site.btaBTA Launches Series of Forums Marking 150th Anniversary of April Uprising

A conference dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the 1876 April Uprising will take place on Wednesday at the BTA National Press Club in Ruse.

The event is organized by the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) and is part of a joint initiative of the Bulgarian National Television (BNT), BTA, and Bulgarian National Radio (BNR), called “14 Centuries of Bulgaria in Europe.” The initiative aims to commemorate anniversaries in Bulgarian history that are significant for European history through to 2032, when 1,400 years will be marked since the establishment in 632 of the first Bulgarian state in Europe - Old Great Bulgaria.

The conference in Ruse will be opened by BTA Director General Kiril Valchev. Participants will include Ruse Mayor Pencho Milkov, Ruse Regional Governor Dragomir Draganov, Academician Hristo Beloev, Chair of the Ruse Municipal Council and Honorary Rector of the Angel Kanchev University of Ruse, Bulgarian Ambassador to Romania Radko Vlaykov, Sofia University Rector Prof. Georgi Valchev, Assoc. Prof. Desislava Atanasova, Rector of the Angel Kanchev University of Ruse, Prof. Nikolay Nenov, Director of the Regional Historical Museum in Ruse and Chair of the 47th Session of the World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Reneta Roshkeva, Deputy Director of the Regional Historical Museum in Ruse, journalist Boyko Vassilev, Giurgiu Deputy Mayor Ionel Muscalu, Emil Paunescu, historian and museologist from Giurgiu, Lili Gancheva, Executive Director of the Danubius Euroregion Association, Presiyan Kostadinov, history teacher at the Hristo Botev High School in Ruse and lecturer in history teaching methodology at the University of Ruse, and students.

Before the forum, wreaths and flowers will be laid in the Romanian city of Giurgiu at the memorial plaques marking the sites where the Giurgiu Revolutionary Committee held its meetings, and ultimately decided in December 1875 to declare the uprising.

With the conference in Ruse, BTA is launching a series of discussions marking 150 years since the April Uprising. Similar forums will be organized next year at the Agency’s national press clubs in Veliko Tarnovo, Sliven, Vratsa, and Panagyurishte, which used to be centres of the four revolutionary districts during the 1876 uprising.