For many decades, Plovdiv has proudly been called the city of the seven hills, and this gives us reason to stand proudly next to Rome, which has a similar location. Unfortunately, in 1916 the destruction of one of the hills began - Markovo, and to date they are only 6. Over the years there has been information about a number of other hills, which were also destroyed and to this day are irreversibly lost. Do we know which they are?
Markovo Tepe rose only 29 meters above the level of today's Ruski Blvd and compared to the surrounding heights it looked unsightly. In the 17th century Evliya Chelebi called it Boztepe, in a German map from 1869 it was marked as Terler Hawusi tepe, and in a postcard from the beginning of the 20th century it was mentioned as Sandaktepe. There were a number of legends around it, as some scholars believed that Serbian despots were buried there, and according to others - the place is associated with the conquest of Plovdiv by the army of King Murad. It was said that it also has healing powers, but despite this centuries-old glory, legends and numerous stories, today the hill is gone.
In fact, until 1900, Marco Kraljeviti's hill remained almost intact. On the side of the Leipzig hotel was the fabulous garden of Mardas. There was a swamp where the tall hotel building stands today. It is said that its bottom was lower than the bottom of the Maritsa River. A little later, however, the Sofia factory Izida received the right to cut pavers from the rocks of Dzhendemtepe. Residents of Sofia began to earn hard. Seeing the profit, local entrepreneurs went to the municipal councilors and managed to take Markovo Tepe. They bit the rock hard. The explosions and the rocks flying around ruined the garden of Mardas. After 1930, a new wave began - and now the desire to build houses on the solid foundation of the hill. In vain the newspapers called on the mayor to save the hill. The Metropolitan of Plovdiv also tried to help, asking the municipality to give him Markovo Tepe in order to build a new Christian church on top of it, but this endeavor was doomed to failure due to greed.
The fate of Kamenitza Hill (Petrenitsa) is also known - it was completely destroyed in 1882 and Kamenitza Brewery was built in its place. It was also called Alta Tepe. There were ancient tombs around it. On a map from 1878, the German professor Heinrich Kipert indicates it as a point 16 m high (177 m above sea level). Until 1881, this was one of the favorite places of people of Plovdiv. They came here on Easter and St. George's Day. On the first of May, when spring is traditionally celebrated, the most famous fighters from the region gathered near the hill. The hill was surrounded by green meadows and vegetable gardens. After 1876 the construction of the brewery began. The broken stones from the hill were used as building material. Today, only the foundations of this hill are preserved, similar to Markovo Tepe.
Laut Tepe - mentioned only by researchers. The historian Cosmas Apostolidis wrote that it rises 172 m above sea level, in an Austrian map from 1903 173 meters are indicated, and in a Bulgarian map from a century ago 177.9 m are marked (ie the hill was almost 17 m high). According to experts, the core of the hill was a rare species of andesite, which was found only in two places in Bulgaria - in Plovdiv and near Vitosha. By the end of the 19th century, the hill was almost intact. Its destruction began with the construction of artillery barracks. The only surviving photograph is from 1895 and it shows soldiers breaking rocks to provide material for construction. After 1915, the last remnants of the rocks on the hill were dumped on the roads to Krumovo and Asenovgrad. In 1906, a marble votive tablet of the Thracian horseman was found here, and the prehistoric settlement mound Yasa Tepe was discovered in the immediate vicinity. In 1932, Plovdiv Airport was inaugurated next to the hill.
In his description, Evliya леelebi also mentions Valeli Tepe. At that time there was a neighborhood of the same name. This means that the hill was located within the boundaries of the then city. The Greek historian Cosmas Apostolidis suggests that it is the "broken northwestern branch of the Nebettepe", of which only the memory remains in the twentieth century. Apostolidis' instructions indicate quite precisely the location of the hill - it was located at the intersection of the boulevards Shesti Septemvri and Tsar Boris III. From the old photographs it can be seen that here in the past was the most densely built-up part of Plovdiv.
There was also an unnamed hill on the site of the fence of the newly built Faculty of Dentistry, next to Dzhendem Tepe. It was appointed in 1869 by Ferdinand Ritter Hochstetter. Its demolition began in 1903.
There are certainly a number of others that have disappeared in antiquity, especially given the fact that stone was the main building material, so it is not easy to answer the question "how many are actually the hills of Plovdiv?"
