Bulgaria Remembers National Hero Levski 137 Years after His Hanging

Bulgarians from around the country honored Friday the memory of Vasil Levski, the Apostle of Freedom, 137 years after his hanging by the Ottoman Turkey authorities. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria remembers Friday the 137 year since the hanging of the country's national hero, revolutionary Vasil Levski, by an Ottoman Turkish court.

Memorial services for Levski are taking place around the country, including at the Levski Monument in downtown Sofia – the spot where Levski was hanged on February 19, 1873.

Vasil Levski, born Vasil Ivanov Kunchev in 1837, was the leader of Bulgaria's revolutionary movement aimed at national liberation from the Ottoman Turkish Empire.

Levski founded and headed a network of several hundred secret revolutionary committees preparing a national rebellion.

Initially preparing to become an Orthodox monk, Levksi gave this up in order to dedicate his life to fighting for Bulgaria's freedom. During his participation in the First Bulgarian Legion in Belgrade, Serbia, in 1862, he received the nickname "Levski" - "Lionlike".

After organizing the revolutionary movement all across Bulgaria for several years, Levski was captured by the Ottoman Turkish police in late 1872, and was sentenced to death by hanging for his revolutionary activity.

His political ideas envisaged a "holy and pure" Bulgarian republic of ethnic and religious equality and democratic government.

Perhaps the single most comprehensive biography of Levski was written by the UK historian, Mercia Macdermott, and is entitled the way Levski has been known among the Bulgarians of all times - "The Apostle of Freedom".

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