Banya

Banya may refer to:

In places:

See also

Banya, Burgas Province

Coordinates: 42°46′00″N 27°50′00″E / 42.7667°N 27.8333°E / 42.7667; 27.8333

Banya (Bulgarian: Баня) is a village in southeastern Bulgaria, situated in the Nesebar Municipality of the Burgas Province. It is situated at the foot of the Eastern part of the Balkan Mountains, 6 km from the Black Sea Coast.

Banya is 18 km away from Sunny beach (the largest Bulgarian sea resort), 25 km from the ancient Nesebar and 50 km from Burgas and Varna - the biggest Bulgarian administrative centres on the Black Sea Coast. Within the village itself is a small restaurant, a couple of shops and a hotel.

The village has been populated by Turkish coal merchants and Greek fishermen until the 1910s. Gradually, the original inhabitants have been evicted and Bulgarian settlers from Asia Minor coast and the Aegean Macedonia moved in.

Irakli, the nearest beach, is one of the last remaining non-commercially developed beaches in Bulgaria. It is a place of unparalleled and unspoilt beauty, a lush fine sandy beach of nearly 4 km, backed by low shrubbery and forest growth.

Banya (sauna)

Banya or banja (Russian: баня [ˈbanʲə]; Macedonian: бања [ˈbaɲa]; Serbian: бања [ˈbâɲa]) can refer to a number of types of steam baths popular in Eastern Europe. In Russia, it refers to a particular local type of sauna. In the Republic of Macedonia and Serbia it is a mineral water spa, as, for example, the spa resorts such as Kežovica (Macedonia), and Vrnjačka Banja and Sokobanja (Serbia). Variants of this word in other Slavic languages usually refer to a bathtub (Slovene: banja), bathroom (Bulgarian: баня) and bathing in general.

In the Russian language, the word "banya" may also refer to public bathhouse, most historically famous being the Sanduny (Sandunovskie bani).

History

A mention of the banya is found in the Radzivill Chronicle in the story of Princess Olga's revenge for the murder of her husband, Prince Igor, by the Slavic tribe of Drevlians in 945 AD. The leader of the Drevlians had hopes of marrying the widow Olga and sent messengers to discuss the idea. "When the Drevlians arrived, Olga commanded that a bath should be made ready for them and said, 'Wash yourselves and come to me.' The bath-house was heated and the unsuspecting Drevlians entered and began to wash themselves. [Olga's] men closed the bath-house behind them and Olga gave orders to set it on fire from the doors, so that the Drevlians were all burned to death."