Bulgaria marks 182 years since the birth of national hero Vassil Levski

On 18th of July, Bulgaria marks 182 years since the birth of national hero Vassil Levski. Ceremonies will be held in Levski’s home town of Karlovo (Southern Central Bulgaria) and across the country to homour his memory.

The programme in Karlovo started with a solemn liturgy at the temple "St. Nikolai”.

Around 220 people in the national tourist campaign "Folow in the Footsteps of Vassil Levski" were greeted in the square of the town. The mayor of the municipality of Karlovo, Emil Kabaivanov, handed them honorary distinctions. The national flag and the flag of Karlovo were hoisted.

The programme will end with a solemn fireworks display at 21:00 in Vassil Levski Square, which will be attendd by Bulgaria’s head of state, President Rumen Radev.

Vassil Levski was a leading figure in the fight of the Bulgarian people against Ottoman rule in the late 19th century. He was a revolutionary, democrat, ideologist, organizer and leader of the Bulgarian national liberation movement, founder of the Internal Revolutionary Organisation (IRO) and of the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee (BRCC).

He was called the the Apostle of Freedom by the Bulgatrian people for his self-sacrifice in developing a strategy to liberate Bulgaria from Ottoman rule.

Vassil Levski organised the revolutionary movement across Bulgaria for several years. He established numerous revolutionary committees and started preparing the people for a general uprising. Betrayed by a traitor, he was captured by the Ottoman authorities and was executed by hanging on 18th of February 1873 in the outskirts of Sofia.