Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

Bulgaria marks 165 years since birth of Bulgarian Revival Period heroine Rayna Knyaginya

Photo: Library

On January 18, 1856 Rayna Popgeorgieva was born in the town of Panagyurishte. Known by the nickname "Rayna Knyaginya" (Rayna the Princess), she was a Bulgarian teacher and a midwife who sewed the main insurgent flag of the Panagyurishte Revolutionary District of the April Uprising and waved it along with emblematic revolutionary leader Georgi Benkovski. The revolutionary commissioned her to make a flag with the inscription "Freedom or Death" when she was 20 years old. 

After the April Uprising which was brutally crushed by the Ottomans, she was captured by the Turks and subjected to severe torture, but after the intervention of European diplomats, she was released and sent to study medicine in Moscow. 

She had five sons, four of whom became officers in the Bulgarian Army.



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Pascal evening liturgy for the Second Resurrection will be held in Sofia's Saint Nedelya church

Patriarch Daniil celebrated a divine service for the so-called Second Resurrection of Christ in the Sofia-based church of Saint Nedelya. Patriarch Daniil greets Bulgarians with “Christ is Risen” At the festive liturgy, texts from the Gospel..

published on 4/20/25 3:49 PM

Patriarch Daniil: In peace with God and with our neighbours, let us work together for our salvation

Patriarch Danil of Bulgaria, Metropolitan of Sofia, greeted the faithful with the joyful words "Christ is risen!"  In his Easter message, he called on Orthodox Christians to share the extraordinary joy of heaven with the world through a life of light and..

published on 4/20/25 7:15 AM
Father Paolo Cortesi

Father Cortesi: More and more people from all Christian Churches are working for unity

On 20 April, all Christians will celebrate the Resurrection of Christ. Against the backdrop of our divided and troubled world, Catholics, together with Orthodox Christians, Armenians and Protestants, will send a message of hope and share the joy of the..

published on 4/19/25 12:35 PM