Klyuch
Encyclopedia
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
known as Clidium, is a village in south-westernmost 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...
, part of Petrich
Petrich
Petrich is a town in Blagoevgrad Province in southwestern Bulgaria, located at the foot of the Belasica Mountains in the Strumeshnitsa Valley. , the town has 29920 inhabitants.Petrich is located close to the borders with Greece and the Republic of Macedonia...
municipality, Blagoevgrad Province
Blagoevgrad Province
Blagoevgrad Province , also known as Pirin Macedonia , is a province of southwestern Bulgaria. It borders four other Bulgarian provinces to the north and east, Greece to the south, and the Republic of Macedonia to the west. The province has 14 municipalities with 12 towns...
. It lies at 41°22′N 23°1′E, 455 metres above sea level. As of 2005, it has a population of 1,113 and the mayor is Hristo Markov.
Klyuch lies at the northern foot of the Belasitsa
Belasica
Belasica is a mountain range in the region of Macedonia in Southeastern Europe, shared by northwestern Greece , southeastern Republic of Macedonia and southwestern Bulgaria...
mountains, south of the Strumeshnitsa River
Strumica River
The Strumica or Strumeshnitsa is a river in the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria...
, in the geographic region of Podgorie. The climate is transitional Mediterranean
Mediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate is the climate typical of most of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, and is a particular variety of subtropical climate...
, with a summer minimum and a winter maximum of precipitation.
The village is famous for the Battle of Kleidion
Battle of Kleidion
The Battle of Kleidion took place on July 29, 1014 between the Bulgarian Empire and the Byzantine Empire...
of 29 July 1014, in which Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria
Samuil of Bulgaria
Samuel was the Emperor of the First Bulgarian Empire from 997 to 6 October 1014. From 980 to 997, he was a general under Roman I of Bulgaria, the second surviving son of Emperor Peter I of Bulgaria, and co-ruled with him, as Roman bestowed upon him the command of the army and the effective royal...
's forces were routed by Byzantine Emperor Basil II
Basil II
Basil II , known in his time as Basil the Porphyrogenitus and Basil the Young to distinguish him from his ancestor Basil I the Macedonian, was a Byzantine emperor from the Macedonian dynasty who reigned from 10 January 976 to 15 December 1025.The first part of his long reign was dominated...
's army. After the battle, Basil ordered all 14,000 Bulgarian captives blinded, with a single soldier left one-eyed to guide every hundred blinded home.
Five kilometres north of the village are the ruins of Samuil's Fortress, built between 1009 and 1013, and the Samuil's Fortress National Park-Museum, created in 1982 and featuring a bronze monument to Samuil.
Klyuch is also famous for several alleged cases of UFO, mostly popularized by the local Kiril Yakimov.http://www.presabg.com/index.php?p=view&r%5Bid%5D=701http://vestnici.com/index.php?p=view&r%5Bid%5D=2339
bulgarian
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...
footballer Spas Delev
Spas Delev
Spas Delev is a Bulgarian footballer who currently plays for CSKA Sofia and the Bulgarian national football team as a striker.-Youth career:...
(b. 1989) was born in Klyuch. He plays for CSKA Sofia
PFC CSKA Sofia
PFC CSKA Sofia , commonly known as CSKA or CSKA Sofia is a professional football club based in Sofia, Bulgaria. The club was officially founded on May 5, 1948. CSKA's abbreviation stands for Central Sports Club of the Army...
.