There was once a Thracian settlement here which the Romans made into a fortress called Abritus. During Ottoman domination the town was a major crafts, trade and administrative centre. A monastic school was opened here in the 17th century, followed by a class school in 1812 and a girl's school in 1848. The library club was founded in 1869. The town was liberated from Ottoman domination in 1878 by Russian troops, under Prince Dondukov-Korsakov.
The town then developed as the centre of a rich agricultural region, with craft and trade but poorly developed industry. Under socialism, Razgrad has quickly become an industrial , administrative and cultural centre with the glass and porcelain works being one of the largest in Europe.
The town has a theatre, district history museum, and various specialised schools.
Hotels: Razgrad, 3 stars, 20 floors, 16 suites, 21 single and 104 double rooms, restaurant, night club, coffee-shop, hairdresser's, post office, information bureau.
Abritus, accommodating 140, 33 Beli Lom Blvd., tel. 27-06, Republika Restaurant.
Balkantounst bureau, 29 lenin Blvd., Tel,: 26-37
Union of Bulgarian Motorists, 3 Nozharska St.
Tourist attractions:
The ruins of the Roman fortress town of Abntus, discovered in 1953, the town was surrounded by a fortress wall 1215 m high and up to 3 m wide, with four gates. Near the eastern gate there is a 3rd-century building with 23 rooms which was probably the house of a rich landowner sofia guided tours.
The town was captured by the Goths in 251 and in the 6th century it was destroyed by the invading Avars and Slavs.
Tounst attractions:
Ibrahim Pasha Mosque, 1614;
The clock tower, 1864;
Kovanluka Park some 8 km southw'est of the town with ponds, sports grounds, a hotel-restaurant and a national taverna 'Kolibite'.
During excavations in 1982, under a mound neai the village of Sveshtari, some 6 km northwest of Isperih in the Razgrad district, archaeologists discovered a 3rd century B.C. Thracian tomb. In ancient times this part of Bulgaria was inhabited by the Thracian tribe of the Getae. The tomb has a corridor leading to it and its walls, like the tomb itself, are made of large, well-cut slabs. The entrance is lined with rectangular columns with capitals decorated in red and blue rosetts. Above the columns is a frieze decorated with rosettes and garlands. The tomb proper consists of three chambers united by a semi-cylindrical vault.
The central chamber is decorated with a frieze depicting three female figures in high relief, dressed in long sleeveless robes tied with belts. Their hands are raised as if to support the frieze and they are in the style of the Cariatides in Athens. Another scene is of a goddess offering a wreath to a horseman. This is in black and white and is unique. There are two stone beds in the chamber, probably intended for a Thracian ruler and his wife. The tomb had already been plundered hundreds of years ago — there are traces of extensive damage in the three rooms: broken door slabs, ar-chitectural details, human and animal bones. Investigations continue.
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