145 Years since the Liberation of Sofia

145 years ago on January 4, the Russian liberation troops under the leadership of Field Marshal Iosif Vladimirovich Romeyko-Gurko triumphantly entered Sofia.

Only one year after the Liberation, in the distant January of 1879, at the suggestion of the residents of Sofia, the then city administration decided to solemnly celebrate January 4 every year in a new style. That old-style day then is December 23 - a day before Christmas Eve for Christians. And it came true this Christmas Eve and it remains until now, because the cause was for freedom; freedom of the brothers in the Orthodox faith.

January 1878. Sofia is frozen with cold. For several days, the inhabitants of the city have been hearing the cannon booms of the approaching Russian army. Pleven is now free. Sofia is waiting. Turkish military chief Osman Nuri Pasha warns the consuls of France, Austria and Italy to leave the city. However, Léandre François René le Gay, Josef Waldhart and Vittorio Positano refused. They stay in Sofia and this saves the city from burning down. Sofia is silent with fear. Four gallows swing at its four ends. The Turks are angry; after the fall of Pleven, huge quantities of food and ammunition were brought here. However, Osman Nuri Pasha is aware that the battle for Sofia is doomed and orders a withdrawal to Pernik. The night before he retreated, he issued an order for the city to be set on fire and the Bulgarian population massacred. The protest of the European consuls against the destruction of the city and its people threatens to cause diplomatic complications. The determination and humanism shown by them in defense of the population and the city, despite the plans for their further geopolitical interests in the Balkans, is one of the earliest signs of European unity....