The Aprilov National High School (Национална Априловска гимназия) in Gabrovo is the first modern secular school in Bulgaria. It was opened on 2 January 1835, when Bulgaria was still part of the Ottoman Empire, with the financial help of Vasil Aprilov, Nikola Palauzov, Vasil Rasheev and other wealthy Bulgarians and was based on the Bell-Lancaster method.