Bulgarian village aspires to Guinness World Records

A small village in the south of Bulgaria is becoming famous in an original way. It has the largest number of road signs in the world per kilometer of roadway.

Actually, Uzundzhovo village was popular during the Ottoman Empire. For three hundred years, a huge fair was located here. In the late XVIII – early XIX centuries, more than 50,000 buyers and sellers from Europe, Asia and even Africa flocked here every day. Uzundzhovo had many inns, retail outlets, Turkish baths, and there was also a large mosque. Tax incentives were provided to local residents to encourage trade.

Today, 1,703 people live here. The rich history of these places is only reminded by a stone stele and the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin on the site of the mosque. In order to somehow attract tourists to his village, the new mayor of Uzundzhovo used an original method: a record number of road signs were installed on the highway passing through the settlement. On both sides of the street, motorists and pedestrians can admire hundreds of signs. Some of them are located literally 5 meters from each other.

The Bulgarian State Road Inspectorate reports that a total of 468 road signs have been installed on the highway between the cities of Haskovo and Simeonovgrad, where the village of Uzundzhovo is located. The project worth BGN 320,000 (EUR 163633.64) was approved by the Technical Council of the Regional Road Administration.

The number of road signs at each location is coordinated from the point of view of traffic safety, and not their number, the local department of the road inspection explained. Installing a large number of signs does not contradict the law.

This is exactly what the mayor of Uzundzhovo took advantage of: "I am glad that there is a sign at every intersection, and I will apply to the Guinness Book of World Records for the village with the largest number of road signs," said Dimitar Nichev.

The mayor's initiative has already yielded certain results. Curious travelers and journalists began to visit the village. Residents of Uzundzhovo hope that fame will help repair the rural road and perhaps even lighting will be installed here. In the meantime, the police note that after the installation of new signs, not a single traffic accident occurred in the village.