The celebrations in Karlovo city on the anniversary of the birth of the Apostle Vasil Levski will culminate on July 17 and 18, deputy mayor Anton Minev said, quoted by Focus News Agency. 

An award ceremony and a concert are scheduled for the evening of July 17.

On July 18, the birth date of the Apostle and the Day of Karlovo, there will be a religious service in the morning, then a procession to the central square, a solemn ritual with the flags of Bulgaria and Karlovo, a prayer for the city and its residents, and a literature-musical programme in the afternoon. The most official celebrations include a procession and illuminations after 20:00 on July 18.

 Vasil Levski is the first to realise that the strength of the nation resides across the Bulgarian lands, not among the emigration, historian Prof. Plamen Pavlov announced.

The Apostle suggests a new, radical and more possible plan for national liberation, Pavlov said, adding that Levski more than all other national leaders focuses on military strategy and organisation. He knows very well the situation on site and the Bulgarian people and more clearly than others notices the changes within society.

Pavlov commented that the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Organisation in Macedonia and Thrace after the Liberation is a natural continuation of the deed of Levski.

He also said that the April Uprising was rooted in the legacy of Levski and the structures he created.