Bulgaria marked on Wednesday the 130th anniversary since the death of the national hero Vassil Levski. Politicians and officials attended the official ceremony and fireworks at Levski's monument in Sofia in the evening. Patriarch Maxim served a mass in Alexander Nevski cathedral in the morning, which was followed by a litany procession.

Karlovo, the town where Levski was born, marked the anniversary with many events, which kicked off with a mass in Virgin Mary church. Academician Ivan Yuhnevski, chairman of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, delivered a speech. Participants in a memorial procession went to the house of The Apostle and flowers were laid at his monument.

Celebrations and meetings were also organized in Pleven, Sliven, Shumen, Varna and other Bulgarian towns.

Vassil Levski was the leading revolutionary of the national movement against the Ottoman yoke. He was called "the Apostle of Freedom" by the Bulgarian people. In 1868 he his work in setting up a revolutionary network all over Bulgaria. He established numerous revolutionary committees and started preparing the people for a general uprising. However, a traitor prevented him from achieving his goal. He was captured by the Turks in late 1872 and was executed after a trial on 19 February 1873.

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