Novo Selo, Vidin Province Explained

44.1618°N 22.784°W

Official Name:Novo Selo
Native Name:Ново село
Settlement Type:Village
Pushpin Map:Bulgaria
Pushpin Label Position:Location in Bulgaria
Coordinates:44.0161°N 22.8068°W
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name: Bulgaria
Subdivision Type1:Province
Subdivision Name1:Vidin Province
Subdivision Type2:Municipality
Subdivision Name2:Novo Selo
Leader Title:Mayor
Leader Name:Georgi Stoenelov
Elevation M:44
Population Total: 970
Population As Of:2017
Timezone:EET
Utc Offset:+2
Timezone Dst:EEST
Utc Offset Dst:+3

Novo Selo (Bulgarian: Ново село, "New village") is a village in northwesternmost Bulgaria, part of Vidin Province. It lies on the right (south) bank of the Danube and is the administrative centre of a municipality with the same name.

As of December 2017 Novo Selo has a population of 970 and the mayor is Georgi Stoenelov. It lies at 44.1667°N 69°W, 45 m above sea level. The village is located 25 km north-northwest of the provincial centre Vidin and 12 km east of the Serbian border at the Timok River mouth, with Mehedinți County of Romania directly across the Danube to the north. The main occupation in Novo Selo is vine growing.

According to the travel notes of the Italian traveller Count Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli, the village was founded around 1700 and was initially named Prosǎnǎc (Просънъц). Due to the plague and a fire the villagers abandoned the village only for their descendants to return in 1772 to found the modern Novo Selo. After the Crimean War a local government was set up and a knez (mayor) and councillors were elected.

Following the Liberation of Bulgaria in 1878 Novo Selo became part of Vidin District, and has since 1 January 1979 been the seat of a municipality also including the villages of Florentin, Negovanovtsi, Vinarovo and Yasen.

The construction of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church of St Nicholas in the village, a cultural monument, began in 1825, during the Ottoman era. The bells were shipped from Pest, Austria-Hungary. The Zemedelets chitalishte (community centre) was built in 1930; it is also a memorial to all locals who perished in the wars. The Cyril and Methodius School dates to 1939. Another landmark is the characteristic clock tower from 1931, which is a symbol of Novo Selo. Novo Selo also has a small river port, a beach and an orphanage.

Novo Selo is also known for its typical vernacular, sharing features with the Serbian dialects to the west and the Torlakian vernacular to the south, as well as showing lexical influences from Romanian. Novo Selo's motto, in the local vernacular, is Mi smo si mi (Ми смо си ми), "We are (just) ourselves".

Population

As of December 2017 Novo Selo has a population of 970 people, down from its peak of 4,535 people in 1934. Most inhabitants are ethnic Bulgarians (93%), with a large "Vlach" (Romanian) minority (who declared themselves as Bulgarians) and a few Romani people (7%). An overwhelming majority of the population of the village identify themselves as Christians (95%). Most inhabitants identified as Orthodox Christians belonging to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.ImageSize = width:400 height:200PlotArea = left:50 right:20 top:25 bottom:30TimeAxis = orientation:verticalAlignBars = lateColors = id:linegrey2 value:gray(0.9) id:linegrey value:gray(0.7) id:cobar value:rgb(0.2,0.7,0.8) id:cobar2 value:rgb(0.6,0.9,0.6)DateFormat = yyyyPeriod = from:0 till:5000ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:500 start:0 gridcolor:linegreyScaleMinor = unit:year increment:250 start:0 gridcolor:linegrey2PlotData = color:cobar width:20 align:left bar:1934 from:0 till:4534 bar:1946 from:0 till:4318 bar:1956 from:0 till:3393 bar:1965 from:0 till:3157 bar:1975 from:0 till:2503 bar:1985 from:0 till:1961 bar:1992 from:0 till:1898 bar:2001 from:0 till:1484 bar:2011 from:0 till:1015PlotData= textcolor:black fontsize:S bar:1934 at: 4535 text: 4535 shift:(-14,5) bar:1946 at: 4318 text: 4318 shift:(-14,5) bar:1956 at: 3393 text: 3393 shift:(-14,5) bar:1965 at: 3157 text: 3157 shift:(-14,5) bar:1975 at: 2503 text: 2503 shift:(-14,5) bar:1985 at: 1961 text: 1961 shift:(-14,5) bar:1992 at: 1898 text: 1898 shift:(-14,5) bar:2001 at: 1484 text: 1484 shift:(-14,5) bar:2011 at: 1015 text: 1015 shift:(-14,5)The Bulgarian language spoken in Novo Selo has many similarities with the neighbouring Serbian language and Romanian language.