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.
Why this quarter matters
No history of Plovdiv is complete without Stolipinovo: the quarter was created by a municipal decision in 1889, and every decade since has left the mark of city policy here — resettlement, flood, panel blocks, infrastructure that never quite arrived. To tell it honestly is to tell how the city treats its most vulnerable residents.
For the visitor
- What to see
- Stolipinovo is not a tourist destination; its history is best read here, in the records and sources, and in the postwar-city story.
- How long
- Read the page; a visit makes sense only with a local occasion or host.
- When to come
- There is no tourist season — there are neighbours and their everyday life.
- Food nearby
- The local trade serves the locals; do not expect tourist infrastructure.
Visit with respect: Tens of thousands live here with a right to an everyday life free of lenses — no "safari" photography.
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.
People, communities and institutions
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Community
The Muslim Roma communities
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Community
The burgudzhii
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Institution
The Plovdiv municipality
