The Bulgarian town of Plovdiv is located on the banks of the Maritsa River in the Upper Thracian lowlands. The climate and the geographic location of the town contributed to its development and continued growth throughout history. Plovdiv is a crossroads of international importance and links the East with Europe, the Baltic with the Mediterranean, and the Black Sea with the Adriatic regions.

The six picturesque hills of the city impart a unique beauty to this town. Plovdiv is one of the most ancient towns not only in Bulgaria but in all urope as well. Plovdiv is a city that was contemporary to Troy and is also more ancient than Rome, Athens and Constantinople. Its first inhabitants were two Thracian tribes - Odrysae and Bessae who lived on the Maritsa River valley and the Rhodope Mountains. They established a fortified settlement on three of the hills, and gave it the name, Evmolpia - "melodious" taking this name after the mythical poet and musician Orpheus. Another legend tells us that the town was named after Evmolp - the husband of the beautiful nymph Rodena

In 342 BC, Philip of Macedonia conquered the settlement, built a fortress with massive walls around it and changed the name to "Philippopolis" (Philip's town). Upon the death of Alexander the Great (Philip's son), the freedom-loving Thracians revolted against their Macedonian leaders. Macedonian rule ended after only half a century. Seuthes III (the tsar of the Odrysae) restored the Thracian Kingdom.

Over two centuries the Romans conquered Thrace. Up to 72 BC they took possession of the whole Maritsa River valley, including Philippopolis. They renamed the town Trimontsium (a town on three hills). They quickly realized the strategic location of the town and undertook major building projects - stone paved roads, public buildings, churches, baths, stadiums, and theatres. The town went beyond the outline of the three hills and extended into the surrounding valley. At the end of the 4th century, with the decline of the Roman Empire, the Bulgarian region was separated into two parts. Plovdiv became a part of the Eastern Roman Empire, beginning the so-called Byzantine Period of the history of Trimontsium.

The town had many names during this period - Ulpa, Flavia, Julia. Around the 6th Century, migrating Slavic tribes began to filter into the town, gradually changing the ethnical structure of the whole region. They took up the Thracian name of the town Pulpudeva, modifying it as Puldin and Ploudin. In the times of the First and Second Bulgarian Kingdom, Plovdiv was subject of struggles between the Byzantine Empire and the young Bulgarian State. Situated between these two opposing powers, it changed allegiance several times. In the 14th Century, when the Turks conquered the Maritsa River valley, Plovdiv came under the domination of the Ottoman Empire and lost the importance it once had. The fortifications were destroyed and all vestiges of the city's ancient past irreversibly faded away. The Turks changed not only the name of the town "Philibe", but also its architecture. They built mosques, inns, and baths in great numbers. On the threshold of the Orient, Philibe sprang up as a busy economic center, a town of craftsmen and merchants. In the 1800's, a national revival awoke the Bulgarian spirit and Plovdiv help foster in a new Bulgarian history with its contribution to the national culture and struggle for an independent Bulgarian church. In 1870 the Turkish Government officially recognized the independence of the Bulgarian church, and thereby the existence of the Bulgarian nation. Before 1870 the Bulgarians were referred to only as "Christians" but now they were "Bulgarians".

Plovdiv was famous for many cultural and educational events and many non-clerical schools were established here. The independence of the church and the establishment of national educational institutions became heralds of the victory of the Bulgarian national revolution for at least two reasons:
they put an end to the assimilation of the Bulgarian population and led to the formal international recognition of the Bulgarian nation. The eternal city has always inspired the greatest intellectual and spiritual leaders of the Bulgarian nation. The citizens of Plovdiv took an important role in the struggle for church independence and against Ottoman rule. At the end of the Russian-Turkish Liberation War, Russia and Turkey signed the Treaty of San Stefano on March 3, 1878. Bulgaria was to be established as an autonomous principality with an elected prince. With the exception of Constantinople, Adrianople and Saloniki, the new principality included all the territory between the Danube in the north, the Black Sea in the east, the Aegean Sea in the south, and Lake Ohrid and beyond in the west.

  The cosmopolitan town of Plovdiv was declared the capital of the newly recognized principality. The subsequent Berlin Treaty ruined the hopes of the Bulgarian people for a united and free country. Bulgaria was divided into parts - Kingdom Bulgaria (capital Sofia) and province Eastern Rumelia (capital Plovdiv). Sofia grew more powerful as a state and political center, but Plovdiv still remains the second largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia. Plovdiv is an important industrial and, commercial, cultural and communicative center.