Kocherinovo

Kocherinovo Кочериново
Church of the Holy Mother of God
Kocherinovo Location of Kocherinovo
Coordinates:
Country	Bulgaria
Provinces (Oblast)	Kyustendil
Government
• Mayor	Kostadin Katin
Elevation	392 m (1,286 ft)
Population (2008)[1]
• Total	2,443
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Postal Code	2640
Area code(s)	07053

Kocherinovo (Bulgarian: Кочериново, pronounced [kutʃɛˈrinuvu]) is a town in southwestern Bulgaria, part of Kyustendil Province. It is the administrative centre of Kocherinovo Municipality, which lies in the southern part of Kyustendil Province.

Kocherinovo is located 100 kilometres south of Sofia, 8 kilometres north of Blagoevgrad and 2 kilometres off European route E79, on the way to the Rila Monastery. In the 1930s, famous Bulgarian poet Nikola Vaptsarov worked in a Kocherinovo factory as a stoker and a technician.

The town's name stems from the dialectal word kocherina, a derivative of kocher, "pigsty, section of a shed". It is related to the placename Kočerin near Široki Brijeg, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kocherovo near Gotse Delchev. The name was first mentioned in 1878. In 1974, Kocherinovo was proclaimed a town.