Barakovo, Bulgaria

Pirin Macedonia or Bulgarian Macedonia (Bulgarian: Пиринска Македония; Българска Македония) (Pirinska Makedoniya or Bulgarska Makedoniya), which today is in southwestern Bulgaria, is the third-biggest part of the geographical region of Macedonia. This part coincides with the borders of Blagoevgrad Province, as well as the surrounding area of Barakovo from Kyustendil Province. After World War I, Strumica and the surrounding area were broken away from the region and were ceded to Yugoslavia.

It covers an area of about 6,798 km, which is 10.18% of the geographical region of Macedonia. One of the regional centers is Blagoevgrad. The region borders Kyustendil Province and Sofia Province to the north, Pazardzhik Province and Smolyan Province to the east, Greece to the south, and North Macedonia to the west. The population is estimated around 290,000 people.

Kocherinovo (Bulgarian: Кочериново, pronounced [kot͡ʃɛˈrinovo]) 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. As of 2013 it had 2,255 inhabitants.

Kocherinovo is situated close to the left bank of the Struma River; its southernmost neighbourhood Levski lies at the confluence of the Struma and the Rilska River. The town is located 70 kilometres south of Sofia, 8 kilometres north of Blagoevgrad and 2 kilometres off European route E79 and Struma motorway, on the way to the Rila Monastery. In the 1930s, famous Bulgarian poet Nikola Vaptsarov worked in a Kocherinovo factory near the village of Barakovo as a stoker and a technician.