History

Apart from the beautiful Pirin and the numerous spots of natural beauty, Bansko also boasts of many historic sites. 

Today’s town was found in 15-16 century, becoming the centre of a necklace of ancient settlements founded and functioned from prehistory and antiquity to the Middle Ages. Bansko is the birthplace of famous Bulgarian enlighteners, poets, writers, painters, iconographers and revolutionaries.

There are about 130 architectural and historical monuments in the municipality of Bansko, 7 of which are of national value. Over 100 archaeological sites are registered. Remains of ancient fortresses have been preserved in the Staroto Gradishte (Stankale), in the downstream of Demyanitsa river and many other places. Scientists assume that a medieval settlement used to exist in the Sveta Troitsa (Holy Trinity) locality (in the northeast of the town). Southeast of Bansko there are remains of the late-medieval single-nave churches of St George and St Ilya.

The city has one of the best and perfectly functioning museum networks in the country. The exhibition of icons of the Bansko Artistic School in the old Hilendar (Rila) Cloister, one of the brightest manifestations of Bulgarian culture in c. 18-19 is the most popular permanent exhibition there.

Bansko was mentioned for the first time as a centralised settlement in an official document (an Ottoman register of 1576). Prior to that time the population inhabited several separate small hamlets. During the National Revival period(17-18 th century), Bansko developed rapidly and became one of the economical and cultural centres in the country. A wealthy class of craftsmen and merchants emerged; they carried goods with caravans from the Aegean to Central and Western Europe, some of them opened their own offices there. The town played also active part in the national revolution. The strong drive in the development of arts, publishing, education, the overall material well-being of locals brought the Pirin town to its zenith and gave it an important role to play in the processes of formation and establishment of the Bulgarian nation.

Since 1979 Bansko has been declared a unique town of international importance to commercial tourism. During the past decade the town attracted many of private investments in tourism.

Farming is another industrial branch with high importance to regional economy of the region. Potatoes, maize, cereals and tobacco have the biggest share in the agricultural development.