Shipka or the Monument of Freedom – one of the most emblematic Bulgarian monuments, which has become a symbol of Bulgaria’s independence and national identity, proudly rises to 1,326 metres in the heart of Stara Planina Mountain.

At the beginning of August 1877, dramatic battles were fought here during the Russo-Turkish War. It was the defence of the Shipka Pass that turned the course of the war and brought the Bulgarian people the freedom they had been dearly yearning for after 5 centuries of Ottoman domination. Years after the Liberation, the Monument of Freedom was unveiled in this sacred place for all Bulgarians.

Every year on March 3, Bulgaria’s Liberation Day, a solemn ceremony is held in front of the monument. And although this year, due to the spread of the coronavirus, for the first time the solemn memorial ceremony was cancelled, thousands of Bulgarians from all over Bulgaria, adorned with the national flag, and some even dressed in national costumes, gathered in front of the monument to pay tribute to those who died for the freedom of our fatherland.

You can read more about the monument and about another emblematic monument in its vicinity, this time of socialist Bulgaria, in the article Shipka and Buzludzha – the peaks one should definitely conquer from the Best collection of Radio Bulgaria.

Compiled by Veneta Nikolova