Shumen General Information
The Municipality of Shumen is situated in the central part of Northeastern Bulgaria. The town is an administrative center of the Shumen region. The Municipality is the tenth largest Bulgarian municipality. It is located in the central part of northeast Bulgaria on the main roadways Sofia-Varna and Ruse-Burgas-Istanbul.

The municipality’s terrain is comparatively various with hills, plateaus and plains. The territory of the municipality is characterized by a typical continental climate. The average annual temperatures are about 10,7°C. The warmest month is July and the coldest one is January. The most widespread soils are the carbonate and the typical humus ones. In the Kamchia valley the soils are alluvial-meadow. In the Shumen plateau and the southeastern parts of the municipality there are gray wood soils. The rivers Goliama Kamchia, Pakosha, Mutnishka, Poroina, Kamenitza, Stara reka pass through the territory of the municipality.

Shumen was founded 3200 years ago. During the centuries it has been a cradle of rich spiritual and material culture - Thracian, Roman, Byzantine, Bulgarian. The town of Shumen is one of the most attractive centers of the Bulgarian Renaissance. Now it has cultural institutes of national and regional importance, two universities - The Shumen University "Episcop Konstantin Preslavski" and the Higher Military School of artillery and air defence "Panaiot Volov", 17 primary and 12 secondary schools.
The most important cultural institutions include the Drama and Muppet Theatre " Vassil Drumev", the Public Philharmonic Orchestra, the Historical Museum, the Public Library "Stilian Chilingirov", the Complex "Founders of Bulgaria", the House of Young People.

Near to the town are situated the first two Bulgarian capitals - Pliska and Veliki Preslav, and the religious center Madara. UNESCO lists the Madara Horseman as a World Heritage Site.
Area and Population.

The area of the city of Shumen is 177 sq km of which 111 sq km is residential and 66 is industrial. The municipal area includes 25 villages which occupy 183 sq km. The municipality of Shumen occupies an area of 670 square kilometers. The division of the territory is: Agricultural 72.95%, Forested 18.64%, Urban 5.84% and Roads 2.57%.

The population of the municipality of Shumen is 120,076 people. In the city of Shumen live 105 052 people and in the 25 villages of the municipality live an additional 15 024 people.
According to the latest data of the Territorial Statistic Bureau, the municipality of Shumen’s population density is 0.18 per decare.

Infrastructure

Through the territory of municipality of Shumen pass the international roads - 1-2 Russe-Shumen-Varna, 1-4 Sofia-Turgovishte-Belokopitovo and 1-7 Silistra-Shumen-Jambol. Through the municipality 23km of the highway Hemus (Sofia-Varna) are under reconstruction. Shumen is located 380 km from Sofia, of which 80 km are divided highway. The car trip is four hours. The towns and villages road network in the municipality is 226.09 km. The first-class roads are 45.455 km; the second-class ones are 16.848 km, the third class ones are 37.200 km and the fourth-class ones are 130.420 km. The asphalt-paved roads represent 68.4% or 154.62 km from the total between towns and villages road network. Within Shumen’s city limits there are 220-km urban road network, of which 90% are asphalt and 10% paved.

Shumen is situated on a major railway junction. The Sofia-Varna and the Ruse-Karnobat lines pass through the city. The length of railways within the municipality is 30.16 km of which all is electrified. There are 12.31 km of double railway lines.
Between 100 km and 130 km from Shumen are two seaports, Varna (90 km) and Burgas (140 km), and the Danube River port of Ruse (130 km).

Close to Shumen is a main gas pipeline from which two small pipelines serve the Municipality industrial complex (377mm at 5000 meters and 630mm, 800m with a capacity of 100,000 m3). Capacity exists for both household and industrial needs. However, the household network is not built.
25 Km from Shumen towards Sofia is located the Targovishte airport that will serve as a cargo airport for the Municipalities Shumen, Razgrad and Targovishte.

Madara Horseman

An expressive bas-relief, carved high out of the sheer rock, and depicting a horseman spearing a lion. It symbolizes greatness of the ruler and the power of his state. Europe's only rock relief dating from the early Middle Ages, it is located 20 km from the town of Shumen, NE Bulgaria.

An unusual place - a plateau rises in the middle of a plain which, when viewed from the west, resembles a petrified waterfall. At a height of 23 meters the figure of a horseman has been hewn into the sheer rock, piercing a lion with his spear, and flanked on both sides by inscriptions reflecting the military and political power of the First Bulgarian Empire.
This symbol of Bulgarian statesmanship is the only one of its kind in the whole of Europe. Monumental in design and execution, the Madara Horseman is a magnificent message from the early Middle Ages.

Shumen Economy
Most developed industrial branches are: food processing, wine and tobacco industries; machine building, non-ferrous metallurgy, chemical industry; wood processing and furniture; building materials. There is also developed production of cargo trucks, aluminum items, heating appliances and accessories, cleaning detergents, oil radiators, electric boilers, spare parts, metal sheets, electro-ceramic goods, furniture, carpentry items, and plastic articles. There are huge deposits of high-quality china clay in the district.

Some of the country’s biggest meat-packing houses, beer and wine producers are operating in the district. Excellent conditions for cattle-breeding, orchards, vineyards and grain crops. For the food and beverage industry the following goods are produced in Shumen: smoked fish and chicken, milk and dairy products.