Currency of Bulgaria 1000 Leva banknote 1994
Bulgarian National Bank - Българска народна банка
Obverse: A portrait of Vasil Levski, the lithography "Liberated Bulgaria" by Georgi Danchov.
Reverse: The monument of Vasil Levski in Sofia.
Size: 149 х 74 mm.
Watermark: Vasil Levski.
Security thread: a thread with a microtext ‘БНБ’ (BNB).
Marks for visually impaired people: a triangle and a circle.
In circulation: from 1 November 1994 to 31 December 1999.
Bulgarian banknotes - Bulgaria paper money
1991-1997 Issue
20 Leva 50 Leva 100 Leva 200 Leva 500 Leva 1000 Leva 2000 Leva 5000 Leva 10000 Leva Vladimir Dimitrov 10000 Leva Petar Beron
50000 Leva
Vasil Levski
Vasil Levski (Bulgarian: Васил Левски, originally spelled Василъ Лѣвскій), born Vasil Ivanov Kunchev (Васил Иванов Кунчев; 18 July 1837 – 18 February 1873), was a Bulgarian revolutionary and is a national hero of Bulgaria. Dubbed the Apostle of Freedom, Levski ideologised and strategised a revolutionary movement to liberate Bulgaria from Ottoman rule. Founding the Internal Revolutionary Organisation, Levski sought to foment a nationwide uprising through a network of secret regional committees.
Born in the Sub-Balkan town of Karlovo to middle class parents, Levski became an Orthodox monk before emigrating to join the two Bulgarian Legions in Serbia and other Bulgarian revolutionary groups. Abroad, he acquired the nickname Levski, "Lionlike". After working as a teacher in Bulgarian lands, he propagated his views and developed the concept of his Bulgaria-based revolutionary organisation, an innovative idea that superseded the foreign-based detachment strategy of the past. In Romania, Levski helped institute the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee, composed of Bulgarian expatriates. During his tours of Bulgaria, Levski established a wide network of insurrectionary committees. Ottoman authorities, however, captured him at an inn near Lovech and executed him by hanging in Sofia.
Levski looked beyond the act of liberation: he envisioned a "pure and sacred" Bulgarian republic of ethnic and religious equality. His concepts have been described as a struggle for human rights, inspired by the progressive liberalism of the French Revolution and 19th century Western European society. Levski is commemorated with monuments in Bulgaria and Serbia, and numerous national institutions bear his name. In 2007, he topped a nationwide television poll as the all-time greatest Bulgarian.
Monument to Vasil Levski, Sofia
The Monument to Vasil Levski (Bulgarian: Паметник на Васил Левски, Pametnik na Vasil Levski) in the centre of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, is one of the first monuments to be built in the then newly liberated Principality of Bulgaria. It commemorates the hanging of Bulgarian national hero and major revolutionary figure Vasil Levski on the same spot on 18 February 1873.
The monument is 13 m high, made of grey Balkan granite and designed by Czech architect Antonín Kolář. The bronze bas-relief of the head of Levski, part of the monument, was created by Josef Strachovský (or, according to other sources, Austrian sculptor Rudolf Weyr), whereas Italian Abramo Peruchelli did the stonecutting work. It was inaugurated on 22 October 1895, but was planned and worked on ever since the Liberation of Bulgaria in 1878, the construction being hindered by a chronic lack of funds and negligence, and taking a whole 17 years. This ignited a wave of indignation among the Bulgarian intellectuals of the time, with the poet Konstantin Velichkov even branding this carelessness in an 1881 poem.
A draft for the monument featured a large Christian cross over a crescent, but it was rejected as religiously intolerant and incompatible with Levski's proper beliefs in equality and tolerance.