Razgrad

Razgrad
Razgrad; Разград
	Razgrad at night
	; Coat of arms
	; Coat of arms
	Razgrad Location of Razgrad
	Coordinates: 43°32′N 26°31′E / 43.533°N 26.517°ECoordinates: 43°32′N 26°31′E / 43.533°N 26.517°E
Country	Bulgaria
Province (Oblast)	Razgrad
	Government
• Mayor	Dencho Boyadzhiev
Elevation	200 m (656 ft)
	Population (Census February 2011)
• City	33,238
• Urban	49,872
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Postal Code	7200
Area code(s)	084
Website	www.razgrad-bg.org

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For the village in Montana Province, Bulgaria, see Razgrad, Montana Province.

Razgrad (Bulgarian: Разград [razˈɡrad] ( listen)) is a city in northeastern Bulgaria, administrative and industrial centre of the homonymous Razgrad Province. As of February 2011, it has a population of 33,238 inhabitants.^[1]

[edit] History

Razgrad was built upon the ruins of the Ancient Roman town of Abritus on the banks of the Beli Lom river. Razgrad Province has one of the densest Turkish populations in Bulgaria, with 27% of the municipality (which also includes 22 villages) 's citizens declaring to be Turks in 1998. An absolute majority of 69% are Bulgarians, with the remaining 4% being composed for the most part of Roma.

Some of Razgrad's landmarks include the Varosha architectural complex from the 19th century, the ethnographic museum and several other museums, the characteristic clock tower in the centre built in 1864, the St Nicholas the Miracle Worker Church from 1860, the Momina cheshma sculpture, the Mausoleum Ossuary of the Liberators (1879–1880) and the Ibrahim Pasha Mosque from 1530. The mosque is said to be the third largest one in the Balkans, excluding Istanbul its reconstruction has still not been completed, having begun in Communist times.

In 251, the town was the site of the Battle of Abrittus, during which the Goths defeated a Roman army under the emperors Trajan Decius and Herennius Etruscus. The battle is notable for being the first occasion of a Roman emperor being killed in a battle with barbarians.

The name of the city was Hezargrad in the Ottoman times. Razgrad Peak on Greenwich Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after Razgrad^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Population

According to census 2011, Razgrad has a population of 33,238 inhabitants as of February 2011.^[1] The number of the residents of the city reached its peak in the period 1988-1991 when exceeded 55,000.^[2] The following table presents the change of the population after the liberation of the country in 1878.

Razgrad
Year	1887	1910	1934	1946	1956	1965	1975	1985	1992	2001	2005	2009	2011
Population	11,752	13,957	15,421	15,010	18,389	26,398	42,609	49,582	40,906	38,948	35,932	34,592	33,238
	Highest number 58,112 in 1991
Sources: National Statistical Institute,^[1]^[2]^[3] „citypopulation.de“,^[4] „pop-stat.mashke.org“,^[5] Bulgarian Academy of Sciences^[6]