site.btaCeremonies throughout Bulgaria Mark Unification Day

Ceremonies across the country Saturday  marked the 140th anniversary of the Unification of the Principality of Bulgaria with Eastern Rumelia. 

In Sofia, celebrations took place with a minute of silence and the laying of wreaths at the tomb of Prince Alexander I Battenberg in the capital. The ceremony was attended by the mayor of Sofia, Vasil Terziev, members of Parliament, and guests. A monument to General Vladimir Vazov was also unveiled in the Poduyane district of the capital.

The celebrations culminated in Plovdiv. A ceremony, attended by Parliament Chair Nataliya Kiselova, Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov, Vice President Iliana Iotova, Plovdiv Mayor Kostadin Dimitrov, Plovdiv regional governor, ministers, MPs, and municipal councillors, among others, was held at teh city's Unification Square, in front of the monument of the same name.  The formations from the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), the 110th Logistics Regiment and the 91st General Engineer Support Battalion of the Land Forces, the Third Air Base and the 24th Air Base of the Air Force also took part in the event.

In Blagoevgrad, representative formations from the 3rd Brigade Command participated in a ceremony to lay wreaths and flowers in gratitude at the memorial plaque of those who died in the wars for national unification.

In Burgas, a military wreath-laying ceremony was held at the monument to those who died from the 24th Black Sea Infantry Regiment, in the area of the Burgas Military Club, with the participation of military personnel and a representative part of the formations deployed in the area of military formation 32890.

The municipality of Varna, together with the Navy and the Holy Metropolis of Varna and Veliki Preslav, organized the festive programme for September 6. In front of the memorial plaque of Prince Alexander I Battenberg on Nezavisimost Square, the commemoration began with the laying of wreaths and flowers with a military ritual, followed by a procession from the memorial plaque on Maria Luisa Boulevard to the monument to those who died in the Serbian-Bulgarian War in the garden next to the Archaeological Museum. There, a memorial prayer  and a ceremony of laying wreaths and flowers followed.

In Gorna Oryahovitsa (Veliko Tarnovo region), servicemen from the 59th Nuclear, Chemical, Biological Defence and Ecology Regiment marked the holiday in front of the memorial to the residents of Gorna Oryahovitsa who died in the wars.

In Svishtov (Veliko Tarnovo region), the anniversary was be marked in front of the monument to freedom with the participation of soldiers from the 55th Engineering Regiment.

In Asenovgrad (Plovdiv region), soldiers from the 4th Artillery Regiment laid wreaths at the memorial plaques of Pere Toshev.

In Sliven, servicemen from the 13th Brigade Command held a ceremony to lay wreaths and flowers at the monument to Hadzhi Dimitar and the Sliven Renaissance figures.

On Saturday and Sunday, the National Military History Museum in Sofia will display the original flags associated with the Unification. Among them is the flag under which, on September 6, 1885, Major Danail Nikolaev led his troops to the centre of Plovdiv. Two more flags of the Marashka and Chirpan detachments, direct participants in the events, will be on display. Only on Unification Day will visitors to the National Military History Museum be able to see the personal flag of Alexander I, with which he arrived ceremoniously in Plovdiv on September 9, 1885, as Prince of Northern and Southern Bulgaria.

In Stara Zagora, soldiers from the 2nd Mechanized Brigade laid wreaths and flowers at the monument to the Defenders of Stara Zagora in a solemn military ceremony.

Unification Day was also be solemnly celebrated in the cities of Haskovo, on Svoboda Square in front of the Monument to the Unknown Soldier, and in Yambol, on the central square. Servicemen from the 31st and 42nd Mechanized Battalions and the self-propelled artillery division of the 2nd Mechanized Brigade will take part in the ceremonies.