The town of Botevgrad has a population of 21 000 inhabitants and is a municipal centre with 12 component settlements. The town lies at a distance of 58 km from Sofia and is an important crossroads. Botevgrad is situated in a picturesque valley at an altitude of 350m close to the Arabakonak Pass. The territory of the municipality occupies part of the Western Stara Planina Mountains and parts of the Fore-Balkan.

During the Middle Ages life is localized in the village of Zelin at a distance of 3 km from the present town. At the end of XIV c. the settlement enters the limits of a vast domain with the fortress Bozhenishki Urvich as its centre. In XVIII the village is in a decline and part of its population found the village of Samundzhievo. The favourable location of the village makes Midhad Pasha to proclaim it for an administrative centre. He names it Orhanie in honour of Sultan Orhan. Orhanie is later proclaimed for a town in 1866. Since 1934 the town carries the name of the Bulgarian poet and revolutionary Hristo Botev.

The tourist sights of the town are: the clock tower (1866), the church "Sveto Vaznesenie" /St. Ascension/ (1862-1864), remains of the fortress Bozhenishki Urvich, the Vrachesh Monastery (at Vrachesh village), the monasteries "St. Nikolay" and "Sveto Preobrazhenie" (in Skravena village)

Tourist sights

The clock tower is the symbol of Botevgrad. It is built in 1866 by the master builder Bunyo Markov from the village of Vrachesh.

The remains of the fortress Bozhenishki Urvich in the village of Bozhenitza is situated at a distance of 25 km from the municipal centre. The fortress has been the headquarters of the governor of Sofia District- Ognyan who fights the Ottoman Turks during 1378-1385. An inscription dating back from XIV c. is preserved over a rock at the entrance of the fortress. There are also remains of an Early Byzantine fortress and a rocky church in the region. The Bozhenishki Urvich fortress is proclaimed for a monument of culture of national significance.