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Karlovo is situated 520 metres above sea level in Rose Valley. It is 141 km. east from Sofia, 58 km. north of Plovdiv, 55 km. west of Kazanlak and 66 km. south of Troyan.
It is a relatively new town which originated on the banks of Stara Reka after the Ottoman invasion as an administrative centre for the local Turkish Feudal lords - after one of which it was named. The beginning of the nineteenth century saw a period of rapid economic growth with hundreds of clockworks and watermills being built on the banks of the Stara Reka River, and rich merchants importing copper, gold, cloth and leather from Egypt, Albania, Romania and Vienna. Karlovo became a big and bustling village with a formed center, town clock and pleasant houses.
In 1877 during the the Russian - Turkish War, Karlovo was plundered and set on fire with 814 people killed and the survivors fleeing into the Balkan Mountains.
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