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The city of Gabrovo is located at an altitude of 390 m above sea level, on both banks of the Yantra River, at the northern foot of the Central part of the mountainous Balkan chain. Gabrovo is located in close proximity to the geographical center of Bulgaria - Uzana mountain resort. Gabrovo is the longest city in Bulgaria - more than 25 km. The population of Gabrovo is about 76500 inhabitants.

Gabrovo passes one of the most important road junctions in Bulgaria in the north-south direction, which is part of the trans-European corridor No. 9 (Helsinki-St. Petersburg-Kiev-Bucharest-Ruse-Veliko Tarnovo, Gabrovo, Stara Zagora, Dimitrovgrad, with branches in Greece and Turkey).

Gabrovo emerged in the Middle Ages as a strategic village close to Staroplaninsky passes. According to legend, the village was founded by the wandering master smith Racho Kovacs (Racho Kuznets), but there is no definitive evidence of this. At the end of the XII century, due to the proximity to the capital of the Bulgarian state of Veliko Tarnovo, crafts and trade developed here, as well as production related to the maintenance and protection of passes through the Balkans - Kuznetsk craft, weapons production, etc. The first famous name of the village of Gabruva since 1430, and the present - Gabrovo, appeared in the seventeenth century. The name originates from the gabyr tree (hornbeam).

 During the Ottoman rule, Gabrovo was a large craft and trade center.

In the XVII century, there were no more than five thousand inhabitants here - and forges (coworkers) - there were four hundred and fifty - apiece for a dozen citizens! By the beginning of the 19th century, the shoemakers' workshop had grown - almost two hundred craftsmen, hundreds of furriers sewed hats, thirty jewelers worked in silver, there were still goldsmiths, braziers, saddlers, leather craftsmen, weavers, oil-makers (that is, perfumers, because the oil was made from pink and lavender). In total, according to historians, twenty-six types of crafts were practiced in Gabrov, despite the fact that twenty-nine were found in all of Bulgaria.

 In 1860, Gabrovo was declared a city. Felix Kanitz says about him that in the 70s of the 19th century he “is a large workshop” and that he is “a city that lives on water”, given the massive use of the power of water. The first textile factory (1882) was opened by Ivan K. Kalpazanov. And after the Liberation of Gabrovo continued to develop as the largest textile center in Bulgaria, it is no coincidence that it received the nickname “Bulgarian Manchester”. The glory of Gabrovo products spreads throughout the Ottoman Empire and beyond. And now in Bucharest there is a street bearing the name “Gabroveni”.

The rapid economic growth and national awakening became the reason for the opening of the first Bulgarian secular school in 1835. In 1872, she grew into a high school, and since 1889, into the Aprilov Gymnasium, named after its founder Vasil Aprilov, an outstanding figure in the era of the Bulgarian National Renaissance. Beautiful houses of the Bulgarian National Renaissance, churches, bridges, Czechs, a clock tower (1835) were built. Residents of the city took an active part in the uprising of Captain Grandfather Nikola in 1856, in the Turnov uprising from 1862, in the couple Hadji Dimitar and Stefan Karadzhi (1868), Hristo Botev (1876), Tsanko Dustabanova (1876, couple completely composed of Gabrovians). In 1868, Levsky founded a revolutionary committee here. The city is the birthplace of Vasil Aprilov, Tsanko Dyustabanov, Pop Khariton, composer Emanuel Manolov and many others.