Today's calendar is a crowded one: four Bulgarian towns celebrating their city day, one of those tied to a genuinely major national uprising, and, tucked into recent memory, a football final settled with eleven minutes to spare. Let's take them in order.
What happened on this day
In 2020, Lokomotiv Plovdiv beat Ludogorets Razgrad 1-0 at the Huvepharma Arena in Razgrad to win the Bulgarian Supercup, their second time lifting the trophy. The only goal came from Dimitar Iliev in the 89th minute, which is about as late as a domestic cup final gets before penalties become a real possibility. It's a small footnote next to everything else on today's calendar, but a real one, and it happens to have been played in the same corner of the country as one of today's four city days.
Towns celebrating today
Zavet, a town of under 4,000 people in the Ludogorie plateau of Razgrad province, only became a municipal centre in 1974, taking that status from the neighbouring village of Ostrovo. It's a quiet administrative town rather than a tourist stop, though it has one genuinely fun claim to fame: Zavet Saddle, a geographic feature on Smith Island in Antarctica's South Shetland Islands, is named after it, part of Bulgaria's long-running habit of naming Antarctic landmarks after home towns. It sits in the same province where that 2020 Supercup final was played, and it's one of the closer city days on today's list, well under two hours from Shumen.
Kyustendil, down in the far southwest near the Serbian and North Macedonian borders, is a different scale of town entirely: around 46,000 people, and known across Bulgaria as the "Orchard Garden of Bulgaria" for its centuries-old fruit-growing tradition, alongside more than 40 mineral springs that have made it a spa destination since Roman times, when it was the city of Pautalia, complete with a temple to the healing god Asclepius. It later became the medieval fortress of Velbazhd before falling to Ottoman rule in 1395. It's genuinely a long way from us, the far side of the country, so don't expect to pop over for the afternoon.
Mizia, a small Danube-plain town of around 3,300 people in Vratsa province, took its current name from the ancient region of Moesia after a 1970 merger with the neighbouring settlement of Glozhene, though the two split apart again in 1978. Like Zavet, it has an Antarctic namesake, Miziya Peak on Livingston Island, which is a nice little pattern once you notice it. It's also a fair distance northwest of Shumen.
Plachkovtsi, a mountain town of under 1,500 people near Tryavna in Gabrovo province, is the gateway to the Bulgarka Nature Park, sitting where three rivers converge to form the start of the Dryanovo River. It has its own medieval footnote, in 1190 Ivan Asen I, one of the Second Bulgarian Empire's founding rulers, defeated Byzantine forces nearby at the Battle of the Tryavna Pass. But its city day today carries a heavier weight than any of that: it falls on Ilinden, by the old-style calendar, the anniversary of the 1903 Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising.
That uprising, launched on St Elijah's day (Ilinden) precisely because of the religious symbolism, was organised jointly by two rival Bulgarian revolutionary factions working toward the same goal from different sides of the border.
The revolt spread from the Manastir region across parts of Macedonia into Kosovo, Thessaloniki and the Adrianople area, and briefly produced a rebel government, the Kruševo Republic, which lasted barely ten days before Ottoman forces crushed it. It never achieved its aim of autonomy for Macedonia and the Adrianople region, but it left a mark on Bulgarian national memory that a small mountain town near Tryavna still marks on its own city day, over a century later.
Why this matters for British expats
You don't need to have heard of Plachkovtsi to have run into Ilinden's legacy here. The name shows up as a street name in towns right across Bulgaria, precisely because the uprising sits so close to the national self-image, an attempt at self-determination that failed on its own terms but is remembered as a defining moment anyway. Recognising the word gives you a small key to a lot of otherwise unexplained street signs and school names.
On the lighter side, the Zavet and Mizia connections are a genuinely charming bit of trivia if you ever get talking to a Bulgarian about Antarctica: this country has been naming polar landmarks after its own small towns for decades, which is the kind of detail that makes a good conversation starter at exactly the kind of gathering a British expat tends to find themselves at.
Sources and further reading
Background on the uprising draws on the English Wikipedia entry on the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising, the Supercup result on the English Wikipedia entry for the 2020 Bulgarian Supercup, and the town profiles on their respective English Wikipedia entries, alongside the standard Bulgarian municipal city-holidays calendar.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happened at the 2020 Bulgarian Supercup?
Lokomotiv Plovdiv beat Ludogorets Razgrad 1-0 at the Huvepharma Arena in Razgrad, with Dimitar Iliev scoring the only goal in the 89th minute, giving Lokomotiv their second Supercup title.
Why do four different towns share a city day today?
Bulgarian municipalities set their own city day, often tied to a local historical event, patron saint's day, or liberation date, and 2 August happens to be shared by Zavet, Kyustendil, Mizia and Plachkovtsi this year.
What is the Ilinden Uprising and why does Plachkovtsi's city day connect to it?
It was a 1903 revolt against Ottoman rule in Macedonia and the Adrianople region, organised by Bulgarian revolutionary groups and launched on St Elijah's day. Plachkovtsi marks its city day on the same date by the old-style calendar.
Is today a public holiday in Bulgaria?
No. 2 August 2026 falls on a Sunday, but it isn't a public holiday in its own right.
Is the bank shut today?
Yes. Bulgarian banks are closed on Sundays without exception, so don't expect any counter service today.