Bacho Kiro

[1] Bacho Kiro was born in what is today Byala Cherkva, Veliko Tarnovo Province (then called Gorni Turcheta), to the family of the herdsman Petar Zanev.

From 1852 on, he worked as a teacher in various villages, including Koevtsi, Musina, Mihaltsi, Vishovgrad and his native Byala Cherkva, where he lived and taught from 1857 to 1876 with some interruptions.

Bacho Kiro also travelled around the Bulgarian lands by foot, calling for armed resistance against the Ottoman rule, and visited Istanbul, Mount Athos, Belgrade and Bucharest.

Bacho Kiro established a number of cultural centres (chitalishta); in February 1872, he became the Byala Cherkva head of Vasil Levski's Internal Revolutionary Organisation.

Bacho Kiro took part in the Dryanovo Monastery fightings, and although his detachment was routed by the Ottomans, he managed to escape.