On January 6 Bulgaria marks the 173rd anniversary of the birth of Hristo Botev. The great Bulgarian poet and revolutionary was born in Kalofer in 1848 in the family of one of the most famous teachers from the period of the National Revival, Botyo Petkov. The patriotic devotion to Bulgarian freedom drove Botev into exile outside the Ottoman Empire.

During the April Uprising in 1876 he led the largest detachment formed in Wallachia. The rebels boarded Austro-Hungarian ship "Radetzky" and disembarked on the Bulgarian coast. The voivode was killed and the detachment was defeated. But the feat of Botev and his rebels impressed Europe and made the world more acquainted with the suffering of the Bulgarians, fighting for their freedom.