Liberation Day
March 4
The Bulgarian people commemorate Liberation Day on the 3rd of March in celebration of the liberation of the Ottoman Empire in 1878 when the treaty of San Stefano was signed. Months later, they were finally freed from nearly 500 years of Turkish reign and put back on the map as an independent nation. Since 1978 the day has been a national holiday in Bulgaria and is remembered by cultural events and the laying of wreaths at specific monuments all over Bulgaria.
Veliko Tarnovo is no exception to enjoying the party with hundreds of people taking to the streets and Tsarevets Fortress for the city’s infamous sound and light show. From the nearby cathedral we watched as the castle walls were bathed in lights that are choreographed to recreate the turbulent history of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom and the fall of the Turkish. A combination of music, lasers and chiming bells pay homage to tell the story of invasion and rule as families and young people watch from the nearby crammed streets.
For more information on the sound and light show: http://www.velikoturnovo.info/en/sound-and-light/
For more info, check out:
http://tsarevets-house.theoldcapital.eu/eng/sound_light_eng.html