The Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria in Bucharest has organized a solemn commemoration of the 176th anniversary of the birth of poet and revolutionary Hristo Botev. All citizens and guests of Bucharest are invited to the event and many Bulgarians have already announced their presence, including representatives of the "Hristo Botev" community center in the city of Ruse. The event will take place in front of the bust-monument of Botev in the King Michael I Park, the Bulgarian diplomatic representation announced on social networks.

Bucharest occupied an important place in the life path of poet and freedom fighter Hristo Botev, who became a national hero with the force with which he awakened the Bulgarian spirit and paved the way for the idea of freedom. Revolutionary, poet, journalist, publisher, Hristo Botev managed to create just about 20 poems during his short life, which are still considered a pinnacle in Bulgarian literature.

• Song about Hristo Botev

Hristo Botev was born on January 6, 1848 in Kalofer, in the family of teacher Botyo Petkov and his wife Ivanka Boteva. Later in life, the revolutionary went to foreign lands to devote "strength and youth" to the freedom of his beloved Fatherland.

He emigrated to Wallachia where he worked in the newspaper "Dunavska Zora", moved from town to town, and in 1872 near Bucharest, he temporarily lived with the revolutionary leader Vasil Levski. He edited and published the new paper of the National Liberation Movement, Zname newspaper. In support of the April Uprising in 1876, Botev organized a detachment and became its voivode. He bloodlessly seized control over the "Radetzky" ship and together with the other revolutionaries reached the Bulgarian bank of the Danube. He died for the freedom of Bulgaria on the peak of Okolchitsa in the Balkan Mountain on June 1, 1876.

• In the footsteps of Hristo Botev’s revolutionary band from Kozloduy to Okolchitsa

Tradition dictates that on the date of his birth - January 6, the celebrations should start in the yard of the "Hristo Botev" National Museum in his hometown of Kalofer.

Celebrations are held all over Bulgaria, as well as among Bulgarians abroad, who pay honor to the hero by naming Sunday schools after him and erecting bas-reliefs with his image around the world.

See also:

• The unquenchable striving for freedom - Hristo Botev’s testament

• Memorial plaque added to monument to Hristo Botev in Havana

Compiled by: Elena Karkalanova

English: Al. Markov