270 ft) height above sea level, under the Chavka peak (1358 m) of the mountain Golak. The distinctive Recreation Center was built in 1981 and had 5 apartments, 8 hotel rooms and a restaurant with 170 seats as its own terens for small football, basketball and volleyball. The Recreation Center is ruined now. At this moment there are only private houses, camps and villas.

History

Delčevo at the beginning of 20th century

Delčevo was first mentioned in a charter of Serbian Emperor Stefan Dušan in the 14th century.

The town has changed its name several times. During the Ottoman period it was visited by a Sultan personally. A large number of Christian people converted to Islam, and at that time the town was called "Sultania" or "Sultaniye". The Islamised Christian population hadn't learned the Turkish language and they renamed Sultania into their own language, Carevo Selo (Tsar's village). One year before Sultan Mehmed IV, the Turkish travel writer Evlija Celebija had passed there and wrote: "After Vinica we climbed upon Kocani mountain meadow and after 4 hours walking along the ravine, we arrived in Carevo Selo. This is a Muslim village and it lies in the mountain ornamented with 100 houses and one marvelous mosque with minaret."

The town has borne its present name Delčevo since 1950, in honour of the celebrated revolutionary and ideologist Gotse Delchev who had often visited the place while he was teaching in the village of Novo Selo, near Štip.

After the Russo-Turkish War, 1877–1878 much of the Christian population left for Bulgaria and Turkish people from Asia moved in to take their place. There was a second big movement thirty years later during the Balkan wars, but this time with an emigration of much of the Turkish population. In the late 19th and early 20th century, Carevo Selo was part of the Kosovo Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire.

Between the two world wars Carevo Selo was a small provincial town of dilapidated houses and a small number of craft shops with narrow muddy streets. From 1929 to 1941 the town was part of the Vardar Banovina of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. During the Axis occupation of Yugoslavia, from 1941 to 1944, Carevo Selo, as most of Vardar Macedonia, was annexed by the Kingdom of Bulgaria.

Education

A big importance is given to educational work in Delcevo municipality but in the past it had an assimilatory role. Finally for the first time in summer 1944 the Macedonian word was heard in schools. Today the educational work is performed at two primary and one secondary public school.

Primary school "Vanco Prke" has 4 regional schools of which two primary at the villages Bigla and Dramce and two elementary at villages Gabrovo and Zvegor.

Primary school "St.Kliment Ohridski" has 5 regional schools of which 3 are primary at the villages Razlovci, Trabotiviste and Grad and two elementary at the villages Virce and Stamer. 1970 pupils from first to eighth grade attend lectures in two schools and about 100 children are at pre school education while 134 teachers perform the educational work.

In 1961 the secondary school- gimnazija "M.M.Brico" began with work in Delcevo. Today there are 1120 pupils at the governmental secondary school "M.M.Brico" and 64 teachers are included in the educational work. The school has regional classes in the municipality near - Makedonska Kamenica.

Sport

Town stadium, swimming pool and sport hall are placed where Delcevo citizens spend their free time planned for sport and recreation.

Small dams Petrasevec and Sandanski, located left and right of the old road Delcevo - Trabotiviste offer pleasant hours of resting and sport-fishing

FK Bregalnica Delčevo is the most popular football club and they play their games at the Gradski Stadion Goce Delčev.

Tourism

ASNOM House of Culture

RKC Golak is located only 10 kilometres (6 miles) south of Delcevo at 1300 m height above sea level, under the Chavka (1358 m) of the mountain Golak. Recreation center is founded in 1981 and it has 5 apartments, 8 hotel rooms and a restaurant with 170 seats as its own terrains for small football, basketball and volleyball.

Many vacation places are built there and weekend houses of Delcevo companies. The Recreation center is among a 100-year-old pine and beech trees.

Far from town noise, wonderful vegetation, clean fresh air and cold clear mountain water are just what the visitors souls need. In winter, under thick snow cover, Golak offers unforgettable and unique sights.

Economy and agriculture

The first development of the town started in the second half of the 20th century, so today Delcevo is a modern town with contemporary, wide and well ordered streets, building objects and places for recreation and holiday. Among first established enterprises are: Monopol (a tobacco company) Today Delcevo - Tabak and Sandanski in the field of agriculture; Pirin and Ilinden in the field of trade and Paltex and Kozarnica M.M.Brico in the field of industry.

Present day Delcevo is a town with equally represented industry and agriculture. Textile industry production capacities are within the Industrial zone for small economy, and conditions for faster development will be made.

Culture

Dormition of the Theotokos Church in Delčevo

Bearers of municipality activities are: Civic center N.J.Vapcarov, the library Ilinden, KUD "Goce Delcev" Drama studio at the Civic center, as well as some associations, inhabitants which take care for folk and modern music and painting.

The most important cultural scientific manifestation is Goce's days which is traditionally held every year at the beginning of June. For the first time, the manifestation began in 1966, in Delcevo and very soon from local by state it got an international character.

Anniversary celebrations of Razlovci Uprising, first of many Macedonian Uprising are very important for Delcevo.

At traditional Golak folklore meetings (Golacki folkorni sredbi) which are held every year on 8–9 August, cultural clubs from Delcevo and surrounding places present part of our rich folklore. Representatives from sister town of Delcevo Jagodina from Serbia and the border town Simitli from R.Bulgaria are always there with their performances.

Trade, hotel and restaurant management

There are a large number of companies in Delcevo that are involved various trades, like hotel management work (shops, taverns, boutiques), and they are located mostly in the town center. All necessary products from food and other industries, as well as industrial products for mass consumption, can be bought there.

Green grocery markets are places where people supply themselves with agricultural products that are of local origin and from municipalities from the eastern and central portions of the country as well. The current green markets don't satisfy the necessities of many people, so there is a need for building more of them.

Catering services can be found at ZIK "Sandanski", AD "Ilinden" and other small restaurants, coffee bars, and sandwich bars. In area restaurants, various specialties are made from the traditional Macedonian kitchen, like the well-known homemade plum brandy. These restaurants also offer various soft and alcoholic drinks made by Macedonian producers that are world famous trade marks.

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Macedonia

Twin towns — sister cities

Delčevo is twinned with:

• Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria;
• Simitli, Bulgaria;
• Jagodina, Serbia;
• Vyshhorod, Ukraine;
• Bornova, Turkey;
• Żyrardów, Poland;

External links

• www.delcevo.gov.mk
• www.delcevo.com
• Delcevo.cjb.net