The rich history has left an important cultural heritage by several civilizations and folklore traditions unique for Bulgaria, such as Nestinarstvo that involves a barefoot dance on smouldering embers — a vestige from the pagan past.
Strandzha Nature Park was established on 25 January 1995 to protect ecosystems and biodiversity, as well as the traditional cultural, historical and folklore heritage of the region.
The park is administered by a directorate based in Malko Tarnovo and subordinated to the Executive Forest Agency of the Ministry of Environment and Water of Bulgaria.
[5] The directorate implements the state policy for the management and control of the protected area, aiming at the long-term conservation of the unique nature and ensuring the sustainable social and economic development of the region.
[6] The whole territory of the park and the adjacent Black Sea waters are included in the European Union network of nature protection areas Natura 2000 under the code Strandzha BG0001007.
[9][10] Strandzha Nature Park is situated entirely in Burgas Province within the territory of two municipalities, Malko Tarnovo and Tsarevo, in the extreme south-eastern corner of Bulgaria.
[11][14] The vegetation of Strandzha evolved before the formation of the Bosphorus Strait when the whole southern Black Sea coast was linked and represents the westernmost extension of the Euxine-Colchic ecoregion.
[16] The mountain is an anticline with core layers formed by igneous and metamorphic rocks with Paleozoic origin and surface strata covered with Mesozoic sediments dating from the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.
[18] In the western regions there is an extensive karst area with carbonate rocks spanning from the village of Varovnik to the town of Malko Tarnovo with ponors, caverns and caves.
[18] The region is among the warmest in the country with temperatures rarely falling below 0 °C in winter and rising above 24 °C in summer due to the cooling effect of the Black Sea.
[18] The average temperature drops with the rising elevation in the interior which creates conditions for more frequent and longer-lasting mists, heavier snowfall and earlier frosts.
Silistar is situated on the Black Sea coast between the villages of Sinemorets and Rezovo and has the highest number of plant species per square kilometre in Bulgaria.
[2] The combination of climate, specific geographic position and relief, as well as the lack of a strong anthropogenic influence, have contributed to the formation of 130 different habitats, making Strandzha Nature Park first in that indicator among all protected areas in Europe.
[27] The vegetation of the park includes many communities of a Mediterranean and sub-Mediterranean type: warm oak forests with undergrowth of evergreen sclerophyll shrubs, such as tree heath (Erica arborea), butcher's-broom (Ruscus aculeatus), Rose of Sharon (Hypericum calycinum), green olive tree (Phillyrea latifolia), Cistus incanus, sage-leaved rock rose (Cistus salvifolius), among others.
These include forests of oriental beech (Fagus orientalis), sessile oak (Quercus petraea), Strandzhan oak (Quercus hartwissiana), Hungarian oak (Quercus frainetto), common hornbeam (Carpinus betulus), oriental hornbeam (Carpinus orientalis) and small-leaved lime (Tilia cordata) with undergrowth of pontic rhododendron (Rhododendron ponticum), Caucasian whortleberry (Vaccinium arctostaphylos), cherry laurel (Prunus laurocerasus), Black Sea holly (Ilex colchica), Himalayan meadow primrose (Primula rosea) and common heather (Calluna).
[28] The Pontic rhododendron is the symbol of the park and an important relict species with a highly disjunct areal in Europe where it inhabits only the north-western Iberian Peninsula and Strandzha.
The oldest traces of human habitation are stone axes and ceramic fragments found in the Ahtopol peninsula and are dated from the Neolithic period (c. 6000—3000 BC).
In the 14th century, Bulgarian emperor Ivan Alexander (r. 1331–1371) gave refuge to the Hesychastic monk Gregory of Sinai and provided funds for the construction of a monastery near Paroria, in the homonymous protected area in the modern park, which attracted clerics from Bulgaria, Byzantium and Serbia.
[32] During the time of internal disorder in the Ottoman Empire in 1785–1810, brigand bands wreaked havoc in Strandzha resulting in the migration of thousands of people.
In July 1903 in the historic area Petrova Niva the delegates of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (IMARO) discussed the outbreak of an anti-Ottoman rebellion.
The Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising broke out in Strandzha and Macedonia in August 1903 and lasted for about twenty days before being suppressed by the Turks who committed great atrocities to the local population.
[32] Among the most important monuments of that epoch is the Thracian cult complex in Mishkova Niva, one the south-eastern slopes of Golyamo Gradishte peak 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from Malko Tarnovo.
[32][34] The Thracian necropolis of Propada, 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) to the north-west of Malko Tarnovo, contains 40 burial mounds on a hill made of marble blocks.
[12] The traditional Ruptsi settlements in the park are Balgari, Brashlyan, Byala Voda, Gramatikovo, Kalovo, Kondolovo, Malko Tarnovo, Rezovo, Slivarovo, Stoilovo, Vizitsa, Zabernovo and Zvezdets.
The nestinari's barefoot dance on embers that follows as the climax of the night is accompanied by the beat of the sacred drum and the sound of a gaida (Bulgarian bagpipe).
[45] The most notable example is the case of the Golden Pearl hotel complex near the village of Varvara, whose construction commenced in 2006 on the territory of the part, supported by Tsarevo Municipality without ecological evaluation.
[49] After protests the construction was declared illegal later that year but the mayor of Tsarevo and the investor appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court of Bulgaria.
[49][50] After mass protests the National Assembly adopted legislation prohibiting the right to appeal to court orders of the government establishing protected areas.
The Master Plan of Tsarevo Municipality adopted in 2008 and approved by the Ministry of Environment and Water envisages the construction of vacation complexes with 75,000 beds on the territory of the park and Natura 2000 network.
[49] As a result, the European Commission launched an infringement procedure against Bulgaria that forced the Ministry to withdraw the positive environmental assessment of the Master Plan in 2010 but the decision was rejected by the Supreme Administrative Court.