Panayot Volov

Who was Panayot Volov?

Panayot Volov was the pseudonym of Petar Vankov, the organizer and leader of the Gyurgevo Revolutionary Committee of the Bulgarian April Uprising against the Ottoman Empire in 1876.

Volov was born in 1850 in Shumen, where he finished Dobri Voynikov's class school. He then continued his education in Bucharest, Bolhrad and Odessa with the financial support of his wealthy relative Marincho Benli. Six month prior to his graduation from the South Slavic boarding school in Mykolaiv, which he attended between 1869 and 1873, Volov was forced to return to Shumen due to an illness. He was appointed head teacher and director of the local class school. He also organized a night school and took an active part in the activities of the local cultural centre. Volov also conducted revolutionary work in Shumen and the region.

In August 1874 Volov participated in the general assembly of the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee in Bucharest and was chosen as the chairman of the Shumen local revolutionary committee. Volov was arrested and sent to prison for his participation in the conflict between the local youth and the European engineers working on the Kaspichan–Shumen–Yambol railway. Volov headed the dissatisfied locals who cancelled the wedding of a French engineer with a local girl. Following several months in prison, Volov was released and went to Romania.