Dve Mogili in antiquity and Middle Ages

      The first evidence for the prehistoric settlement has been found at the aperture of the Orlova Chuka Cave near Pepelina village. These are tools made of flint and stone, bones of bears and deers. Experts refer them to 40 000 BC, i.e. during the Paleolithic period and also ceramic fragments from 3000-2000 BC, i.e. the Stone-Copper Age.

      The ceramic parts with ornaments from the Stone-Copper Age in the same cave and the settlements from this period near the villages of Katselovo and Karan Varbovka prove that during this period of time there were living people in the region of Dve Mogili Municipality. There are antique necropolises and fortresses near the town of Dve Mogili and the villages of Cherven, Pepelina, Shirokovo, Pirgovo, Baniska, Batishnitsa and Mechka. At the beginning of the 6th century Slavs settled down in our lands and during the 7th century the proto-Bulgarians who formed the Bulgarian country come. There is a mediaeval settlement 4 km far from Kovanlaka in south-eastern direction. Remains of foundations, bricks, tiles and pieces of household goods are being found in the ground at excavations during the years.

The origin of its name

      The first written records for Dve Mogili have been found in Turkish documents, kept in the Oriental department of the SS. Cyril and Methodius National Library. They are mainly tax registers, from which we can learn a lot about the size of the settlement, its ethnic character and the livelihood of the people in it.

      There are only a few Bulgarian documents for Dve Mogili from the times when Bulgaria was under Ottoman rule and they are from the second half of the 19th century. They are stored in the archives of the Church Municipality Ruse, in Dorostol and Cherven bishoprics and some of them - in books in the Church of the Holy Trinity in Dve Mogili. According to the document from the first half of the 15th century the settlement has existed probably before the Ottoman conquest, but it cannot be determine exactly. With finding this document, the argue about the origin of the village's name stopped. In the Turkish text it is written "Do mogila". The people who translated from the old Turkish language at the Oriental department of the SS. Cyril and Methodius National Library R. Staikov, A. Valov, P. Gruevski and E. Grozdanova accept that the word "Do" comes from Persian and means "two". In Turkish administrative and spoken language there are a lot of words, which have a Persian origin. And so - the word "Do" combines with the Slavonic word "mogila" and here comes the name "Do mogila". This name remains popular.

      The town got its name from the geographic features of the surrounding area - the two hills (hill in Bulgarian is "mogila").

Dve Mogili throughout the Ottoman period

      There aren’t many data about Dve Mogili in the Turkish archives. The first source written in Turkish is from the first half of the 15th century. In the many volumes of "Sources of Bulgarian history" there is passage from one register of the soldiers coming from different parts of Bulgaria, including Ruse. In it we can find the names of soldiers from Byala, Batishnitsa and Pepelina. There is only one man from Dve Mogili.

      The conclusion is, first, that during this period there are Bulgarian people in Dve Mogili. Second, the hypothesis that the town arose as a Turkish settlement is declined.

      The population in Dve Mogili is mentioned in a document from 1656 of collecting tax for the sheep. Both Bulgarians and Turks used to live in the village. People engaged in sheep-breeding were between 79 and 132. From the middle of 19th century the evidence for Dve Mogili are much more. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 from some Russian sources it is known that Dve Mogili has 100 houses and 550 people in the whole Ruse subdivision of the Ottoman Empire.

Dve Mogili's participation in the Russo-Turkish War

      In Dve Mogili there are no monuments which could attest to the cruel continuous fights during the war. But there are graves of Russian warriors buried here. In the region there are a lot of monuments which show that there were battles near Obretenik, Trastenik, Katselovo, Mechka, Ivanovo and Pirgovo. According to stories, when the war began, a lot of bashi-bazouks and circassians came to the village. The adults managed to escape to Gorno Ablanovo, which was already free and the little children stayed hidden in the bushes (a place near the village, which is overgrown with elder with human size). The bashi-bozouks and circassians plundered the village, but they didn’t find the children. Therefore they didn’t kill anyone. The native Turks leaved the village, but later on, when the war is over, many of them have returned.

      The Russians came in Dve Mogili on the 6th of July 1877. The second brigade of the 33rd Infantry Division covered the North-eastern heights near the village, and the division’s headquarters was in it. The main forces were situated near Mechka and Trastenik. Between the 20th of September and the 30th of September in one medium big village, such as Dve Mogili, there was gathered an enormous army for the forthcoming battle. The battle began soon near the villages of Trastenik, Katselovo, Mechka, Pirgovo and Ivanovo. There we fierce battles there and finally the Turks were defeated near Mechka. It is not a coincidence that on the Doctor's monument in Sofia, the name of Mechka village is written next to Shipka and Pleven. The facts show that Dve Mogili is in the middle of hostilities.

      There were no fights in Dve Mogili, but its name is mentioned every day in the diaries and telegrams of the commanders. There always were allocated troops nearby, so the local population was only 4-5km far from the frontline and they were in permanent tension and severe economic situation. Nevertheless, the people always tried to help the Russian troops with shelter, food and battle reconnaissance.

Filip Totyu in Dve Mogili

      Filip Totyu was born on 10 April 1830 in the hamlet of Gartsite, today part of the village of Voneshta Voda, near Kilifarevo, Veliko Tarnovo Province. He spent the last years of his life in Dve Mogili.

      During the Renaissance till the War of Liberation a lot of people from the mountain villages, suffering from a misery and hunger, tried to make a living in the field, where they thought that they can ensure their food. They came here to work as builders, carters, coopers, etc. During one century only in Dve Mogili settled down 70 families. A lot of Filip Totyu's friends and relatives came here. His brother Valcho and his sister Aglika, together with their mother Ivanka, came to live in Ostritsa village. In this period Filip Totyu was in one Romanian prison. After the Liberation the voivode came back to Bulgaria. His home, which he voluntarily sacrificed in the name of the people, was gone.

      In the beginning of 1885 he worked as a keeper of the municipality. In the same year he bought 16 decares farmyard next to the Cherni Lom River. He built a small house, made of wattle fence and plastered with clay, where he used to live alone. He made a big orchard. The house is kept until 1870. The local people called it “the voivode house”.

      Ostritsa village was not good enough place for active life for the old rebel. Liberty, for which he gave his best years, did not satisfy him. At about 1892-1893 Filip Totyu bought a house in a neighbourhood called H. Musa - Ruse, but he did not stay to live there. In 1895 the voivode, well advanced in years, got married to a woman called Velika. They went to live in Dve Mogili. For several years they used to live rent together with their friend Rayko Vodenicharov there. In the yard of the house of Velika's father they built a beautiful Balkan-styled house.

      His age and life full of great tension prevailed. On 22nd March 1907 his rebellious heart stopped beating. He was buried in the church yard - a sign of the greatest respect and gratitude to him. Many people from Dve Mogili, Ruse and other places went there. Panayot Hitov made a funeral speech, in which he said: “The Ottoman Empire horror has died”. Now a monument is raised above his grave. In 1973 the grateful descendants built a majestic monument in the centre of the town. The huge bronze statue of the voivode forward looking reminds of his wild and worthy life.

      In honor of the 150th anniversary of Filip Totyu and 1300 years since the Bulgarian county has been founded, the house in which this indomitable Bulgarian spirit has lived and where his big heart has stopped beating is now turned into a museum.