Rousse

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Image:Rousse-coatofarms.gif Rousse (also transliterated as Ruse or Russe; Bulgarian: Русе) is the fifth largest city in Bulgaria, with a population of 178,000. Rousse is situated in the northern part of the country, on the southern bank of the Danube, opposite the Romanian city of Giurgiu, 320 km from the capital Sofia and 200 km from the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. It is the most significant Bulgarian river port, serving an important part of the international trade of the country.

Rousse is known for its 19th and 20th century Baroque and Rococo architecture, which attracts many tourists.

1 History
2 Culture
3 Notable citizens
4 Twin cities
5 External links

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History

Image:Rousse-Roman-inscription.JPG The city emerged as a Thracian settlement that developed into the Roman military and naval centre Sexaginta Prista during the reign of Vespasian (69-70) as part of the fortification system along the northern boundary of Moesia. The fortress was located on the main road between Singidunum (modern Belgrade) and the Danube Delta and was destroyed in the 6th century by Avar and Slavic raids.

In the 13th-14th century, at the time of the Second Bulgarian Empire, a fortified settlement called Rusi (first mentioned in 1380) emerged near the ruins of the Roman town that later strenghtened its position as an important trade centre with the lands on the opposite side of the Danube, until it was conquered by the Ottomans in 1388. Image:Central librarylib galleryfull-world66.jpg

During Ottoman rule, the town was renamed Rusçuk and turned into a large fortress in the 18th century, which later grew into one of the most important Ottoman towns on the Danube and an administrative centre of a vilayet that stretched from Varna and Tulcea to Sofia and Niš.

Rousse developed into one of the centres of the Bulgarian National Revival and the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee.

After it was liberated from the Ottoman Empire on 20 February 1878, Rousse was one of the key cultural and economic centres of the country and the seat of Bulgarian shipping. Intensive building during the period changed the city's architectural appearance to a typical Central European one.

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