The Samara Flag (, ''Samarsko zname'', , ''Samarskoye znamya'') is a historical military symbol of the

Bulgarian Army The Bulgarian Army (), also called Bulgarian Armed Forces, is the military of Bulgaria. The commander-in-chief is the president of Bulgaria. The Ministry of Defense is responsible for political leadership, while overall military command is in ...

History

The flag was woven by local nuns and given to the Bulgarian volunteers during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 by inhabitants of the

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n city of

Samara Samara, formerly known as Kuybyshev (1935–1991), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast in Russia. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara (Volga), Samara rivers, with a population of over 1.14 ...

, on May 18th, 1877. The flag became famous after it escaped capture by Ottoman forces at the Battle of Stara Zagora, where many Bulgarian soldiers died in order to prevent the flag from being captured by the Ottoman forces. Three ribbons are attached to the handle of the flag: a blue one with the inscription "Let God rise, and let the ego be destroyed", a red one with the inscription "Samara-Bulgarian people, 1876" and a white one. The flag, originally intended for the rebels of the

April Uprising The April Uprising () was an insurrection organised by the Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire from April to May 1876. The rebellion was suppressed by irregular Ottoman bashi-bazouk units that engaged in indiscriminate slaughter of both rebels ...

of 1876, was handed to the

Bulgarians Bulgarians (, ) are a nation and South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and its neighbouring region, who share a common Bulgarian ancestry, culture, history and language. They form the majority of the population in Bulgaria, ...

near Ploieşti on 18 May, having been transported through Chişinău, where it arrived on May 1st. A delegation from the city of Samara, headed by Efim Kozhevnikov and Pyotr Alabin, handed the Samara flag to the volunteers in a special ceremony, with the flag being attached to its pole with gold nails. Tseko Petkov, a leader of a band in the

Troyan Troyan ( ) is a town remembering the name of Roman Emperor Trajan, in Lovech Province in central Bulgaria . It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Troyan Municipality. The town is about away from the country capital Sofia. The river ...

part of the

Balkan Mountains The Balkan mountain range is located in the eastern part of the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It is conventionally taken to begin at the peak of Vrashka Chuka on the border between Bulgaria and Serbia. It then runs f ...

, exclaimed: The flag became famous during the Battle of Stara Zagora . The flag company came under frontal enemy fire. The standard-bearers, non-commissioned officer Anton Marchin, non-commissioned officer Avksentiy Tsimbalyuk and militiaman S. Minkov, died. Known in history is the feat of lieutenant colonel Pavel Kalitin , who with heroic efforts and the cost of his life managed to save the flag from Turkish captivity. It was taken from the battlefield after fierce hand-to-hand combat by the spontaneously formed ''Ensign Group'' - non-commissioned officer Toma Timofeev, militiaman Nikola Korchev , Pavel Malkia, D. Minkov, Popov, Radev, Mitsov, Donev, Nikola Krastev, the Ossetian Nikolay Karaev-Dudar and others. It was also worn in the Battle of Shipka and the Battle of Sheinovo . The Samara flag was initially kept in Radomir, the birthplace of its last bearer, Pavel Korchev. It was later kept in the royal palace in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

(now the National Art Gallery) from 1881. In 1946, the flag was transferred to the National Museum of Military History (NMMH). It has remained there ever since, preserved in a chamber under special conditions. Two copies of the flag were made in 1958, one of which was sent to the Central Military Museum in Russia. Another two were subsequently created, one of which was made in the Mihail Maletski NMMH restoration workshop in 1978. The nuns of the

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

-founded Knyazhevo Nunnery of the Shroud of the Most Holy Mother of God created another precise replica in 2006.

Design

The flag is a tricolor cloth (from top to bottom horizontally: red, white, blue) measuring 1.85 by 1.90 meters with gold crosses sewn in the middle. On one side of them is embroidered the image of the Mother of God of Iver, and on the other the images of the Holy Brothers Cyril and Methodius . The paintings were done by the St. Petersburg artist Nikolay Simakov, and the embroideries by the nuns of the Samara Monastery. The spade of the flag is silver in the Byzantine style and was designed by Count Rochefort.

Honours

The Samara flag is the only flag that has been awarded the Bulgarian Medal for Bravery, the medal being placed in its pole's decorated point. The flag has been portrayed numerous times by noted artists, including ''The Samara Flag'' by Jaroslav Věšín from 1911 and ''Handing of the Samara Flag to the Bulgarian Volunteer Corps in Ploieşti'' by Nikolay Dmitriev-Orenburgsky. The Flag Monument of

Stara Zagora Stara Zagora (, ) is a city in Bulgaria, and the administrative capital of Stara Zagora Province. It is located in the Upper Thracian Plain, near the cities of Kazanlak, Plovdiv, and Sliven. Its population is 121,582 making it the sixth largest c ...

is a concrete replica of the Samara flag and commemorates the deaths of Bulgarian soldiers in the Russo-Turkısh War of 1877–78.

Gallery

File:Samara Flag Klearchos Photo.jpg, Authentic replica of the Samara flag in the Shipka Monument File:Handing of the Samara Flag.jpg, ''Handing of the Samara Flag'' (Nikolay Dmitriev-Orenburgsky) File:BASA-VD-1217-2-12-163.jpg File:Samara-voin.jpg, ''The Samara Flag'' (1911, Jaroslav Věšín) File:Stara-zagora.samarsko.zname.JPG, The monument Samarsko Zname

References

* * {{cite web , title=Samara Region Administration — The History of the Flag , url=http://www.adm.samara.ru/en/content/5/51/675 , publisher=Samara.ru , accessdate=2006-11-25 , archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20061009165904/http://www.adm.samara.ru/en/content/5/51/675 , archivedate = 2006-10-09 Military history of Bulgaria Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) Historical flags Samara, Russia Recipients of the Order of Bravery Battle of Shipka Pass