Hristo Botev is a brilliant Bulgarian poet and revolutionary. Born in Kalofer on January 6, 1848, died a heroic death in the western part of the Bulgarian Range on June 1, 1876 as a leader of 200 rebels who had set out to die for the liberation of their enslaved Fatherland. The inscription on the granite rock by which he was killed reads: "Your prophecy has come true - you live on!"

The father of Hristo Botev, Botio Petkov, a famous Bulgarian teacher and writer, raised his son in a patriotic home and oriented him towards education and enlightenment. Hristo Botev graduates the local school in Kalofer and in 1963 he goes to study in Russia, in the Odessa Man High School. He spends three years in Russia which has enormous effect over his ideological growth. In Odessa Hristo Botev is introduced to the works of the Russian revolutionary democrats and the achievements of the western European revolutionary democratic thought. In 1867 Hristo Botev returns to his home town to be a teacher for a year, and in 1868 leaves Kalofer forever. He goes to Romania to become part of the Bulgarian revolutionary immigration and devote his life to the national liberation movement. In this spiritual environment he quickly becomes popular due to his journalistic talents and his patriotic publications in various newspapers. His poetry is a triumph of human capabilities in reaching harmony of verbal art and richness of thought. The central theme in his poetry is a world where the faith of the Bulgarian nation is the most important thing in life.

In 1875 Botev becomes the leader of the BRCC (Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee) and immediately puts strategic goals of the movement. The most important one is instant revolution because according to him, the being of Bulgaria as a nation is questionable, if Bulgaria itself does not show to the world that it deserves freedom. On August 12, 1875, at the general meeting of BRCC, the decision of national rebellion is taken. The difference between Botev and Levski is that Levski prepares the Bulgarians for rebellion waiting for proper political circumstances, while Botev appeals towards immediate uprising because the moment has come. Botev is the organizer of the largest armed expression of the national revolution - The April Uprising of 1876. It involved much self-sacrifice because Bulgaria itself was unable to win a war against Turkey, without the intervention of the Great Powers. The April Uprising was one of the biggest blood baths in Bulgarian history and the main reason for Bulgaria to win the sympathies of the world's democratic society. The April Uprising was the central theme of the European press at that time and many important historic figures like Otto von Bismarck, William Gladstone, Giuseppe Garibaldi, Charles Darwin, Oscar Wilde, etc declared their support of Bulgaria. Botev died heroically on June 1, 1976 as the leader of 200 rebels his legacy has already been left - the military defeat became political win and only year later started the Russian-Turkish freedom war.