"There is no power over those who are ready to lose their lives in the name of freedom and the good of humanity."

- Hristo Botev

Many visitors and tourists to Bulgaria come across the name of the poet, revolutionary, and liberator Hristo Botev who is commemorated on June 2. Each year a siren is sounded at 12pm and traffic stops in the name of all those who died for Bulgaria's liberation.

Botev is a name children still learn at school, and they recite his poems and letters. Hristo Botev Boulevard in the centre of the city reaches from the east to the west of Sofia.

He is not just a famous Bulgarian poet who was born in the picturesque town of Kalofer in 1848; Botev is a mythical figure in Bulgarian history, politics and culture.

He was a poet of deep and mature talent who inherited his talents from his father, Botio Petkov, who was a teacher and was married to Ivanka Boteva. Botev is thought of as a paragon of righteousness, freedom and human dignity. In his brief life of just 28 years he left his name deeply carved in the history of Bulgaria.

With his poetry Botev built the myth about himself as having great spirits and a furious, unruly, emotional and industrious temper. Botev's personality was noble and majestic, his activity clear and strong, his affection enormous. The more you understand the virtues of this man, the stronger you become imbued by unconditional respect for him. Botev had the unusual qualities of a great mind, tenderness of soul, a heart open to sympathy for everything that is beautiful in the world, strong but sincere passions, and a life filled with struggles and activity. Botev's heroic life places him among the great romantic figures of revolutionary Renaissance Europe and is the symbol of the Bulgarian Revival in its last stage.

He studied in Karlovo where his father worked, and later returned to Kalofer to complete his study there in 1863. Then he went to Russia and studied in Odessa for two years as a private student. Botev became famous with his first poem, published in 15 April 1867, and every subsequent poem brought him additional popularity and recognition.

His poems have been recited and quoted at various occasions and every child knows of the Hanging of Vasil Levski- one of the strongest poems of both past and present. The poem tells about Levski's immortality and his body filled with inexhaustible power. He died for Bulgaria's freedom, and, when writing this poem, Botev wanted people not to forget Levski's heroism. Most of Botev's poems are about Bulgaria's past and about the Ottoman rule.

In 1867 Botev moved to Romania and there he worked with Dimitar Panichkov on the newspaper Dunavska Zora (Da-nube Dawn). Born in the time of the Bulgarian Revival, Botev spent his whole life as an emigre, struggling against the forces of routine. Botev is often called the genius of Bulgarian literature for the music of his poetic style, the perfection of poetic form, the prophetic spirit and the universality of themes and ideas in his works.

Botev also went from town to town to spread revolutionary ideas, and his life was influenced by the well-known Bulgarian revolutionary Levski. In 1872 Botev's revolutionary activity put him under arrest, but Levski helped to release him. Botev then started working as a printer with Karavelov, and later worked as a journalist and edited the revolutionary newspaper 'Zname' (Flag). In 1875 Botev and Stefan Stambolov published the book of poetry 'Songs and Poems'. His endless love for Bulgaria made him lead a group of 200 people to fight against the Turkish Empire in 1876. Botev is the great ideologist of the Bulgarian national revolution against the Ottoman rule.

On 17 May 1876 he captured an Austrian ship travelling along the Danube and landed on Bulgarian territory as the leader of a group of 200 other revolutionaries. Only three days later, on 20 May the group was attacked by surprise and Botev was killed.

His death was predestined by the inequality of powers in the fight he led and therefore his life and its romantic end can be better qualified as a sacrifice than practical contribution to the liberation of Bulgaria, which came only two years later. Botev died in battle at the age of 28, fighting for Bulgaria's freedom. He left behind him poems of genius and outstanding works of political journalism. They have had a central place in the development of the modern Bulgarian language.