On February 19, Bulgaria celebrates Vasil Levsky Day (Bulgarian). Vasil Levski, real name Vasil Ivanov Kunchev; 1837 — February 18, 1873), fiery Bulgarian revolutionary, ideologist and organizer of the liberation struggle of the Bulgarian people against the Ottoman enslavers.
On February 18, 1873, in Sofia, Levsky, sentenced to death by a Turkish court, was hanged.
«I devoted myself to the fatherland, serve it to death and work according to the will of the people», — Levsky wrote. For his complete dedication and moral purity, he earned the nickname «Apostle of Freedom».
Although he was executed on February 18, he is commemorated on February 19. Traditionally, on this day, people with flowers and wreaths come to the poet’s monument in the center of Sofia, erected in the most frontal place. Songs from the 19th century are played at the monument, speeches are made, and poems are recited.
Vasil Levsky stands next to those Bulgarian saints who gave their lives for the preservation of the Christian faith and the entire Bulgarian people. In Bulgaria there are four Levsky museums, as well as many monuments and monuments to the « Apostle of Freedom».