Lakatnik

The area has been inhabited since ancient times, but the name Lakatnik was first mentioned in the 17th century in Ottoman-Turkish documents. Its origin is unclear. It most likely comes from "laka" (laka) - a low place by a river, a meadow. There are several such toponyms near the village - Lipova laka, Chumina laka, Grcaska laka and Lakite na biloto. According to a second version, the name comes from the bend of the Iskar River, which curves like an elbow. A similar version is that "Lakatnik" comes from the verb "lkatusha".

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  During the Turkish rule, the village consisted of many scattered hamlets and huts. Legend has it that there were plague epidemics in 1778 and 1830. After the first one, only 9 families remained in the village. The memory of that time is carried by the names of many places around the village - Bezhaniata, Mortatitsa, Chumina Laka.
  In 1878, the Russians conducted a census to determine the state of the country after the war. According to it, there were 188 Bulgarian houses in the village of Lakatnik. 584 men and 530 women. 1050 acres of arable land and 620 acres of mowed meadows. The units of measurement are interesting. In Northwestern Bulgaria during the Middle Ages, the area of ​​the field was often measured according to how many days it could be plowed by a pair of oxen, and for the meadows - how many days it could be mowed by a mower. Livestock 81 oxen, 208 cows, 80 horses, 2152 sheep, 2065 goats, 40 pigs, 42 cars and 75 loads - two-wheeled carts. After the Liberation, the population increased rapidly. This was especially helped by the construction of the railway line in 1897. Mass resettlement of residents near the line began and it soon turned out that the population in the hamlet near Iskar was larger than that of the village of Lakatnik. After the coup in 1934 and the subsequent reorganization of the administrative division of the country, the village of Lakatnik was included in the Bov Municipality. The entire population reacted to this extremely unfair decision by expressing a desire to become part of the municipality of the village of Osikovo together with Dupni Vrah (Druzhevo), Gubislav and Opletnya, which were in the Vratsa district. The request was not only granted after two months, but the new municipality was headquartered at Lakatnik station. At the beginning of 1945, the municipality at Lakatnik station was transferred to the Sofia district along with the villages of Lakatnik, Gubislav and Opletnya. The first school in the village was opened in 1893 in a room in the Turkish inn, and then in the tavern of Georgintsi. In 1899, Stoyan Tsenov, a member of parliament from the region, obtained help from the state and a large school was built next to the church. The wooden material was brought by the local residents all the way from Iskrets. At first, the students sat on benches along the walls. Later, long rows were made for 8 children each. They wrote on stone tablets with chisels, and then rubbed the writing with a rag. Stoyan Tsenov did a lot for the development of the village. Before becoming a member of parliament, he was the mayor of the village. In addition to the school, he contributed to the construction of the stone bridge over the Iskar River (built by Italians in 1897-1898) and the road from Lakatnik station to the village of Lakatnik. On his initiative, the monument to those who died in the Balkan and Inter-Allied Wars was also erected.
  Now the village has a population of less than 100 people. The village of Lakatnik is a starting point for the Trustnaya hut. The E3 Kom-Emine route passes through the village.