IBG - Real Estates

Ruse (also transliterated as Rousse or Russe; Bulgarian: Русе) is the fifth largest city in Bulgaria, with a population of 178,000. Ruse is situated in the northern part of the country, on the southern bank of the Danube, opposite the Romanian city of Giurgiu, 320 km from the capital Sofia and 200 km from the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. It is the most significant Bulgarian river port, serving an important part of the international trade of the country.

Ruse is known for its 19th and 20th century Baroque and Rococo architecture, which attracts many tourists. The Giurgiu-Ruse Friendship Bridge, the only one in the shared Bulgarian-Romanian section of the Danube, crosses the river nearby. It is a steel truss bridge over the Danube River connecting the Bulgarian north bank to the Romanian south bank and the cities of Ruse ( Rousse) and Giurgiu respectively.

Opened on 20 June 1954 and designed by V. Andreev, the bridge is 2.80 km long and is the only bridge over the Danube in the section shared by Bulgaria and Romania as of 2006, with the other traffic being served by ferries. It has two decks, one for road (two lanes) and one for railway traffic, as well as sidewalks for pedestrians, and was constructed for two and a half years with the aid of the Soviet Union. The Giurgiu-Ruse Friendship Bridge also has border control stations due to it serving as a border crossing between the two countries. There are a pair of rectangular towers supported by pillars on both ends.

A Roman inscription found in Sexaginta Prista fortress

The city emerged as a Thracian settlement that developed into the Roman military and naval centre Sexaginta Prista during the reign of Vespasian (69-70) as part of the fortification system along the northern boundary of Moesia. The fortress was located on the main road between Singidunum (modern Belgrade) and the Danube Delta and was destroyed in the 6th century by Avar and Slavic raids.

In the 13th-14th century, at the time of the Second Bulgarian Empire, a fortified settlement called Rusi (first mentioned in 1380) emerged near the ruins of the Roman town that later strengthened its position as an important trade centre with the lands on the opposite side of the Danube, until it was conquered by the Ottomans in 1388.

The Lyuben Karavelov Central Library building

During Ottoman rule, the town was renamed Rusçuk and turned into a large fortress in the 18th century, which later grew into one of the most important Ottoman towns on the Danube and an administrative centre of a vilayet that stretched from Varna and Tulcea to Sofia and Niš.

The typical architecture of Ruse

Rousse developed into one of the centres of the Bulgarian National Revival and the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee.

After it was liberated from the Ottoman Empire on 20 February 1878, Ruse was one of the key cultural and economic centres of the country and the seat of Bulgarian shipping. Intensive building during the period changed the city's architectural appearance to a typical Central European one.

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Live view from Ruse (opens in new window)