Veliko Tarnovo Official Holiday

March 22 is the official holiday of Veliko Tarnovo municipality. The town’s administration has organized a special programme of celebrations, ending with the spectacular “Sound and Light” audiovisual show, which is one of the most emblematic features of the town. The show is a unique attraction not only in Bulgaria, but also in Europe. A dramatic music and flashing lights, lasers, heavy church bells combined together tell the glorious and tragic story of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom. The first show took place in 1985 when 800 years from the Assens riot were celebrated. All the flashing lights of hundred colours and the three lasers present some moments of the Bulgarian history, the Battles against the Ottoman hordes, the years of Ottoman yoke, the liberation movement and then the Liberation itself. Veliko Tarnovo is one of the most ancient Bulgarian towns. The picturesque situation and panoramic view of the town, its rich cultural and historical heritage wins Veliko Tarnovo the recognition as a historical, cultural and tourist center of contemporary Bulgaria. Historians date the establishment of the town back to the 4th millenium B. C. In 1185 it became a center of the Bulgarian Uprising against Byzantine domination and the capital of the restored Bulgarian state. The medieval town of Tarnovo was rapidly expanding and developed into the strongest Bulgarian fortress during the 12-14th centuries. It became the most significant political, economic, cultural and religious centre of Bulgaria. During the 15th-19th centuries period Tarnovo was a symbol of the former Bulgarian state system and a leading centre of the struggle for cultural independence.

Location