The “Nikola Voyvodov” Museum
Nikola Hadjikrastev Varbanov – Voyvodov was born in 1842 in Vratsa. He received his education at “Vaznesenie” (Ascension Day) School in his town of birth, at the French school in Bebek, and then at Robert College in Istanbul. Having mastered to an excellent degree the French and English languages, Nikola Voyvodov made his first translations while still a student in the Turkish capital, which were published in the “Bulgarski Knizhitsi” magazine (“Bulgarian Books”). His educational and cultural background turned him into a zealous supporter of the newly emerged Bulgarian theatrical society in Braila in 1866, and he often contributed articles in its defense.
In 1867, Nikola Voyvodov, supported by local Bulgarians in Galati and the Serbian Tsvetko Pavlovich, for a short time managed to organize a small but disciplined revolutionary detachment that involved Bulgarians, Serbians, Montenegrins and the ex-Russian officer Nikolay Dimitrievich Dalmatov. Nikola Voyvodov, who was appointed leader, insisted that his “detachment should appear as a regular army that enters an open battle with its enemy rather than a “bashi-bazouk” a band of rascals that makes a bad impression on the civilized European peoples.” The detachment was to cross over to Bulgaria via Raduevats (Serbia). In order to get there prior to the arrival of the revolutionists, Nikola Voyvodov and Tsvetko Pavlovich, who was appointed standard-bearer, boarded the Austrian ship “Germania”. This is the first instance in the Bulgarian national liberation movement when a ship was used as the stage of a revolutionary act.
On 20 August 1867, “Germania” laid aboard the port of Ruse, but as a consequence of treachery, she was intercepted by a regular Turkish army and police. The ship became the arena of yet another act of violence and bloodshed on the part of the Turkish authorities. After a desperate and unequal battle, Nikola Voyvodov and Tsvetko Pavlovich perished heroically, truthful to their vow “Freedom or Death”.
