Dryanovo, pretty and calm town, cozy tucked between the folds of the Fore Balkan, was found on lands soaked with history. The favourable natural resources attracted the primitive people to settle down in the area during the Old Stone Age (100 000-40 000 BC). The caves which are in Dryanovo district attract tourist during the whole year. But the man before thousands of years ago looked for the caves as the safest place against the beasts and the severe nature. The finds from Dryanovo monastery are more than 6000 and show that there was life even during prehistoric times. The two caves which are situated in the rocks over the monastery were home for people who lived thousands of years ago. During the many different excavations in the caves there were found clay fragments and vessels, junipers made of bones, objects made of cattle`s horns, primitive fireplaces. The fact that there were no metal objects found in the caves make the scientist think that there were people even during the Paleolithic period. According to the archaeologists, the inhabitants from the caves in Dryanovo monastery were one of the first settlers in Europe and the earliest representatives of the human race. Similar remains were found in five other caves in Bulgaria. In the big cave called “Andaka” were found many remains of animals: cave deer, wild horse, rhinoceros, hyena and cave bear which was 3 meters tall and its jaw is exhibited in a museum in London.
There are remains from old cultures both from the Eneolithic period and from the Bronze age period as well as from the Ancient times when these areas were inhabited by the Thracians. Around Dryanovo there were many fortresses from different periods and cultures which is due not only to the good natural conditions but also to its strategic position. There are five Balkan mountains` approaches in the region of the town which were very important during the Roman times and the early Byzantine period.
Next to the village of Slaveikovo is the fortress Diskoduratere (the double strong fortress). It was found during the reign of emperor Marcus Aurelius (161-180 AD) from the citizens of Augusta Traiana (Stara Zagora) and from an ordinary roadside station it became one of the main market places in the Danube provinces. After the invasion of the Goths who destroyed the fortresses in the region, the Byzantine fortifying system was restored in 6th century and it included 8 fortresses: The town and Boruna (Dryanovo monastery), Lipovo gradishte (village of Mutsq), the fortresses next to the villages Qntra, Skalsko and Manoya. The legends say that in XII century these fortresses were domains of the kings from the Asenevtsi dynasty and were also important part of the defensive system of the capital city Tarnovgrad (Veliko Tarnovo). Even today the defences of the Town impress with its dimensions and huge walls.
At the foot of the huge fortress and residence of provincial governor was found the medieval settlement and the monastery “St. Archangel Michael”.
At the hill over Dryanovo monastery lie the remains of the Thracian fortress known as “The town” which, according to some historians, was the biggest one on the Balkans and was used as a main supporting point against the invasions of the barbaric tribes. After the Thracians, the fortress was used by Romanians, Byzantines, Slavs and Bulgarians. The historical data shows that it was last destroyed by the Byzantines when king of the Bulgarians was Petar, son of Simeon the Great. But after the victory of Asenevtsi the fortress was restored and it became an important center for the Second Bulgarian kingdom.
Dryanovo was first mentioned in a historical document from 1470. According to the Ottoman tax register from the second half of 15th century the town was vakaf (free of taxes, hereditary land) of the eminent commander, with a rank of co-owner of the European empire regions and mulkov master Kasampasha. Dryanovo was pronounced a town in 1869 when it became a center of a nahia (district).
The people from Dryanovo took part in the April uprising in 1876. There was a fight in Dryanovo monastery of the revolutionaries of Bacho Kiro and Priest Hariton with the numerous Turkish army. After 9 days of a hard fight the Bulgarian army was defeated, the churches were plundered and burnt down and the land- soaked with the blood of the revolutionaries. The liberation of Dryanovo was on 12th of July 1877.
Up to the present this utter defeat of our brave ancestors is remembered and it is marked with a celebration every year in the middle of May.
After the liberation of the municipality there were built couple of big factories: the tobacco factory of the brothers Shishkovi (in 1896 it was ranked 1st according to its production and profit among the other ten tobacco factories in the district), the bonbon factory of the brothers Mutafchievi, Joint-stock company “Zdravina”, which was reformed in First Bulgarian carriage factory.
In 1930 Dryanovo was pronounced a mountain resort.
Достъп за глухи лица