Emen

Emen is a village in Veliko Tarnovo Municipality, Veliko Tarnovo Province, Bulgaria, famous for the nearby caves and canyon. In recent years it has become a major tourist destination, receiving both domestic and foreign visitors. Emen's population is about 100 people, but it triples during the summer.

The Emen cave bears evidence of human habitation, dated to the Neolith. Later, Romans settled in the area and built an outpost on Kaleto hill on the verge of the present-day village. Fortifications included a rock wall from two sides, while the other two sides were naturally protected by the vertical walls of the Emen canyon. Nowadays, parts of the wall are preserved, but treasure-hunter raids have reduced archaeological evidence.

The present-day name of the village is said to derive from the times of the Ottoman rule over Bulgaria. Emen was the name of the Turk who owned all the land and Christian people of the village. With the Liberation of Bulgaria he was most likely expelled from the country, but the village kept its name. Today, a single Turkish family lives in Emen, but it bears no relation to the previous landowner.

Emen is located in Veliko Tarnovo Province, about 20 km away from capital of the province. The river Negovanka, a tributary to Rositsa flows right through the village, through the Emen Canyon and ends up in the Mihaltsi dam situated about 5 km north of the village. The name of the river comes from Latin and means short river with a near source. In Palaeolithic times, the river carved a gorge (or canyon), which bears the name of the village. The Emen Canyon consists of two parts, called Goren (Upper) and Dolen (Lower) Boaz. The Upper Boaz stretches through 5 km from the nearby village of Novo Selo to Emen, itself. The Lower part of the canyon begins in the north part of Emen and eventually opens up after the Mihaltsi dam.

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