Mokresh, Montana Province

Mokresh Мокреш
Village
Mokresh Location of Mokresh
Coordinates: 43°45′01″N 23°23′49″E / 43.75028°N 23.39694°E / 43.75028; 23.39694Coordinates: 43°45′01″N 23°23′49″E / 43.75028°N 23.39694°E / 43.75028; 23.39694
Country	Bulgaria
Province (Oblast)	Montana
Municipality	Valchedram
Government
• Mayor	Ognian Efremov
Area
• Total	66.7 km² (25.8 sq mi)
Elevation	77 m (253 ft)
Population (2009-03-15)^[1]
• Total	866
• Density	13/km² (34/sq mi)
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Postal Code	3647
Area code(s)	09747
License Plate	M

Mokresh (Bulgarian: Мокреш) is a village in northwestern Bulgaria, located in the Valchedram Municipality of the Montana Province.^[2]^[3]

The village is situated in a small valley, 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) from Valchedram, 19 kilometres (12 mi) from Lom, and 50 kilometres (31 mi) from Montana.

Small Paris

Once upon a time, people used to call Mokresh a European village – because many of the natives studied in the cities and abroad, and there were many fashionably clothed men and women.The young village residents used to regularly go to the port in Lom to watch the passengers on the steamboats from Europe. They imitated the design of the clothes and the manner of speaking. The more affluent landowners from Mokresh started building their houses in the style of the European architecture. That’s why, the local buffoons named Mokresh the “Small Paris”. That was in the first half of the XX century.

Pop Puncho

The most famous citizen is Pope Puncho. He made one of the first copies of the Old Bulgarian History by Paisius of Hilendar in the 19th century. Mokresh has its place in the National Revival history mainly with the activity of pop Puncho Kuzdin, a remarkable person for his time. Born in the village, the priest has made one of the first copies of the “Istoria slaviyanobulgarska” by Paisii Hilendarski. This copy was later included in the Bulgarian homilies from 1796. These are stories about Saint John of Rila, parables about Adam and Eva, the Birth of Christ, a short novel about the Russian tsar Peter the Great, all narrated simply and with love for Bulgaria. In his book he painted images of the Virgin and the Saints, as well a self-portrait of his. In the day, Puncho the priest taught the Mokresh kids in the monastery school founded by him, and at night he was writing his homilies. Nowadays, this collection of 400 pages is preserved in the National library of Sofia. The digital edition of this book has been included in the European digital library.