Metal relief showing Damjan (Damyan) Gruev, 1871–1906.
A teacher and rebel, Damjan was one of the six founding members of the Internal Macedonian–Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (IMARO) and fought for the liberation of Macedonia and Thrace from Ottoman control. He championed the Organization’s clandestine structure: a secret society under the influence of a central committee overseeing local committees further divided into revolutionary districts. Fought in his native Smilevo during the Ilinden Uprising (c. 1903), being killed several years later after chance skirmish with Ottoman soldiers.