SVISHTOV

also spelled Svitov town, northern Bulgaria, on the terraced bank of the Danube River. Svishtov is one of the largest Bulgarian Danube ports and is a cultural centre. The Romans built on a strategic site near the town in the 1st century AD. There is little historical record of the town during the First and Second Bulgarian empires (11th14th century), but under the Turks (15th19th century) it was a major trade and craft centre, then called Sistova. During the Russo-Turkish War (187778), it was damaged several times and sacked by the Russians in 1878. Svishtov is now an agricultural and fishing centre as well as a university town, with a higher institute of finance and economics. Several important Bulgarian artists and writers were born there. Noteworthy churches include those of St. Demetrius (1640) and SS. Peter and Paul. Pop. (1988 est.) 51,682.