Svishtov, also spelled Svištov, town, northern Bulgaria, on the terraced bank of the Danube river. Svishtov is one of the largest Bulgarian Danube ports and is a cultural centre. The Romans built on a strategic site near the town in the 1st century AD. There is little historical record of the town during the First and Second Bulgarian empires (11th–14th century), but under the Turks (15th–19th century) it was a major trade and craft centre, then called Sistova. During the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78), it was damaged several times and sacked by the Russians in 1878.
The favorable location of Svishtov also creates preconditions for the development of the internal and international tourism, which is assisted by the preserved monuments of various epochs (the Roman, the Medieval, the Revival Age, etc.), the islands along the Danube river at the town of Belene and the village of Vardim, the Monuments park, where the Russian armies disembarked in 1877, and many others. With a view to the changing satiation in Europe, as a consequence of the integration processes, the importance of the town of Svishtov and the municipality constantly grows. Most of all, the town and the port are not of “peripheral”, but of developing importance to the constructing transport corridors. The river Danube is determined by the European Union as Trans-European Transport Corridor No 7.