Revolutionary Yakim Shishkov

Yakim Stoyanov Shishkov was born in 1815 in Lovech into a wealthy family. After emigrating to Romania, where he engaged in trade, he met the prominent Bulgarian revolutionary Georgi Rakovski and other representatives of the national movement, including Lyuben Karavelov. Returning to Lovech as a wealthy merchant, Shishkov became an active participant in the national revolutionary movement.

He supported the Lovech Local Revolutionary Committee of the Internal Revolutionary Organisation and Vasil Levski. His vineyard became a meeting place for Levski, Angel Kanchev, Dimitar Obshti and other revolutionaries.

His important role in the national revolutionary movement involved not only financial support but also participation in identifying revolutionary activists to the Ottoman authorities. As a muhbir, he not only declined to confirm Vasil Levski’s identity to the Ottoman police but also informed Levski about the destruction of the committee’s books and evidence of revolutionary activity.

In addition to his involvement in the revolutionary movement, Yakim Shishkov supported cultural and educational life in Lovech.