76 years of Tsarichina Reserve
18 July 2025
On July 18, we celebrate 76 years since the announcement of the Tsarichina Reserve. Within its borders, spruce, beech, mixed beech-fir forests, as well as white pine forests - a Balkan endemic and a species that has survived to this day since the Ice Age - are preserved in their natural state. The pine forests in the Reserve are also the northernmost limit of the species' distribution, which makes them even more significant, and their conservation a priority. Many rare species of plants and animals that are characteristic of the Vezhen Peak region are also protected.
In the year of its establishment - 1949, the Reserve occupied an area of only 10 ha. By the beginning of the 1990s, it had been expanded six times and today, with its area of 3,418.7 ha, it is the third largest reserve within the Central Balkan National Park. Its territory includes the Vezhen peak and the watersheds of the Zavodna and Stara Ribaritsa rivers. Tsarichina is dotted with high ridges and deep river valleys, with rocky areas and impressive forests. Every year it attracts many visitors who remain captivated by the beauty of its nature.
Among the plants subject to protection is the red omanikhe - another symbol of the Reserve. The folk name of the plant - tsariche comes from a legend about Tamara - the daughter of Tsar Ivan Asen II, who fell seriously ill and was sent by her father to recover in the Teteven Balkans. The wonderful nature of the Balkans, the tranquility and the red flowers that she adorned in her hair, gradually had their beneficial influence on the Tsar's daughter and she recovered. After Tamara's departure, the local shepherds, remembering her with her beloved marigold in her hair, began to call the plant "tsariče", and the meadow where it grew and where she walked "Tsaričina polyana", from which the name of the Reserve actually comes.
In the year of its establishment - 1949, the Reserve occupied an area of only 10 ha. By the beginning of the 1990s, it had been expanded six times and today, with its area of 3,418.7 ha, it is the third largest reserve within the Central Balkan National Park. Its territory includes the Vezhen peak and the watersheds of the Zavodna and Stara Ribaritsa rivers. Tsarichina is dotted with high ridges and deep river valleys, with rocky areas and impressive forests. Every year it attracts many visitors who remain captivated by the beauty of its nature.
Among the plants subject to protection is the red omanikhe - another symbol of the Reserve. The folk name of the plant - tsariche comes from a legend about Tamara - the daughter of Tsar Ivan Asen II, who fell seriously ill and was sent by her father to recover in the Teteven Balkans. The wonderful nature of the Balkans, the tranquility and the red flowers that she adorned in her hair, gradually had their beneficial influence on the Tsar's daughter and she recovered. After Tamara's departure, the local shepherds, remembering her with her beloved marigold in her hair, began to call the plant "tsariče", and the meadow where it grew and where she walked "Tsaričina polyana", from which the name of the Reserve actually comes.
