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Did you know ...

• the Bulgarian village of Petrevene (pictured) celebrates "Watermelon Day" every August?
• the Bulgarian village and architectural reserve Brashlyan was referenced in the "Strandzha Marseillaise", the song The Clear Moon is Already Rising?
• the Bulgarian female runners Zlateva, Yordanova, Pekhlivanova, Shtereva, Tomova and Petrova all won medals in 800 metres at the European Indoor Championships in the 1970s?
• the Bulgarian villages of Mezek and Matochina, situated near the borders with Greece and Turkey, both have medieval castles (Matochina fortress pictured)?
• the facade of the Central Sofia Market Hall (pictured) in Sofia, Bulgaria features a relief of the coat of arms of Sofia above the main entrance?
• the Anevo Fortress, a medieval castle near Sopot in central Bulgaria, was the capital of a short-lived quasi-independent domain in the late 13th century?
• the Neo-Baroque Yablanski House in Sofia, Bulgaria has been deemed one of the city's highest achievements in architecture of the 1900s?
• the gorgon Medusa is a common theme in the mosaic decoration of Villa Armira, a Roman villa near modern Ivaylovgrad, Bulgaria?
• the 14th-century Hungarian occupation of the Bulgarian city of Vidin was described by contemporaries as a "great pain for the people"?
• large-scale Greek settlement in what is today Bulgaria dates to the 7th century BC?
• in 1876, British historian Edwin Pears, as correspondent of The Daily News, sent letters home describing Ottoman atrocities in Bulgaria during the April Uprising which aroused demonstrations in England led by William Gladstone?
• in 1715, Grigory Dmitriyevich Stroganov, the largest Russian landowner after the tsar, owned territories larger than modern Bulgaria or Iceland?
• due to the important archaeological findings near the Bulgarian village of Durankulak, the area has been dubbed the "Bulgarian Troy"?
• in 1949 the Polish, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Yugoslav and Czechoslovak socialist parties founded the Socialist Union of Central-Eastern Europe as a common centre for work in exile?
• in 1951, Bulgarian politician and exile G. M. Dimitrov helped found the first Bulgarian NATO company?
• in the 1980s, over 35,000 Vietnamese people worked in Bulgaria?
• in 792 the Bulgarians captured the tent and treasury of the Byzantine emperor during a battle at the fortress of Markeli near modern Karnobat, Bulgaria?
• the Church of the Assumption in Uzundzhovo, Bulgaria, was initially built as a mosque and was probably commissioned to famous architect Sinan?
• the Kamchia biosphere reserve in Bulgaria is a major migratory bottleneck site where at least 60,000 White Storks pass overhead each autumn?
• three years after the Battle of Marcelae in 756 AD, Constantine V invaded Bulgaria once more but suffered a crushing defeat in the Battle of the Rishki Pass?
• the village of Strezimirovci has been bisected by the Serbian–Bulgarian border since 1919?
• the late Roman Red Church near Perushtitsa in Bulgaria featured frescoes of apocryphal scenes such as the flight of Elizabeth and the murder of Zechariah, John the Baptist's parents?
• when the German U-boat UB-8 was transferred to the Bulgarian Navy in May 1916, she became the first ever Bulgarian submarine?
• when the Church of St Demetrius was built in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria, a rumour was spread that the saint would come to the city?
• writer Zahari Stoyanov said of Bulgarian general, regent and Minister of War Sava Mutkurov that "by the time Mutkurov opened his mouth, the market would close up"?
• wood-carver Hristo Hristov, the debutant male lead in 2009 Bulgarian film Eastern Plays, died of a drug overdose shortly before the end of filming?
• the currently abandoned Old High School of Music (pictured) in Rousse, Bulgaria has previously housed a primary school, a junior high school, a university, and a trade school?
• the controversial sculpture Entropa, unveiled in Brussels on January 13, 2009, depicts Bulgaria as a series of squat toilets (example pictured)?
• the Palace of Omurtag, an archaeological site in northeastern Bulgaria, includes the episcopal see of an Arian Gothic bishop besides a medieval Bulgarian fort?
• the Monument of the Holy Mother of God (pictured) in Haskovo, southeastern Bulgaria, is the tallest statue of the Virgin Mary with the Infant Jesus in the world?
• the Largo, a Socialist Classicism complex in central Sofia, Bulgaria, accommodates a number of state institutions?
• the Sveti Sedmochislenitsi Church (pictured) in Sofia, Bulgaria is a reorganized Ottoman mosque, built on the site of an Early Christian temple?
• the Wine Museum in Pleven, Bulgaria, has 7,000 old wines and is housed in a natural cave?
• the cathedral of the Lopushna Monastery (pictured) in northwestern Bulgaria, built in the 1850s, employs vernacular Gothic decorative features?
• the abandoned Sucreries Raffineries Bulgares factory in Sofia, Bulgaria, once owned by a Belgian company, was used as the set for Kreuzberg in a Bulgarian film?
• at #425 on the ATP Singles Rankings, Ivaylo Traykov is the second-highest ranked Bulgarian tennis player?
• although it was not particularly well-known in Bulgaria until the late 19th century, today Bulgarian beer is one of the country's most popular alcoholic beverages?
• Bulgarian zoologist Ivan Buresh, dubbed "the patriarch of Bulgarian biology", was the son of a Czech zincographer?
• Bulgarian volleyball coach Radostin Stoychev won the Italian Volleyball League and the CEV Champions League in his debut seasons?
• Bulgarian virtuoso violinist Vasco Abadjiev was one of the youngest violinists to make his international debut in the 20th century, at the age of 6, in June 1932 in Vienna?
• Bulgarian animator Donyo Donev used deformed speech and interjections as a soundtrack for his films?
• Bulgarian conservative politician Grigor Nachovich (pictured) served as minister of finance on six occasions?
• Italian Vice Consul Vito Positano saved the future Bulgarian capital Sofia from burning by the Ottoman army?
• Bulgarian physician and politician Georgi Stranski, best man to national poet Hristo Botev, was the only Commissar of South Bulgaria?
• Bulgarian writers and screenwriters Moritz Yomtov and Marko Stoychev worked together as the Mormarevi Brothers even though they were unrelated?
• Bulgarian television director Hacho Boyadzhiev once worked as a stoker on a Beirut–Marseille steamship?
• Bulgarian physicist Stefan Marinov claimed to have created a perpetual motion machine using only two ballraces and a car battery?
• Bulgarian far right politician Ivan Dochev died in 2005 despite being given three separate death sentences in the 1940s?
• 70 paintings of Sofia (example pictured), the capital of Bulgaria, by Tyrolean-born painter and engineer Joseph Oberbauer are to be exhibited in Sofia's planned museum of local history?
• 21 October is now an annual public holiday in the Bulgarian city of Kardzhali to commemorate a battle victory in 1912 during the First Balkan War?
• Bulgarian graphic artist Stefan Kanchev, the author of 1,600 logos, has been called the "father of Bulgarian graphic design" and the "master of the trademark"?
• Bulgarian middle distance runner Vesela Yatsinska failed to make it past round one in the 1980 Olympics despite achieving a personal best time?
• Bulgarian music television channel MM Television, which operated between 1997 and 2010, was managed by comedian Kamen Vodenicharov?
• Bulgarian modernist painter Ivan Milev (pictured) is depicted on the five Bulgarian leva banknote?
• Polish archaeologist Mieczysław Domaradzki, who was based in Bulgaria for 22 years studying the archaeology of Thrace, discovered the ancient market centre Pistiros?
• Swiss athlete Georges de Regibus introduced association football to Bulgaria in 1894 as a sports teacher in Varna?
• Vrav, a village in the northwest of Bulgaria, is inhabited by "wet Vlachs"?
• Sofia, New Mexico, was founded in 1911 as the first Bulgarian agricultural colony in the United States, and was named after the Bulgarian capital Sofia?
• Saint George's Church in Gavril Genovo, northwestern Bulgaria, features vernacular Gothic Revival details and "puzzling" archaic decoration?
• Yanko Sakazov was one of the two first socialist parliamentarians in Bulgaria, elected to the National Assembly in 1894?
• Zariphios School, founded at 1875 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, was one of the most significant Greek educational institutions in the region, attracting teachers from Greece and Western Europe?
• after an accident in his teens, Bulgarian poet Pencho Slaveykov (pictured) could write and speak only with difficulty?
• a legend ties the name of the late Roman Elenska Basilica (pictured) in west central Bulgaria to deer sacrifice which predated its construction?
• Mandritsa is known as the only Albanian village in Bulgaria?
• Konstantin Bozveliev became the first socialist to be elected mayor in Bulgaria in 1908?
• Agatha, mother of Saint Margaret of Scotland, could have been either a daughter of Yaroslav the Wise of Kiev or a daughter of the Bulgarian Tsar?
• American cargo ship MS West Grama (pictured), while in the service of the U.S. Navy in 1919, was the first American-flagged ship to enter Bulgarian waters?
• Ukrainian sculptor Mikhaylo Parashchuk, who decorated many major buildings in Sofia, Bulgaria, was reportedly a student of Auguste Rodin?
• Girdap, established in Ruse in 1881, was the first privately-owned bank in Bulgaria?
• Hrelja, a 14th-century semi-independent feudal lord under Serbian suzerainty, built the defensive tower (pictured) in Bulgaria's largest monastery, the Rila Monastery?
• Jacob Svetoslav (pictured on coin), a 13th-century Bulgarian noble of Russian origin and ruler of Vidin, twice changed allegiance between Hungary and Bulgaria and vice versa before possibly being poisoned?
• Ivan Bogorov, who published the first Bulgarian newspaper in 1846 in Leipzig, was also an ardent supporter of Bulgarian linguistic purism and was known for his often amusing neologisms?
• "elegant, witty and amusement-loving" Bulgarian physician, politician and diplomat Georgi Valkovich was assassinated by people dressed in carnival costumes?