Milanovo Vill

The old name of Milanovo was Osikovo. It is not clear where it originated. According to archaeologists, Osikovo is an old Bulgarian settlement, formed on the site of an ancient Thracian-Roman settlement of miners, as evidenced by the remains of old mines. The first settlements in the land of Milanovo were probably in the neighborhoods of Razhishta and Mramor, but were later abandoned. About 25 grave mounds, unexplored, which the locals call "matsulki", have been registered in the land. It was given its current name by the Ottoman conquerors and is found in Turkish documents from the 15th to the 19th centuries. During the Turkish rule, the village was entirely Christian. The village was headed by a Bulgarian elder (mukhtar).

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  The village has moved several times. The current village arose after the conquest of Bulgaria by the Ottomans. Settlers created a small village on the site of the current hamlet of Staro Selo. This happened in the 15th century. Later, probably in the 17th century, the church "St. Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary" was built there.
  According to data from Russian archives in 1887, the village of Osikovo had 169 houses, with 578 men and 560 women, or 1138 inhabitants, 100 pairs of oxen, 220 cows, 171 horses, 2996 sheep, 1828 goats, 196 pigs, 17 donkeys, 29 carts, 39 loads - two-wheeled carts, there is a school, 9 mills, one blacksmith shop. After the Liberation, the population was massively displaced and by the 1930s the current hamlets were formed - Guvna, Razhishta, Mramor, Staro selo, Rusinov del, Lak, Mzhev del, Kat, Batina polyana and Svrazhen. In 1902, the hamlet Gumna/Guvna became the center of the village due to the fact that at that time the roads from Lakatnik to Varshets and Vratsa passed through the region. (Gumno is a flat place where threshing is done, a threshing floor). Until the Liberation, the village belonged to the Berkovo district. Then until 1956 it was within the Vratsa district. Since then until today it has been in the municipality of Svoge. In 1960, Osikovo was renamed Milanovo after one of the deceased participants in the September Uprising.
  The detachment of Panayot Hitov and Filip Totyu passed north of the village on July 28-29, 1867, on their way to Serbia. At that time, the standard-bearer was Vasil Levski. According to unconfirmed information, Levski later visited the village again to organize a revolutionary committee. There was a school in the Old Village as early as the beginning of the 19th century - initially at the church, and then in private quarters. In 1887, a one-story school building with two classrooms, a room for the teachers, and a warehouse was built according to a standard project. Initially, the roof was with stone slabs and was only covered with tiles in 1935. In one room, the first and third grades were taught together, and in the other, the second and fourth grades. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were about 50 students, and until 1907/1908, only boys were admitted. At the end of the First World War, only one teacher remained and the classes were forced to study every other day, alternating. In 1919/1920, there were already 105 students, for whom there was no room and they were forced to stand along the walls. In 1907, a primary school was also established in the village of Guvna, in one room in a private house. Due to the need for a new school, in 1919, a building built for a pub was donated to the municipality - the school was moved to one room, and the town hall to the other. In 1921, a large school building was built next to it, and thus Osikovo also acquired a primary school "Father Paisii". In 1931, the village already had 292 students from grades 1 to 8. There were not enough rooms. In the early 1940s, construction of a new massive building began, but construction progressed slowly and during the war years only the foundations were completed. The project was by architect Petar Dogramadzhiev from Vratsa. In 1945, construction resumed with the voluntary labor of the locals. In 1951, the school moved to the new building. In 1966, the old school "Cyril and Methodius" in Staro Selo was closed due to the depopulation of the hamlet. In the 1973 census, 1,564 residents were found, more than half of whom were in the central hamlet of Guvna, and only 16 households with 36 residents remained in Staro Selo. In 1979, the school in the neighboring village of Druzhevo was also finally closed and the students were transferred to Milanovo. In 2001, the school in Milanovo, after a reduction in students and merging of classes, finally closed its doors. Now the village of Milanovo has about 400 permanent residents, although several of the remote hamlets no longer have any population. It is lively on weekends and due to its mountainous climate and proximity to Lakatnik, Varshets and the ridge of Vrachanski Balkan, the village is an attractive place for recreation.