History of Balchik

Antiquity It is said that in antiquity there was a settlement of Thracians here who practiced Thracian Orphism.
620 -575 BC According to Herodotus the town of Crunoy (Cruny) was established. During his reign king Astiag united the native population with the merchant seafarers from Yonian Greece (present day Asia Minor). Translated from Greek Crunoy means water springs because of the extremely rich in mineral springs and underground waters lands.
4th century BC The territory was conquered by Philip II and Alexander the Great of Macedonia. The town flourished through trade with the Mediterranean countries. The town had rich social, economic and cultural life. At about that time after a violent sea storm the town was renamed Dionysos in honor of the God of wine. The legends also tell that Aphrodite was born here from the foam of the waves and first set foot on this land.
2nd-3rd centuries The town was reconstructed in accordance with all requirements of the ancient military and civil construction. It also had a water-supply system, a catch-water drain and a number of temples and public buildings. A Hellenic fortress from earthworks was built and later broadened. The town started minting its own coins. The town became part of the Roman Empire
527-565 During the reign of the Roman emperor Justinian the town prospered.
7th– 9th centuries The town fell into the hands of the barbarian conquerors of Bulgarians, Avars and Slavs and was renamed to Karvuna. The big settlement grew to a large city with fortified stone walls and an important medieval city center.
11th-12th centuries The lands fell under Byzantium rule and the population was forced to leave and settle on the neighbouring hills.
1366 the town lost its importance due to the building of the new impregnable fortress Kaliakra, which became the residence of the despot Dobrotitsa. The town was rarely mentioned in historical documents.
14th – 16th centuries The Turks took control of the city and a big part of the population left, leaving people of predominantly Turkish origin. Very few Christians remained, most of whom were stock-breeders. A poor little settlement was built on the remains of the flourishing in the past medieval town.
1604 The town was assaulted by the Cossacks.
1653 The city was renamed Balchik, after the Boyar Balik who ruled the region referred to these days as Dzhina Bair. This is also the year in which the town was first registered under that name by the travelling geographer Evlia Cheleby and thus legalized for the future. By this time the town has grown into a district center with intense social-economic progress. The port was modernized.
1845-1847 The church “St. Nicola and the first school were built.
1847-1866 The church “St. Georgy” was built with donations from Koyo Baichev. A lot of two and three-storey houses were built.
1866-1871 The Cultural Club was established to prepare the town for the liberation. The old hotel was built in neoclassical romantic style.
1878 After the Russian-Turkish war Balchik was liberated from the Ottoman Empire. The town became a centre of one of the 66 regions Bulgaria was divided into.
19-20 centuries the town became an important industrial, economic and political center. Seven joint-stock companies started operation with two million golden levs. Established were a number of factories, corn exchange, fishing industry, wine making, leather factories, hops and tobacco processing factories, two flourmills and stone quarries. The port became a wheat-exporting port. Founded were a library, a theatre, a symphonic orchestra, a town choir and the Chernomorets Sports Society. The ethnic composition gradually changed from mostly Gagauz and Turkish to predominantly Bulgarian.
1913 - 1940 After the Balkan War in 1913 with the annexation of South Dobrudzha the town became part of Romania.
1915-1919 During the Romanian rule the town was transformed into a luxurious resort for the Romanian aristocrats. Struck by the natural beauty of the place Queen Maria built a palace for her summer residence, a botanical garden, a chapel and a villa complex.
21 September 1940 An agreement was signed in the Romanian town of Craiova, 6 million golden levs were paid and Balchik was once again a part of Bulgaria.