Velingrad

a city in southern Bulgaria; in the western Rhodope Mountains, in Pazardzhik District. Population, 25,000 (1969). Named after Vela Peeva, a partisan and national heroine who perished in 1944. It was formed in 1948 by the merger of three villages—Kamenitsa, Ludzhene, and Chepino—which are known for their mineral springs. Velin-grad is a center of the timber and timber-chemical industries.

Velingrad is a balneological and mountain-climatic resort at an elevation of 800 m; it has a moderate continental climate. The summers are hot, with an average July temperature of 23° C ; and the winters are mild, with an average January temperature of 1°.C The annual precipitation is about 1,000 mm. Forms of therapy include thermal (30°-78°C), radioactive [(40-300) x 10³ disintegrations/ (sec · m³) or 3-22 Maché units], bicarbonate-sulfate-sodium, sulfate-bicarbonate-sodium, and bicarbonate-sodium springs, whose waters are used for bathing, drinking, inhalation, and irrigation, and the grape cure. There is treatment of persons suffering from diseases of the organs of locomotion and support, gynecological diseases, diseases of the respiratory organs and peripheral nervous system, anemia, and chronic poisoning by heavy metals. There are sanatoriums, rest homes, balneological clinics, boarding-houses, and hotels.