Bulgaria honours memory of the Apostle of Freedom Vassil Levski

On 19th February, Bulgaria honours the memory of the national hero, Vassil Levski (Vassil Ivanov Kounchev). Today the coutry marks 150 years since the day he was hung.

There were commemorative ceremonies in Sofia and Levski's hometown of Karlovo. On Sunday President Rumen Radev opened the multimedia digital exhibition "The Apostle's Confession" at the Square 500 National Gallery. In the evening, the head of state took part in the ceremony at the monument to the hero in Bulgaria's capital. 

Vassil Levski is 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 Apostle of Freedom by the Bulgarian 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.