Bistritsa, Sofia

42°35′10″N 23°21′36″E / 42.58611°N 23.36000°E / 42.58611; 23.36000Bistritsa (Bulgarian: Бистрица, also transcribed as Bistritza or Bistrica) is a large village in the Pancharevo municipality, located at 15 km to the south of the capital Sofia. As of 2019^[update] it has 5,118 inhabitants.

Bistritsa is among the oldest villages in the areas around Vitosha. Its name was marked in maps of the Second Bulgarian Empire as a fortress. There is a Medieval monastery which was destroyed by the Ottoman army in 1393–1396. Between 1936 and 1946 the church of the monastery was rebuilt. During these works a Medieval grave has been excavated. It had been robbed and the only discovery was a copper coin from Emperor Ivan Shishman (1371-1395).

There is a chitalishte in Bistritsa, named "St. Tsar Boris" from 1909.

Bistritsa is home to the famous "Bistritsa Babi" ("grannies"), a traditional folklore ensemble consisting of elderly women, their daughters and granddaughters, who have been classified as "living treasures" by UNESCO.^[1]