TOP TEN GREATEST BULGARIANS

Number 10: Paisius of Hilendar

Saint Paisius of Hilendar or Paisiy Hilendarski was a Bulgarian clergyman and a key Bulgarian National Revival figure. He is most famous for being the author of Istoriya Slavyanobolgarskaya. Most Bulgarians think of him as the forefather of the Bulgarian National Revival.

Number 9: Ivan Vazov

Ivan Minchov Vazov was a Bulgarian poet, novelist and playwright. His works have been translated to over 30 languages. Vazov was influenced by Hristo Botev, who was the ideological leader of the Bulgarian revolutionary movement. Ivan Vazov was a widely respected figure in the social and cultural life of newly independent Bulgaria.

The National theater carrying his name

Number 8: Stefan Stambolov

Stefan Nikolov Stambolov  was a Bulgarian politician, who served as Prime Minister and regent. He is considered one of the most important and popular "Founders of Modern Bulgaria", and is sometimes referred to as "the Bulgarian Bismarck".

Number 7: Saints Cyril and Methodius

Saints Cyril and Methodius  were slavic brothers born in Thessaloniki in the 9th century. They became missionaries of Christianity among the Slavic peoples of Great Moravia and Pannonia.

Statue of Saint Methodius at the Holy Trinity Column in Olomouc in Moravia in the Czech Republic

Through their work they influenced the cultural development of all Slavs, for which they received the title "Apostles to the Slavs".

They are credited with devising the Glagolitic alphabet, the first alphabet used to transcribe Old Church Slavonic. One of the brothers Methodius is buried in San Clemente in Rome.

Number 6: Boris I

Boris I or sometimes Boris-Mihail (Michael) was the ruler of First Bulgarian Empire in 852–889. At the time of his baptism in 864, Boris was named Michael after his godfather, Emperor Michael III. He is famous for christening the whole of Bulgaria.

Number 5 :Hristo Botev

Hristo Botev born Hristo Botyov Petkov was a Bulgarian poet and national revolutionary. Botev is widely considered by Bulgarians to be a symbolic historical figure and national hero. He was also part of Giuseppe Garibaldi’s campaign for Italian union.

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Number 4 : Simeon I of Bulgaria

Simeon  I the Great ruled over Bulgaria from 893 to 927 during the First Bulgarian Empire. Simeon's successful campaigns against the Byzantines, Magyars and Serbs led Bulgaria to its greatest territorial expansion ever. His reign was also a period of unmatched cultural prosperity and enlightenment later deemed the Golden Age of Bulgarian culture.

Number 3: Asparukh of Bulgaria

Asparuh was ruler of a Bulgar tribe in the second half of the 7th century and is credited with the establishment of the First Bulgarian Empire in 681. He is the most famous Bulgar ruler. The accuracy of the Turkic title khan commonly applied to him and his successors is a subject of some dispute.

Number 2: Peter Deunov

Peter Konstantinov Deunov  (11 July 1864 - 27 December 1944) was a spiritual master and founder of a School of Esoteric Christianity. He is called Master Beinsa Douno  by his followers. One of his biggest followers was the famous physician Albert Einstein.

Number: 1 Vasil Levski

Vasil Levski originally was the nickname of Vasil Ivanov Kunchev (1837–1873), a Bulgarian revolutionary renowned as the national hero of Bulgaria. Dubbed the Apostle of Freedom, Levski ideologised and strategised a revolutionary movement to liberate Bulgaria from Ottoman rule. Garibaldi also helped Levski with the Bulgarian liberation.

Founding the Internal Revolutionary Organisation, Levski sought to create a nationwide uprising through a network of secret regional committees.

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