Bulgaria Marks 180th Birth Anniversary of National Hero Vassil Levski
Bulgaria marks the 180th anniversary of the birth of the national hero Vassil Levski with a number of events across the country on 17 and 18 July. The culmination of the celebrations take place in Karlovo, the birth town of Vasil Levski.
On July 18th, at 21.00, a solemn ceremony followed by fireworks display will take place at the Vasil Levski Square. It will be attended by Bulgaria’s President Roumen Radev: Vice President Ilyiana Yotova and Deputy Chief of Defense, Lieutenant General Plamen Atanasov.
The President and Commander-in-Chief of Armed Forces will salute the guard of houour of the representative units of the Bulgarian Army and will give a solemn speech. Radev will lay a wreath at the monument to Vassil Levski.
Earlier in the day, Vice President Iliyana Yotova visited the town of Levski to attend the ceremony in honour of Vassil Levski.
The celebrations
in the town of Levski
started with the solemn raising of the flags of Bulgaria, the European Union
and the municipality. A blessing for health and prosperity for the residents and guests of the town was held by the local priest,
Father Hristian. Children
from the town recited poems
and performed songs as part of the programme decicated to the national hero. A
crowded procession went to
the monument to the Apostle of
Freedom, where a
civil worship took place. Dozens of people brought flowers to the monument.
At 18.00, Vice President Yotova will visit the village of Lesichovo and will participate in a ceremony for the opening of a commemoration sign dedicated to Vassil Levski.
The anniversary will also be marked in other places in Bulgaria including Veliko Turnovo, Sofia and Berkovitsa.
On July 18th, honour guards of the Navy Forces, the 68th Special Forces Brigade and the Land Forces will take part in military rituals for laying wreaths and flowers in Varna, Bourgas, Plovdiv, Stara Zagora, Haskovo, Yambol, Shumen, Pleven, Assenovgrad, Lovech, Kazanlak and other places in the country.
Vassil Levski was born on July 18, 1837 with the name Vassil Ivanov Kunchev in the town of Karlovo.
He was a leading figure in the fight of the Bulgarian people against Ottoman rule in the late 19th century. Levski was a revolutionary, democrat, ideologist, organizer and leader of the Bulgarian national liberation movement.
He was called the Apostle of Freedom by the Bulgarian people for his self-sacrifice in developing a strategy to liberate Bulgaria from Ottoman rule.
