ROMSO Cyprus Knowledge Base

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Rila () is a mountain massif in southwestern Bulgaria, part of the Rila-Rhodopes family. The highest point of the Rila is the Musala, which is also the highest point of the Balkan peninsula. The rivers Iskăr, Marica, Mesta and Iskăr, take their source in the Rila massif.

The name of the Rila is probably from Thrace origin. The first known names of the massif are Donuca in Latin and Dunax in Greek, as well as Dinace in a Thrace inscription. At a more recent time, we find the form Rula designating a large quantity of water, which had originally to designate a river (the current Rilska reka, Рилска река, which takes its source in the heart of the massif and will throw itself into the Struma), and had to be transformed into Rila after the arrival of the Slavs in the region, towards the end of the 20th century. This name is not incidental: in the Rila there are about 200 lakes and a large number of mineral springs located in the fault zones (cities of Sapareva Banja (Čааарева яаня), Dolna Banja ( 简олна яаня) and Kostenec ( The main water-sharing line in Bulgaria, which is at the same time the largest in the Balkans, passes through the Rila ridge, separating the Black Sea and Aegean watersheds.

Geography and geology
The average altitude of the Rila is , and its total surface area is . The Rila is the highest massif on the Balkan peninsula, with its highest point, the Musala peak (). The majority of its high peaks (altitude between and ) have an alpine aspect, such as the top of the Maljovica, which is a typical example. The rest of the massif, especially in the eastern part, consists of pastures.

The Rila is mainly composed of granite and gneiss mixed with ancient crystalline schists, which are characteristic of the mountain complex Rila-Rhodopes, the oldest geological component of the region. Its formation began in paleozoic and during the numerous orographic uprisings of the tertiary era. The present alpine forms and their serrated peaks, circuses, deep valleys and moraine expanses are the result of the glaciations of the pleistocene. The Rila lakes are the most remarkable evidence of the glacial period: about 190 lakes are scattered throughout the massif, and the Ledeno ezero (-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Morphological characteristics

The Rila is a block raised bordered by faults (horst), in the shape of a dome, included in one of the oldest parts of the land mass of the Balkans, the massif of Macedonia and Thrace. Const