site.bta1876 April Uprising Is among the Most Significant Milestones in Bulgarian History - BTA Director General

The 150th anniversary of the April Uprising of 1876, to be marked next year, is one of the most significant milestones in Bulgarian history with importance for Europe as a whole, said Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) Director General Kiril Valchev at a conference in the BTA press club in Ruse. The event commemorates a December 1875 decision by the Giurgiu Revolutionary Committee to launch the uprising in Bulgaria and brought together academics, public officials, diplomats, journalists, and students from Bulgaria and Romania.

Organized by BTA, the conference is part of a joint initiative of BTA, the Bulgarian National Television (BNT), and Bulgarian National Radio (BNR), called “14 Centuries of Bulgaria in Europe.” It 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.

Valchev announced that in early 2026 BTA will host a series of discussions in the cities of Veliko Tarnovo, Sliven, Vratsa, and Panagyurishte, the centers of the four revolutionary districts for the April Uprising.

Among the participants in the Ruse conference are Prof. Georgi Valchev, Rector of the St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia; Assoc. Prof. Desislava Atanasova, Rector of the Angel Kanchev University of Ruse; Prof. Nikolay Nenov, Director of the Regional History Museum in Ruse and Chair of the 47th session of the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO; Dragomir Draganov, Regional Governor of Ruse; Pencho Milkov, Mayor of Ruse; Academician Hristo Beloev, Chair of the Ruse Municipal Council and Honorary Rector of the Angel Kanchev University; Radko Vlaykov, Ambassador of Bulgaria to Romania; Ionel Muscalu, Deputy Mayor of Giurgiu (Romania); Emil Paunescu, historian from Giurgiu, as well as a number of other prominent public figures from Ruse, along with students and their teachers.

BNT is represented by Boyko Vassilev, host of the Panorama programme; Albena Kolchakova, producer of the BNT morning show; and the local correspondent, Kalcho Petkov. Among the participants is also BNR correspondent Asya Pencheva.

“The three public media - BNT, BTA, and BNR - in May last year launched the initiative ‘14 Centuries of Bulgaria in Europe’ to mark anniversaries in Bulgarian history that are significant for Europe’s shared history, observed in the years leading up to 2032, when 1,400 years will be marked since the establishment in 632 of the first Bulgarian state formation on European territory - Old Great Bulgaria. This initiative has been supported by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) from the very beginning, and at the beginning of this month it was joined, following an appeal by BTA, by an additional 25 Bulgarian historians and archaeologists who are also prominent public figures,” Valchev explained.

In his address, he outlined five historical lessons from the uprising: that Bulgarians can take collective decisions, shape their future independently even in extreme conditions, act with a clear plan, trust young people—as exemplified by young revolutionaries such as Angel Kanchev—and pass historical role models on to future generations.

Valchev also recalled the role of the Bulgarian press during the uprising, quoting writer and revolutionary Zahari Stoyanov, who praised 19th-century journalists for their courage and commitment to expressing the will of the people despite censorship and repression.