Dobri Chintulov

Born in the town of Sliven (then in Ottoman Thrace, today in Bulgaria) in September 1822 to the family of a craftsman, Chintulov studied at the Greek school in his hometown.

Due to a lack of funds, however, he was forced to drop out and move to Tarnovo, where he worked and visited the local class school in 1838 for around six months.

In that period, he wrote a number of patriotic and revolutionary songs and poems, some of which became very popular and renowned as anthems of the revolution.

Provoking the animosity of the Turkophile and Grecoman circles in Sliven who even attempted to assassinate him, Chintulov moved to Yambol in 1858 and worked there as a head teacher until 1861.

Although ill and half-blind, Chintulov was among those who welcomed the liberating Russian forces in Sliven during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 on 17 November and held a speech.