Teteven is located in a mountainous area, in the foothills of the Balkan mountains between the peaks Ostrich, Petrahilya, Cherven, Treskavets and Vezhen. The river Vit meanders through the town. The altitude of Teteven district varies from 340 to 2100 m, and in the town center it is 415 m. The climate is temperate continental with cold winters and cool summers.
The territory of Teteven is about 697 km², which is 16.86% of the territory of Lovech district.
History
Teteven Historical Museum
The town was first mentioned in a written document in 1421. It is thought that the town's name comes from the family of a certain Tetyo (Tetyov rod), who settled in the area and founded the town. Older variants of the town's name found in documents are Tetyuven and Tetyuvene.
A thriving city in the 16th and 17th centuries, Teteven was raided by organised Turkish brigand groups in 1801, burnt down and almost completely destroyed, with only four houses surviving out of a total of 3,000. The town later revived and was active in the armed struggle for Bulgarian independence in the 19th century, sheltering a revolutionary committee part of Vasil Levski's organised rebel network.
Each summer a large chess tournament, one of the biggest events in Bulgaria's chess calendar, is held in Teteven.
Teteven combines the beauty of the surrounding scenery with the towering hills and peaks Petrahilya, Ostrich, Cherven and Ravni Kamak (they have witnessed many historical events), the cool breeze of the Vit river, and the spirit of centuries past, hovering in the multitude of monuments, ancient Bulgarian architecture, and customs and manners that have remained intact in time. Astounded by the sights revealed before him in his visit to the town, Ivan Vazov has exclaimed: "Had I not come to Teteven, I would have remained a foreigner to mother Bulgaria ... I have been wandering, I have been rambling, but I have not seen a more wondrous paradise."
There is a historical museum in Teteven, which is among the Hundred National Tourist Sites of the Bulgarian Tourist Union.
The Feast of Teteven on November 1, the day the town was liberated from Ottoman domination in 1877
Days of Mountain Water and Healing Tourism, Scientific Research Center of Medical Biophysics, Teteven municipality, June 11
Gallery
Teteven Municipality Hall
Teteven Chitalishte (Culture club)
All Saints Church in Teteven
A 19th-century house
A 19th-century house
Persons
Notable persons born in Teteven
This article's list of residents may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are residents, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations. (March 2017)
Lyubomir Bobevski — writer
Nikola Bobevski — artisan, elected Teteven delegate on the occasion of the signing of the San Stefano Peace Treaty
Ivan Undzhiev (1902-1979) — Bulgarian professor-historian
Nikolai Vitanov — professor, nuclear physicist
Hadji Stanyo Vrabevski — chairman of the local revolutionary committee, sent into exile in Diyarbakır
Notable persons who have died in Teteven
This article's list of residents may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are residents, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations. (March 2017)
