Bulgaria celebrates freedom on 3 March

On 3 March, Bulgaria celebrates the 147th anniversary of its liberation from five centuries of Ottoman rule. The day was declared a national holiday in 1990 by a decision of the National Assembly.

The Treaty of San Stefano, signed on 19 February 1878 (Old Style) between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, ended the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878). The document provided for the creation of an autonomous tributary Principality of Bulgaria, which would pay taxes to the Sultan.

However, Great Britain and Austria-Hungary opposed the preliminary peace treaty, and in July of the same year the Treaty of Berlin was signed, dividing Bulgaria into five parts.

Bulgaria's Liberation was first commemorated in Veliko Tarnovo in 1879, when Exarch Antim I, then President of the Constituent National Assembly, held a memorial service in the church of Sveta Bogoroditsa in the presence of MPs and citizens. Since 1888, it has been celebrated as the day of Bulgaria's liberation from Ottoman rule.

On March 3, citizens lay wreaths and flowers at monuments in honour of the soldiers who died for Bulgaria's liberation, there is a memorial service and a prayer of gratitude, a solemn military roll call and fireworks.