Omurtag

Omurtag is a town in Targovishte Province, northeastern Bulgaria, at the eastern foot of the Stara Planina (Balkan Mountains), roughly 525 m above sea level. As of the 2021 census it had a population of about 5,266, down from 7,369 in 2011 and estimated near 5,039 by the end of 2023 — part of a broader depopulation trend affecting rural northeastern Bulgaria. The surrounding area has been inhabited since the Neolithic and formed part of a 6th-century Byzantine defensive system under Emperor Justinian I; during the First Bulgarian Empire it gained strategic importance from its proximity to the medieval capitals Pliska and Preslav and the Balkan mountain passes. The settlement first appears in written records in the 17th century as Osman Pazar, an Ottoman-era market town and administrative (kaza) centre. It was liberated from Ottoman rule on 27 January 1878 by Russian troops under Johann Casimir Ehrnrooth during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, and took its present name in 1934, after the early medieval Bulgarian khan Omurtag.

Omurtag lies on secondary roads in the Targovishte Province highlands. The nearest rail and long-distance bus connections run through the city of Targovishte, about 30 km to the north.

The town centre is small and walkable.

• Targovishte — the provincial capital, about 30 km away
• Nearby towns in Targovishte Province — explore the surrounding region