site.btaMilitary Honours Mark 189th Anniversary of Vasil Levski's Birth in Sofia

The 189th anniversary of the birth of the Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski, was marked in Sofia on Saturday with military honours and a wreath- and flower-laying ceremony at his bust monument.

Wreaths and flowers were laid on behalf of the President, the National Assembly Chair, the Prime Minister, the Mayor of Sofia, the Minister of Defence, the Chief of Defence, the Constitutional Court, the parliamentary groups of Progressive Bulgaria, GERB-UDF, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), Democratic Bulgaria, Continue the Change and Vazrazhdane, the Ministry of Culture, and the Chair of the Sofia Municipal Council.

Flowers were also laid at the monument by Sofia Deputy Mayor Irina Dakova, Sofia Municipal Council Chair Tsvetomir Petrov, Member of the European Parliament Kristian Vigenin, Democratic Bulgaria MPs Aleksandra Sterkova and Anna Bodakova, children from Levski Football Club, pupils from Georgi Benkovski Primary School in Sofia, and members of the public.

The military ceremony, performed by a representative formation of the National Guard Unit, was part of the commemorations marking the anniversary of Levski's birth. 

Similar ceremonies were held across Bulgaria to mark the anniversary.

Vasil Ivanov Kunchev, known as Vasil Levski, was born on July 18 (July 6, Old Style), 1837, in Karlovo to Ivan Kunchev Ivanov and Gina Vasileva Karaivanova. He was the leading ideologist of the Bulgarian national revolution and the organizer and leader of the Bulgarian national liberation movement.