Modern era · Socialist era
Stolipinovo
the quarter the city created in 1889 — and still owes
Stolipinovo began with an 1889 decision of Plovdiv's municipal council to move some 350 Roma from the city to a "new village" two kilometres east. Today it is home to tens of thousands — Muslim and Christian Roma communities, many identifying as Turkish. The quarter is inseparable from Plovdiv's history: that history includes the municipal decisions, the 1957 flood, the panel blocks, and the inequalities that persist.
What is not yet documented: Public sources on Stolipinovo are often incomplete or biased. Only verifiable institutional facts stand here; the quarter's everyday history still awaits its narrators.
Where the name comes from
First "the New Village"; later named after General Arkady Stolypin, deputy to Prince Dondukov-Korsakov in post-Liberation Bulgaria.
Getting there
The quarter sits on the Maritsa's south bank east of the centre; city buses along Iztochen boulevard and Landos road reach it.
Quarter timeline
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1889
The municipal decision
After a cholera outbreak, the municipal council resolves to move about 350 Roma living across the city to a new settlement 2 km east of the Plovdiv of the day.
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1930s
The burgudzhii
Christian Roma families ("burgudzhii") move from Kyuchuk Parizh to Stolipinovo — the quarter gathers distinct communities.
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1957
The Maritsa flood
The great flood leaves over 10,000 Plovdiv residents homeless; hundreds of dwellings are built in Stolipinovo for affected Roma families.
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after 1958
Sedentarisation by decree
State sedentarisation policy forcibly settles nomadic Roma groups; the quarter grows fast, without infrastructure to match.
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today
Tens of thousands of neighbours
With around 40,000 residents, Stolipinovo is among the largest predominantly Roma urban quarters in the Balkans — and remains a test of municipal policy.
