The yataghan of Father Matey Preobrazhenski, the three edged weapons of Apostle of Freedom Vassil Levski and other 40 sabers and daggers of Bulgarian voivodes /gorilla detachment leaders in the years of the Ottoman rule/ and revolutionaries may now be viewed at the History Museum of the old capital town of Veliko Tarnovo. The weaponry is a collection of 18 museums’ exhibits and of one family from the local village of Novo Selo. The event is dedicated to the 180th anniversary of the Apostle’s birth and also to the 150th anniversary of voivode Filip Totyu detachment’s battle at the village of Varbovka near Pavlikeni. This is the first time ever when the sabers, daggers and bayonets of the Bulgarian voivodes and revolutionaries can be seen brought together at one place. All Bulgarian museums have sent their edged weapons to Veliko Tarnovo, in order for those to be gathered in a national exhibition at the Renaissance and Constitutional Assembly Museum.

One can see under the same roof the sabers of Vassil Levski, Hristo Botev, Stefan Karadja and Hadji Dimitar, of Georgi Sava Rakovski, Panayot Hitov and Filip Totyu and also of many other Bulgarian revolutionaries, head of the museum says. He is personally most interested in the saber of Ivan Kulin, who was a voivode in North-West Bulgaria and even participated in Serbia’s struggles for liberation. It looks like the man had ordered the weapon, with the following inscription engraved: “My Bulgarian brother, have no fear of any Turk, grab the saber and go fight!” On the other side of the blade the inscription reads: “Death or Freedom”, with a lion’s image. The oldest saber which the visitors can see at the exposition belongs to Tarnovo citizen Velcho Atanasov – Djamdjiyata. The weapon was made in 1835, when the man organized the Velchova Zavera uprising, which failed as the authorities prevented it and Velcho was nabbed and hanged. The latest sabers belong to the year of the Liberation – 1878, but some of those were carried by different revolutionaries even later through the years. The regional museum of history in Veliko Tarnovo has taken a total of 28 sabers from its weaponry fund, the saber and knife of Filip Totyu among them. Some of those come from the village of Musina, prepared right before the start of the 1876 April Uprising, with the forming of the Bacho Kiro and Father Hariton detachment. Even the anvil used will be included in the exposition. The weapons are rough, ugly, but were useful to the rebels. One can also see trophy weapons with inscription in the old Turkish language. Most of them were made by Bulgarian craftsmen, but some of the weapons were forged abroad – for instance, the saber of Hristo Botev /whose 141st death anniversary is marked today/, sent by the Vratsa Museum. It is a Romanian army model. The edged weapon was made in 1861 and engraved with the armorial of a Romanian ruler. Hadji Dimitar and Stefan Karadja carried Belgian sabers. A luxurious catalogue has been released exclusively for the display and its exhibits.

Source: BNR portal

English version: Zhivko Stanchev