Conference on 150th Anniversary of April Uprising Held in Panagyurishte

A conference dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the 1876 April Uprising was held at the History Museum in Panagyurishte on Thursday. It was the final one in a series of discussions through which the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) has encouraged dialogue on the occasion of 150 years since the uprising.

Among the participants were BTA Director General Kiril Valchev, Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) Director General Milen Mitev, Prof. Georgi Valchev, Rector of the St Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia, Panagyurishte Mayor Zhelyazko Gagov, Boyko Vassilev, journalist and Panorama talk-show presenter on the Bulgarian National Television, and Assoc. Prof. Atanas Shopov, Director of the Panagyurishte History Museum.

In his speech, BTA Director General Valchev said that talks on the April Uprising revive the memory of the martyrs for Bulgaria’s freedom. The conferences were held in the agency's press clubs in the centres of the four revolutionary districts of the uprising – Veliko Tarnovo, Sliven, Vratsa and Panagyurishte, as well as in Ruse and Giurgiu. "In these talks we discussed many important lessons from the April Uprising, useful for our present, but the most important is the consensus we reached – that we must see the big goals before the difficult steps needed to achieve them," Valchev said. He noted that the discussions are planned to continue in the agency's press clubs abroad, in Bucharest, Belgrade and Odesa. Valchev also announced that, prompted by these discussions, the 2026 Meeting of Bulgarian Media, organized by BTA, will be dedicated to "Media and Leaders". It will be held in Hungary and will mark 1,080 years since the dormition of St. John of Rila and 10 years since October 19 was declared the Day of Bulgarian-Hungarian Friendship.

BNR Director General Mitev said: "By organizing discussions on the April Uprising, BTA has done something very important - taking the step towards the people - because in today’s world, the media must take the initiative to connect with its audience in order to be as useful as possible." He underscored that the role of the media in this process is extremely important because they influence the formation of public opinion. "What we can learn from the participants in the April Uprising is linked to their hope in the success of their cause and their willingness to make sacrifices, which is the foundation of many stories," Mitev said. National pride must be cultivated responsibly because, just as history is often used and manipulated for certain purposes, national pride is also frequently manipulated and used for various causes, Mitev argued. He emphasized that it is the responsibility of the media and scholars to help build national self-esteem - "not in the sense that we are the greatest, but rather to be proud of our history, our achievements, and our country, and to work to make it even better."

Sofia University Rector Prof. Valchev said that it is time to look at history as a living page. "It is time to shed the false patriotism, the grandiose words, the slogans that are usually raised during traditional commemorations. Bulgaria is going through a very complex period, very similar to the one Bulgarians experienced in 1876,” he argued. “The year 1876 shows that Bulgarians wanted to take their own destiny into their own hands. This is one of the most important lessons from the past," he said. According to him, the second major lesson from 1876 is that it happened because there were people who believed in the future of this country. "The third major lesson on this topic is to believe in young people. It was precisely the younger generation at that time that took on this heavy responsibility. It is one thing to accept self-sacrifice as an idea yourself, and another to take responsibility for sending many others to their deaths. In those memorable days we were a society. It is our duty and our work to organize our State,” Prof. Valchev concluded.

Panagyurishte Mayor Gagov said that Bulgarians should strive to be worthy heirs of the ordinary people whom history turned into heroes. The 150th anniversary should prompt reflection on unity and national pride. According to him, the anniversary should be marked for two main reasons: to make it a truly national commemoration, as the uprising itself aspired to be, and to help people relive and understand history as a source of pride. Gagov said Bulgarians suffer from a "deficit of pride" and the anniversary is an opportunity to recall the achievements of their ancestors, stressing that today’s generations share the same roots. The Mayor emphasized that the heroes of the April Uprising were not mythical figures but real people, and called for their legacy to be understood in human terms. "They are us," Gagov said, urging Bulgarians to live up to the example of those "ordinary people whom history made great".

TV host Boyko Vassilev said that three journalists left a lasting imprint on the success of the April Uprising, which ultimately led to the Russo-Turkish War and Bulgaria's liberation: Zahari Stoyanov, who documented both the light and shadow of Bulgaria's fate; Hristo Botev, who publicized the seizure of the ship Radetzky and the end of his life, shaking Europe; and Januarius MacGahan, who exposed the atrocities in Bulgaria to a European audience. "Words are truthful when they speak of both light and shadow," Vassilev said. Commenting on BTA’s conference series, he noted that they are not lectures but conversations linking the historical events to present-day Bulgaria, as the uprising raises enduring questions still relevant to the country's public life. Vassilev also noted that even during the 50th anniversary of the uprising, Bulgarian society was deeply divided, offering what he described as a warning that remains contemporary today. "The April Uprising is an eternal political Bulgaria that we continue to see," he concluded.

Panagyurishte History Museum Director Shopov said that the April Uprising and the Unification are examples that Bulgarians achieve success when they act independently and surprise the world. He recalled that April 30 is one of the saddest days for Panagyurishte 150 years ago, when the local population risked everything in the name of future freedom, even though they knew they would lose. According to him, as early as the mid-19th century, the town already had a well-developed civic society - with dozens of guild associations and hundreds of shops, all of which were placed in service of the common cause. The insurgents knew they would not defeat the Ottoman Empire, but they aimed to awaken the people’s belief in their own strength, Shopov noted. According to him, Panagyurishte plays a key role in the formation of Bulgarian state traditions. 

The series of conferences on the April Uprising that BTA organizes is included in the initiative "14 Centuries of Bulgaria in Europe", led by BTA, the Bulgarian National Television, and the Bulgarian National Radio.