Sapareva Banya

 

The 12th-13th-century St Nicholas Church, the 18th-century St George's Church from the Bulgarian National Revival and the St Forty Martyrs Church from 1859 are located in Sapareva Banya.

The former Byzantine town of Germane or Germania once stood at the location of modern Sapareva Banya. It was the birthplace of the great Byzantine general Belisarius and was first mentioned in the 6th century as Γερμανία, Γερμανός, Γέρμεννε. In an 11th-century charter of Basil II, it was listed as Γερμάνεια. The modern name first appears as Bane in 1576. Later on, it was disambiguated by adding the name of the nearby village of Saparevo: the area is rich in mineral springs and many localities have similar names. Saparevo's name, first attested in 1570, is probably derived from the noun tsapar ("woodchopper"), from the dialectal verb tsaparim (цапарим), "to chop, to cut". Some authors suggest an etymology from the Thracian *Sapara.^[2]

Mineral water of Separeva banya has exceptional healing qualities. It was highly regarded and used as a cure from Thracians and Romans. Saparevian mineral water is clear, colorless, with smell of hydrogen sulfide, hypertermal (temperature 103 °C), hydrocarbonate, sulphate-sodium, fluorine, silicon and sulphide. Hydrogen sulfide is 15,5 mg / l. Successfully treat diseases of:

• musculoskeletal system - arthritis, osteoarthritis, inflammatory and degenerative joint diseases, trauma, post fractures, ankylosing spondylitis, gout, and others;

• peripheral nervous system - spinal disc herniation, polyneuropathies, inflammation of the nerve roots and plexuses ;

• poisoning by salts of heavy metals (lead, manganese, etc. . )

• upper respiratory tract - sinusitis, pharyngitis, tracheitis, etc. .

• damage to the central nervous system: brain rehabilitation after insula^[3]

 

Sapareva Banya is also the seat of Sapareva Banya municipality (part of Kyustendil Province), which includes the following 3 villages:

• Ovchartsi^{[clarification needed]}
• Resilovo^{[clarification needed]}
• Saparevo

• Saparevo Glacier on Smith Island, South Shetland Islands is named after Saparevo / Sapareva Banya.
• Flavius Belisarius, the famous Roman general, was born in the town which preceded Sapareva Banya.

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sapareva Banya.

• www.saparevabanya.bg, official municipality website
• Sapareva.hit.bg