Pre-historic excavations.

The first historical artefacts recovered on the territory of the Kyustendil Region were found in the excavations of an old Roman villa in 1904.  Later, when the rail-road was constructed in the vicinity of the Mursalevo village a Neolithic-age pre-hostoric settlement was discovered.

Nonetheless, systematic archeological surveys did not start until 1977 when, at Sapareva banya, the excavations of a Neolithic-age ancient settlement commenced.  In 1978 it was ascertained that the big cave near the village of Ilia had been inhabited in the Copper and early-Iron Ages.

Although the archaeological excavations started relatively late, they quickly put together the parts of the archeological map in the region.  The area of upper Struma was part of the main road linking the Sea of Murmora and the Danube settlements in the Neolithic and Eneolithic Ages (6000-5000 years B.C.). The region also became the focal point of a number of cultures, as well as an important administrative center on the Balkans.

Kyustendil region in the Ancient Ages.

In the Ancient Ages the Upper Struma region (Kyustendil and Dupnitsa) were settled by the Dentelets Thracian tribe.  Numerous accounts by the ancient historians testify to the important role of that tribe in Western Thrace. At that time two major settlements were established: Pautalia (today's Kyustendil) and Germania (today's Sapareva Banya).  The important road arteries that intersected in Upper-Struma area fostered the development of important commercial and cultural contacts and transactions.  Evidence for this fact are the recovered Hellenistic Age coins.

With the advent of the Roman conquest, the Dentelets' lands were incorporated into the Roman strategies (roman administrative regions) of Lower and Mountainous Denteliticas, later merged in one strategy.  In the I-II Centuries B.C., Pautalia grew into one of the most important administrative, commercial and cultural centers in the region: in the then newly-created Province of Inner Dacia, the Roman Empire considered Pautalia to be the third most important town.  The passage of the vital Serdika-Pautalia-Stoba (Sea of Murmora) road through its territory favored the development of ore-mining, crafts, agriculture and intensive external relations with other ancient centers.

Although the town was itself surrounded by city-walls, in an attempt to counter the increasing barbaric raids, the Romans erected the formidable Hisarlaka fortress on the hill by Pautalia.  This strong fort later survived through the Middle Ages.  The second-in-importance ancient settlement in the region was the town of Germania which, for a period, served as garrison center for a cohort of Roman auxiliaries guarding Pautalia.

The numerous remnants from settlements and fortifications in the region are evidence of the well-developed urban and defence systems: marketplaces in Rila, Konyavo, Bagrentsi, Tavalichevo, and other places; and well-preserved fortifications in the mountain areas.  According to the necropili found, the population in the Roman Age favored the Thracian burrial custom: various excavations of Thracian mounds have discovered exhuberant burrials of high officials with their armor and chariots.

At that time, Pautalia was unique for its religious life: the Asclepius (Roman God of Medicine) temple was a sanctuary of regional importance.  At the village of Kopilovtsi, ancient temples of Hera and Zeus have been discovered.  Apart from the deities from the Roman Pantheon, several other Eastern religious cults were also professed, of which Mitra was the most-widely revered deity.

Kyustendil in the Middle Ages.

In all probability, Pautalia was badly-damaged when the Slavic tribes invaded the Balkans, although we have no data to ascertain when and which tribes settled the area, ousting the Romans and Thracians.  It is also not clear what happened to the town and its inhabitants.  Most likely, the town was taken and pillaged, and its population was massacred by the Slavic conquerors.  All we know for certain is that, after 553 A.D., the name Pautalia is no more found in the annals.  The town reappears much later, and by the name of Velbazhd.

It is difficult to ascertain the origin and meaning of the town's second name: Velbazhd.  Historians speculate that it was named by the chieftain of the tribe that conquered it, since we know this was apparently common practice among the Slavs.  It is known that between VI and VIII Centuries A.D. the town was part of the Byzantine Empire, and the local Slavs were subjects to the great Basileus. They, however, did not particularly like that and rebelled on a regular basis. Historic sources do not provide data about the exact time and circumstances of the joining of Velbazhd and its region to the Bulgarian Kingdom, but historians speculate that most likely occurred under the rule of Khan Presian (836-852). The Slavic name of the town, Velbazhd, is first found in the official Fief Act done by Emperor Vasiliy II in 1019 A.D.

During the period of ripe feudalism, the town occupied a prominent place in the commerce of Western Bulgaria, maintaining relations with Dubrovnik, Venice and others.  Sources also define it as an important clerical (bishopric) center, evidence of which are the numerous churches and monasteries preserved to date.  To XIII-XIV C. date the richest findings about the world-famous Rila Monastery, whose history between its foundation and the XIV C. is closely associated with Saint Neophyte of Rila, patron-saint of the Bulgarian people (presumably born between 876-880, i.e. one decade after the Baptism of Bulgarians).

Closely related to the region's history is the Battle of Velbazhd that took place in 1330 between the warring Bulgarians and Serbs.  Legend has it that, following a treachery by the Serbs, the Bulgarians were vanquished and King Mihail Shishman himself was slain.  At the end of the XIV C. the South-Western Bulgarian lands formed a semi-autonomous territorial entity, Velbazhd Principality, headed by Despot (feudal lord) Constantine, son of Dean and son-in-law to King Ivan Alexander.  The Principality of Constantine is perhaps the last Bulgarian land to fall under the strikes of the Ottoman Turks' conquest.  Eversince the end of the XIV C. and the beginning of the XV C. the name of the town was changed to Kyustendil (a literal translation of the phrase "Konstantine's Land").  At that time, following the bloody suppression of a popular revolt against the Ottoman rule, the Turkish Sultan liquidated the relative autonomy of the region and it finally became an integral part of the Turkish Balkan Empire.  The Medieval Velbazhd sandzhak (Turkish fiefdom) became the third largest feudal entity in the Empire.

Kyustendil Region in the Renaissance.

The successful assaults of the Austrian and Magyar troops in 1660 and 1637 against Kyustendil and the surrounding villages (in the first of these campaigns, the foreign armies were joined by local resistance guerrillas, led by the fearsome Strahil Voyvoda), together with the Karposh Rebellion in 1689 in South-Western Bulgaria signified the yearns of local residents for liberation and self-governance.  The mass resistance against the Turkish administration found expression in the numerous guerrilla parties that harassed the Turkish garrisons, interfered with tax-collection and administration, as well as raided Turkish outposts and settlements.  Surviving to this day are legendary and authentic stories about the local “voyvodi” (guerrilla party leaders and heroes), most famous of whom are Ilyo Markov (Voyvoda), and Rumyana Voyvoda (a female).

Ilyo Voyvoda actively took part in all stages of the struggle for national liberation and overthrown of Turkish rule: between 1850 and 1861, he terrified the Turkish landlords in the Malashevska and Rodopi mountains.  In 1862 he joined the First Bulgarian Legia (Resistance Army-in-Exile) under Rakovski, and served shoulder to shoulder with the future national hero, Vassil Levski.  During the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878) that resulted in the establishment of the new Bulgarian Kingdom, he commanded a major Bulgarian detachment that aided the army of General Gurko.  The region also yielded forces for the national April Revolt (1876): Hristo G. Medzhediev joined the guerrilla forces of Panayot Volov, and Nacho Velichkov served as Benkovski’s dispatch-courier.  With the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War, many Kyustendil-residents joined the ranks of the Opulchenie (Irregular Resistance Force) that, together with the advancing Russian forces, overtook Kyustendil a few days before the armistice was signed in Adrianople.

Kyustendil Region after the establishment of the independent Bulgarian Kingdom.

Following the restoration of the independent Bulgarian state, Kyustendil Region became the arena of major migration processes that significantly influenced the urban and rural development in the region.  Many parts of the area were settled by Bulgarians, fleeing the Turkish rule in Makedonia which was left under Ottoman occupation by the decisions of the Congress of Berlin.  The first commercial enterprises established in the area were the Bobov dol coal-mines (established 1891), the Balabanovi brothers’ lumber-mills in the village of Barakovo (1903), and the paper-production factory, founded in 1928.

In the period 1944-1980, Kyustendil region developed a predominantly industrial structure, whereas the industrial-to-agriculture output ratio was estimated at 86:14.  The breakdown of industrial production was as follows: 33,5% in metal works and heavy machinery, 27% for the food industry, 15,7% for electrical power production, and 10,4% for the chemical industry.  Prominent place in the industrial structure took the coal-mining with its 5,8%, as well as the paper mill in Kocherinovo, lumber-mill in Dupnitsa, shoe production in Kyustendil and Dupnitsa.

For that period, agriculture in the region concentrated in fruit-growing, tobacco-growing and stock-breeding.  Fruit-growing is best developed in the Kyustendil area where the Fruit-Growing Institute and the Tobacco Research Center were established.  Forests cover approximately 40% of the Region’s total territory, and are supervised by Forestry outposts.

With regard to the infrastructure condition, the total mileage of roads in the region, in 1979, was 1182 km. (3,24% of the total road mileage for Bulgaria).  Major road transport hubs are the towns of Kyustendil and Dupnitsa.  Two important rail-ways cross the region: Sofia-Blagoevgrad-Kulata and Sofia-Radomir-Gyueshevo.  The Velbazhd mountain pass provides direct connection to Makedonia.  There are two cross-border check-points in the Region: “Gyueshevo” (with Makedonia) and “Oltomantsi” (with Sarbia).

Evidence that Kyustendil has been populated since the Ancient Epoch persists even today.

(fragment of Roman Thermii bath complex)

Throughout Middle Ages, Kyustendil was an important administrative and cultural center in the region.

Rilski Monastery.
Built in the beautiful Rila Mountant, close to the sanctuary of St. Ivan of Rila, the Guardian-Saint of the Bulgarians, the Monastery preserved Bulgarian national spirit through the centuries of vicissitudes.

Kyustendil Region is one of the last fiefdoms of the Medieval Bulgarian Kingdom to fall under the Turkish conquest.  In fact, Kyustendil's present name comes from the name of its last feodal ruler, Konstantine.

The people of Kyustendil have also participated actively in the Bulgarian fights for national liberation.