The town was first mentioned in a written document in 1421.
It is thought that the town's name comes from the family of a certain Tetyo (Tetyov rod), who settled in the area and founded the town.
Older variants of the town's name found in documents are Tetyuven and Tetyuvene.

A thriving city in the 16th and 17th centuries, Teteven was raided by organised Turkish brigand groups in 1801, burnt down and almost completely destroyed, with only four houses surviving out of a total of 3,000.
The town later revived and was active in the armed struggle for Bulgarian independence in the 19th century, sheltering a revolutionary committee part of Vasil Levski's organised rebel network.

Each summer a large chess tournament, one of the biggest events in Bulgaria's chess calendar, is held in Teteven.
The town was first mentioned in a written document in 1421. It is thought that the town's name comes from the family of a certain Tetyo (Tetyov rod), who settled in the area and founded the town. Older variants of the town's name found in documents are Tetyuven and Tetyuvene.
A thriving city in the 16th and 17th centuries, Teteven was raided by organised Turkish brigand groups in 1801, burnt down and almost completely destroyed, with only four houses surviving out of a total of 3,000. The town later revived and was active in the armed struggle for Bulgarian independence in the 19th century, sheltering a revolutionary committee part of Vasil Levski's organised rebel network.
Each summer a large chess tournament, one of the biggest events in Bulgaria's chess calendar, is held in Teteven.
Teteven