Vasil Aprilov

Vasil Evstatiev Aprilov (; 21 July 1789 – 2 October 1847) was a Bulgarian educator, merchant, philanthropist, writer and a national activist. Aprilov was a leading figure of the Bulgarian National Revival. He contributed to the establishment of secular Bulgarian education and the modern Bulgarian school.

Life Vasil Evstatiev Aprilov was born in Gabrovo, Ottoman Empire (now Bulgaria), on 21 July 1789, to a rich merchant family. In that period, Gabrovo was an important center of manufacture and trade. He assisted volunteers from Odessa who wanted to participate in the Greek War of Independence and after retiring from trade in 1826, he gave large sums of money to the Greek educational movement. However, in 1830, he came into a dispute with the Greeks and went to Constantinople. Inspired by the reforms there, he came up with the idea to create a European-style school.

In 1832, he suggested the establishment of a school in the hometown to Nikolay Palauzov. This was the first Bulgarian secular school using the Bell-Lancaster method. Aprilov and Palauzov had contributed 2,000 groschen for the school, while monk Neofit Rilski started working as a teacher there. The Greek archbishop of Tarnovo had also encouraged their efforts and the Bulgarian émigrés from Bucharest also contributed money. The emergence of this school gave a boost to Bulgarian education and soon other schools were opened all over the Bulgarian-populated regions of the Ottoman Empire. Both he and Rilski remained members of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. In his will, he had written that he dedicated his savings for the education of the Bulgarians. Aprilov also had 60,000 rubles in his bank account, which were to be used for his Gabrovo school. Aprilov thought that liturgical Greek should be taught alongside Bulgarian.

Aprilov Point on Greenwich Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica, is named in his honor. A monument of him is in Gabrovo.