The houses and streets of the two submerged villages of Zhivovtsi and Kalimanitsa still stand under the deep waters of Ogosta Dam. Some of them sometimes emerge, and spread mystery and curiosity among the people. When the waters of the dam recede, we can see the Zivovtsi fountain, the bell tower of the old Zhivovo church, and the church itself are half-destroyed. Some of them sometimes emerge, and spread mystery and curiosity among the people. When the waters of the dam recede, the Zivovo fountain, the bell tower of the old Zhivovo church, and the church itself are half-destroyed. Вy the 1980s, the move of the two villages had been completed, and their residents were given the opportunity to settle in Montana and Berkovitsa. Villige of Kalimanitsa is the birthplace of Yordan Radichkov. Many legends and stories have been told about the destruction of the two villages, but there is one that stands out.
PREDICTION FOR THE DEATH OF ZHIVOVTSI
Few old people today remember that Zhivovtsi and its inhabitants expected the destruction of the village long before the decision for the build of Ogosta Dam was made. And many did not wait for it. But it really happened. That is why he tells the following legend.
Once, during the Turkish slavery, a white-bearded old man came to the village from nowhere. People gathered around him, talked to him, he was silent for a long time, stroked his beard, then said: “Remember my word, this village will not be. Water will wear it five times, the heel will completely rub it. He sat for a while, looked at the village and left.
And indeed, years later, in 1830 on July 27 (old style) on the feast of St. Pantaleimon a large hailstorm fell on, accompanied by a storm and torrential rain, which uprooted a large part of the walnut trees planted in the land of Gorno Tserovene, near the border of the village of Zhivovtsi. The cloud came from the Chiprovtsi Balkans, passed through the Thracian plain and went to European Turkey.
The second flood was in 1858 in May. On Spasovden a heavy torrential rain fell, as a result of which the Ogosta River came so big that even in Gorno Tserovene one of its banks was near Pod Stoyanov Lug and Letoni pick, and the other near Kameno Bridtse, which are also near the border of Zhivovtsi village. This shows that the whole lowland was under water. This flood remained with the names Spasovska Voda and Povogyeto.
The third flood occurred on May 12 (old style) 1915 after torrential rain.
The fourth happened on June 4 and 5 (new style) 1942. Heavy torrential rain fell along the entire Ogosta River and in the morning the river flooded almost the entire village. At that time, people were making their living in the Vro area. The water washed away Goran’s mill in the village of Zhivovtsi and Ivanovo village (or Ivanova mahala), located in the town of Ferdinand. Two Karakachan women from the same village drowned.
The fifth water, which the old man predicted, is today’s dam.
This legend was forgotten until there was talk of evicting the village. Then old men, born in the XIX century, remembered the legend of the destruction of the village by their fathers and grandfathers and told it to the younger ones, who today are also not among the living, or are very few. And so the legend has come down to today, but today it is really doomed to oblivion.