Village name

The village has had a variety of names such as Kardzhilare (written formally Karadzhilar the Turkish for 'deer') until 1906, then called Popovo from 1906 until 1950 when it became Iskra. Iskra or Ashkenazi is named after the young Jewish partisan - Clara Ashkenazi who died in the nearby Novakovo hills to the south. In 1950 the village erected a bust monument in her honour.

Historic settlements

Situated near the village are many mounds that suggest the existence of Thracian settlements in this region. Kameniviya Hissar (Hisar Little, Taushanitsa) where, according to Paul Deliradev and Ivan Velikov are situated a Thracian fortress and settlement. In the eastern foothills of the Great Hisar (about two kilometers northwest of the village) there are traces of late Roman settlement and at the very top – Big Hisar – are remnants of a town site, which according to Dr. Ivan Velikov date from the 11th or 12th century, i.e. since the Second Bulgarian State. Around Iskra are many Roman, Venetian, Dubrovnik and Bulgarian coins, the latter mostly from the time of the 14th century Bulgarian emperors Ivan Alexander and Ivan Shishman. It is believed that the village was home to one of the Christian bishops of the First Bulgarian Empire, namely the Episcopal Bukovo of 9th–10th century.

There are many tales of a considerable population around the village of Iskra during the Thracian, Roman, Byzantine, until the collapse of the Bulgarian state under Ottoman occupation.

In late 1670 or early 1671 years the famous Turkish traveler Evliya Çelebi, traveling from Asenovgrad to Edirne passed through the village Papaz (then Popovo). This is the first mention of Iskra in modern documents and it demonstrates both the importance of the settlement and to clear his Bulgarian identity.

Further information on the village is tied into legends. According to them, the oldest of the village is available in Popovi - five kilometers south of where it was purely Bulgarian. Here are the remains of walls, wells and cemeteries. Hence the origin and a large trove of about 800 silver coins of the Roman Republic, which opened in 1929, it is called Popova and mentioned by Evliya Çelebi.

Southwest of Iskra has traces of another village: foundations of rural churches, crosses, night-lights, and the remains of two older buildings - perhaps fortresses.

Due to increased danger of invaders, the village split, perhaps 30–40 homes moved and settled in their present place. The rest went further and established the present village Popovitsa - in Sadovo municipality.

The new place named for the village Kardzhilare, written formally as Karadzhilar. This word in Turkish means deer.

The location of the village was seen as favorable, situated in a sheltered hollow on the banks of the river Kayaliyka / divide between Eastern and Western Rhodope / attracted many settlers, not only Bulgarians. Bulgarians groups roamed across the vast territory of the settlement. They formed small settlements in many places, as evidenced by the open scattered separate cemeteries, the settlement patterns have spread around the area over the years.

Grape production near village Iskra