Graduate badge of V. Levski Military Artillery School of Higher Education

This is graduate badge of "V. Levski" Military Artillery school of higher education in V. Tarnovo town. This is last emmission , cream colored enamel.
Vassil Levski is the Bulgarian national hero, whom the present-day Bulgarians consider their greatest hero of all times and epochs. The revolutionary theory which took form in Vassil Levski's mind towards the end of the 60s, turned out to be a leap forward for the Bulgarian liberation movement. Levski viewed the national liberation revolution as a concomitant armed upheaval of the whole Bulgarian population in the Ottoman empire. It followed that this uprising had to be well-prepared in advance, with all adequate military training and proper coordination on the part of an internal revolutionary organization branching out into committees in each living area.
Levski also influenced the future form of government in liberated Bulgaria - a democratic republic, standing on the principles of the Human and Citizen Rights Charter of the Great French Revolution. That was the only document hitherto known to guarantee the individual freedom of expression, speech and association. In their essence Levski's ideas tallied with the most radical ideas of the European bourgeois-democratic revolution.

Military school graduate badges were made after the Soviet model badges of this type: with a "rhomb" form and screw back reverse. What should be noted is that here in Bulgaria these badges played an important role in the Communist military awarding system; they were valued to all military men. Even if someone was later awarded with orders and titles of a higher rank, he kept on wearing the Graduate badge.
There are about 10 military schools (academies), each having 1, 2 or 3 emission badges.
The initial emission of the badges, also called "silver", is characterized by a solid silver base, white enamel and a silver plate bearing the name of the school. These badges are a bit heavier than the emissions to come.
The second emission has a base and plate made of different metals, the enamel is white too.
The third emission is much different than the previous two by its cream colored enamel.
Some of the emissions differ also by the acronym-name of the school or by the coat of arms, in the latter case depending on whether the emission was issued before or after 1971.