Quick facts about City of Shumen
In Bulgarian Alphabets: Шумен
Location: North-East Bulgaria
Distance to capital city: 301 km from Sofia
Latitude: 43.277 N
Longitude: 26.929 E
Altitude: 200 - 299 m above the sea level
Province: Shumen District
Municipality: Shumen Municipality
Area size of City of Shumen: 136.358 sq km
Population: 86 954 inhabitants (to 01/01/2007)
Post code (ZIP): 9700
Phone code: 054 from Bulgaria; 0035954 from outside.

History
Shumen is an old town of fortresses. Its foundation and development were conected with the fortresses at the eastern end of the Shumen Plateau (in the area of Hisarluka). The famous fortress of Shumen was built in four basic periods: early and late Antiquity, and early and late Middle Ages. It was first created by the Thracians (5th century BC) and then consequently inhabited and built on by the Romans, the Byzantine, the Bulgarians and the Turks.
Together with Pliska and Preslav, Shumen was an old Bulgarian fortification of 7th - 10th centuries and it developed into a feudal town with a castle and an interior fortress, a number of churches, workshops (12th - 14th centuries). This is the place where Tsar Ivan Shishman's inscription was found. The inscription anounced the Tsar's visit to Shumen.
The Arabian traveller Idrisi first mentioned it as Simeonis (Shimeonit) in 1153. Some consider that it comes from Tsar Simeon's name. In 14th century people called it Shumna or Shumen. Most probably it has the meaning of "shuma" (foliage) or "zashumen" (covered up with branches) because it was situated in such an area. In 12th - 14th centuries Shumen was a significant military, administrative and economic centre surpassing even the old capital of Preslav, and growing outside the fortifications.
The town fell under Turkish rule after a long siege. It was turned into a well-fortified military town with a big garrison within the fortress. It housed a lot of Turks, Jews, Tartars and Armenians. The town was mentioned with different  names like Shumena, Shumna, Shumular, Shumunum, and of course in the last centuries of the domination as Shumen. In 18th and particularly in 19th century it developed as an important crafts centre, which was one of the preconditions for an active cultural life. On 22nd May 1813 here was held the first in Bulgaria civil celebration of the day of the  Saint brothers Cyril and Methodius, and the first theatre performance. In 1828 the first monastery school for young girls was founded. In 1846 the first amateur theatrical group in the schools were were established. After the defeat of the Hungarian Revolution (1848) many Hungarian revolutionaries emigrated to Shumen with Layosh Koshout at the head; these actively participated in the cultural life of the town. Due to them in 1851 the first symphonic orchestra conducted by Shafran was set up. Shumen is the town of the first class school for young girls and the first communal cultural centre (1856). The first work of drama were written in Shumen: :Mihal" (1853) by Sava Dobroplodni. The town hosted one of the first theatre perforances (1856). The first Bulgarian short story "Miserable Family" (1860) by Vassil Droumev from Shumen, founder of Bulgarian theatre, was written here, as well as "School Theatre - the Wealthy Man" (1864) by Dobri Voinikov from Shumen, too.