Editing Plovdiv (section)

===Recent history===
After the unification, Plovdiv remained the second most populous city in Bulgaria after the capital [[Sofia]]. The first railway in the city was built in 1874 connecting it with the Ottoman capital, and in 1888, it was linked with Sofia. In 1892 Plovdiv became the host of the First Bulgarian Fair with international participation which was succeeded by the [[International Fair Plovdiv]]. After the liberation, the first brewery was inaugurated in the city.

The noteworthy English travel writer Patrick Leigh Fermor visited Plovdiv in the late summer of 1934 and he was charmed by the town and a local woman named Nadjeda.<ref>Patrick Leigh Fermor, The Broken Road: From the Iron Gates to Mouth Athos (London: John Murray, 2013), pp. 15ff.</ref>

In the beginning of the 20th century, Plovdiv grew as a significant industrial and commercial center with well-developed light and food industry. In 1927 the electrification of Plovdiv has started. German, French, and [[Belgium|Belgian]] capital was invested in the city in the development of modern trade, banking, and industry. In 1939, there were 16,000 craftsmen and 17,000 workers in manufacturing factories, mainly for food and tobacco processing.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}} During the Second World War, the tobacco industry expanded as well as the export of fruit and vegetables. In 1943, 1,500 Jews were saved from deportation in [[concentration camp]]s by the archbishop of Plovdiv, [[Patriarch Cyril of Bulgaria|Cyril]], who later became the Bulgarian Patriarch. In 1944, the city was bombed by the British-American coalition.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

Tobacco Depot workers [[Plovdiv tobacco workers' strike|went on strike on 4 May 1953]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=КОНЕЦ ЕВРОПЕЙСКОГО ЛАГЕРЯ.НРБ: ТРУДНЫЙ РАЗЖИМ |url=https://solidarizm.ru/txt/trura.shtml |access-date=2024-09-23 |website=solidarizm.ru |language=ru}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Nick Heath |url=https://archive.org/details/afterthedeathofstalin/page/n1/mode/2up |title=After the Death of Stalin: The First Revolt- The Plovdiv Tobacco Workers' Strike, May 1953}}</ref>

On 6 April 1956, the first trolleybus line was opened and in the 1950s the Trimontsium Hotel was constructed. In the 1960s and 1970s, there was a construction boom and many of the modern neighborhoods took shape. In the 1970s and 1980s, antique remains were excavated and the Old Town was fully restored. In 1990 the sports complex "Plovdiv" was finished. It included the largest stadium and rowing canal in the country. In that period, Plovdiv became the birthplace of Bulgaria's movement for democratic reform, which by 1989 had garnered enough support to enter government.

Plovdiv has hosted specialized exhibitions of the [[World's Fair]] in 1981, 1985, and 1991.

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