President Calls for Stronger Recognition of April Uprising as Founding Moment of Bulgarian National Revolution

During an event marking the 150th anniversary of the April Uprising, the President of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS), Evelina Slavcheva, stated that the April Uprising of 1876 should be established in global historiography as the definitive commencement of the Bulgarian national revolution. Addressing the All-Bulgarian Solemn Assembly, the BAS President emphasized the Academy’s duty to preserve national memory. She noted that as the oldest institution of modern Bulgaria, the Academy committed itself to unifying the efforts of the scientific community, civic groups, and state institutions for this purpose.

Slavcheva presented the 1876 events as the pivotal start of the national revolution, aligning with historian Prof. Nikolay Genchev’s view that the uprising represented a radical act of state-building. According to this perspective, the subsequent participation of Bulgarian volunteers in the Russo-Turkish War was viewed not solely as an imperial conflict, but as a direct reaction to the atrocities committed during the April Uprising.

She asserted that, as a consequence, “the state of Bulgaria reappeared on the map of Europe” after a long period. The President stressed the deep link between the BAS and the legacy of the uprising. She mentioned that members of the BAS’s predecessor, the Bulgarian Literary Society, were direct participants in preparing for and executing the uprising.

Slavcheva highlighted chroniclers such as Stoyan Zaimov, Zahari Stoyanov, and Dimitar Strashimirov, whose documentation proved that the path to freedom was achieved through both scholarly effort and action. Concluding her address, the president urged contemporary Bulgarian historians to support the intellectual legacy of Genchev, advocating for the scientific recognition of the April Uprising as the legitimate beginning of the Bulgarian national revolution.

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