Grivitsa is a village in Pleven Municipality

Pleven Municipality

Pleven Municipality is a municipality in Pleven Province, Northern Bulgaria. It is named after its administrative centre - the city of Pleven which is also the capital of the Province....

, Pleven Province

Pleven Province

Pleven Province is a province located in central northern Bulgaria, bordering the Danube river, Romania and the Bulgarian provinces of Vratsa, Veliko Tarnovo and Lovech. It is divided into 11 subdivisions, called municipalities, that embrace a territory of 4,333.54 km² with a population, as...

, central northern Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

. It is primarily known as the site of one of the key battles of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878.

Geography

Located 9 kilometres east of Pleven at an average 208 metres above sea level and lying in the hilly basin of the Vit River, Grivitsa has a population of 1,778 as of December 2009. The railway line connecting Sofia

Sofia

Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...

 to Varna

Varna

Varna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, with a population of 334,870 inhabitants according to Census 2011...

 and Rousse

Rousse

Ruse is the fifth-largest city in Bulgaria. Ruse is situated in the northeastern part of the country, on the right bank of the Danube, opposite the Romanian city of Giurgiu, from the capital Sofia and from the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast...

 runs through the village, as well as the main road from Pleven to Rousse, Nikopol

Nikopol, Bulgaria

Nikopol is a town in northern Bulgaria, the administrative center of Nikopol municipality, part of Pleven Province, on the right bank of the Danube river, 4 km downstream from the mouth of the Osam river. It spreads at the foot of steep chalk cliffs along the Danube and up a narrow valley...

 and Pordim

Pordim

Pordim is a town in Pleven Province in central northern Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Pordim municipality. The town lies at 155 metres above sea level in the Danubian Plain...

. The highest point of the Central Danubian Plain

Danubian Plain (Bulgaria)

The Danubian Plain constitutes the northern part of Bulgaria, situated north of the Balkan Mountains and south of the Danube. Its western border is the Timok River and to the east it borders the Black Sea. The plain has an area of . It is about long and wide.The relief of the Danubian Plain is...

, the 304-metre-high Sredni vrah is just to the east of the village. The soil is rich in clay

Clay

Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...

 but suitable for agriculture. The area is also rich in limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

 and quarries for its extraction have been built in several places.

History

The village's location has shifted several times, with the earliest known settlement being in the Ezero area to the south of modern Grivitsa, identified with the time after the Ottoman

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 conquest of Bulgaria (14th-15th century). The plague forced the locals to move to the present location. The legend surrounding the image's name asserts that the area between Trastenik

Trastenik

Trastenik is a town in central northern Bulgaria, part of Dolna Mitropoliya municipality, Pleven Province. It lies 18 kilometres northwest of Pleven and 30 kilometres south of the Danube, between the Vit and Iskar rivers....

 and Slavyanovo

Slavyanovo

Slavyanovo is a town in the Pleven Municipality of the Pleven Province. It lies in the Middle Danubian Plain, to the north-northeast of Pleven. As of December 2009, it has a population of 4,422 inhabitants and the mayor is Asen Bachev...

, including Grivitsa, was the feud (vakıf) of an Ottoman noble known as Trastenik Pasha, who was an avid dove- and bee-keeper. He is thought to have built a dove-cot and an apiary in the Rogultsi area near today's Grivitsa, and bred Wood Pigeons (known as гривяк, grivyak in Bulgarian). Gradually, the locals came to be known as grivatsi and the village as Grivitsa.

During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, Grivitsa was the location of an important Ottoman position featuring several redoubt

Redoubt

A redoubt is a fort or fort system usually consisting of an enclosed defensive emplacement outside a larger fort, usually relying on earthworks, though others are constructed of stone or brick. It is meant to protect soldiers outside the main defensive line and can be a permanent structure or a...

s and acting as part of the defensive fortifications of Pleven. The Battle of Grivitsa was part of the prolonged Siege of Plevna which resulted in the death of many Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n and particularly Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

n soldiers: the losses of the Romanian units in this battle were the largest for the entire war.

Grivitsa has a school built in 1916, as well as a park arranged in 1956 and a museum opened in 1967, both commemorating the events of 1877. A Romanian mausoleum

Mausoleum

A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or persons. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb or the tomb may be considered to be within the...

 with an ossuary

Ossuary

An ossuary is a chest, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce. A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years the skeletal remains are removed and placed in an ossuary...

 was built in 1892–1897 using funds collected by the Romanian people and opened in 1902. In honour of the battle, several communes and neighbourhoods in Romania bear the name Griviţa

Griviţa (disambiguation)

Griviţa may refer to several places in Romania:*Griviţa, an area of Bucharest**Griviţa Strike of 1933**Griviţa **Griviţa metro station*Griviţa, a commune in Galaţi County*Griviţa, a commune in Ialomiţa County...

, a Romanian rendition of the village's name.