The town of Pavlikeni has a population of 12 000 inhabitants and lies at a distance of 42 km northwest of Veliko Turnovo. The town is the municipal centre of 19 component settlements. The town is located at the central part of the Danube Plain at a distance of 4 km from the Rositza River.

The present-day town springs up in XIII-XIV c. The first settlers belong to a strong medieval religious movement - that of the pavlikyans. The Pavlikyans are followers of the religious movement that has originated in VII c. in Armenia which has later reached Syria, Byzantine and Thrace. Hence the name of the settlement became Pavlikeni. The settlement develops as a craftsman's and trade centre. After the Liberation Pavlikeni is a small village. A boost in its development is the construction of the railway line Sofia-Varna. In 1943 the settlement is proclaimed for a town. It is the birth place of the famous Bulgarian opera singer Nikola Gyuzelev.

The tourist sights of the region are: the ancient ceramics centre from II-III c., the history museum and the art gallery.

Tourist sights

The ancient ceramics centre lies at a distance of 4 km west of the town. It is a unique complex for the manufacture of household, artistic and building ceramics dating back to II-III c. During excavation works have been discovered the foundations of housing buildings, workshops and furnaces. It is the biggest and unique centre on the Balkan Peninsula. Here has been manufactured the Tera Sigilata ceramics made of fine clay modeled in moulds. The decoration of the ceramics is either relief or engraved with a sign (from where comes the name of the ceramics - sigilium). The ceramics manufactured in this centre have been competitive in terms of quality and diversity to the ones in Northern Italy, Southern Galia and Panonia.