Bulgaria’s national anthem is “Mila Rodino,” meaning “Dear Motherland.”
Tsvetan Radoslavov wrote and composed the song in 1885, reportedly while traveling to join Bulgarian forces during the Serbo-Bulgarian War. It later became a popular patriotic song and was selected as Bulgaria’s national anthem in 1964.
The anthem’s original version had more verses than the official text used today. Its melody and lyrics celebrate Bulgaria’s landscape and homeland, especially the Balkan mountains.
A common mix-up is “Shumi Maritsa,” an earlier Bulgarian national anthem used from 1886 to 1947. “Mila Rodino” replaced it during the communist period and remained the national anthem after political changes in 1989, with some textual adjustments.