Koynare

Koynare (Bulgarian: Койнаре, also transliterated as Kojnare or Koinare) is a town in northern Bulgaria, part of Cherven Bryag Municipality, Pleven Province. It lies on the left bank of the Iskar River, at one of the river's meanders. As of December 2009, the town has a population of 4,464 inhabitants.

The vicinity of Koynare has been inhabited since the Neolithic, with remains dating to that period in the Beli Breg and Borishnitsa areas. In Antiquity, that region was settled by the Thracians: there are ruins of Thracian settlements in the Progon and Novoselski Pat areas and a Thracian warrior grave in the Gruya area. During the Roman Empire, there was a Roman waystation north-northeast of the modern town, at the Oescus–Serdica and Melta–Montana crossroads. With the arrival of the Slavs in the Middle Ages, Koynare was populated by these people, who later became part of the Bulgarian ethnicity. Medieval Christian burials have been unearthed near Koynare, testifying to the existence of a settlement during the Bulgarian Empire.