"The two women came to the Unification on different occasions, in different places and at different times, but in fact they knew each other very well, because Ekaterina Karavelova, who was from Ruse, taught Nedyalka Shileva at the Plovdiv Girls' High School", says Rumyana Doneva, curator at the Regional History Museum in Plovdiv. "While Nedyalka is connected with the preparation, announcement and implementation of the Unification, Ekaterina played her role in its second part - in its defense during the Serbo-Bulgarian War in the autumn of 1885."

At that time, 25-year-old Ekaterina Karavelova was the wife and secretary of the Bulgarian Prime Minister Petko Karavelov, who was the head of the cabinet in the Principality of Bulgaria during the great political event - the Unification of two main parts of the Bulgarian lands with a total area of 96,345 sq. km and a population of 3,150,000. 

The "shadow statesman", as Ekaterina was called, took care of her husband's affairs, organized meetings of ministers, communicated with consuls and representatives of foreign countries, travelled around Sofia and did not hide her fervour and belief that justice would prevail and everything would end up well for Bulgarians.

Nedyalka Shileva was the fiancee of the Bulgarian resistance fighter (opalchenets) from the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878) Prodan Tishkov, better known as Chardafon the Great, and only at the age of 18 she sewed and painted the flag of the largest rebel detachment that participated in the Unification - the Golyamokonarska cheta detachment. It was led by her uncle Petar Shilev. 

The young woman joined the troop as a standard-bearer, and later accompanied the chief governor of Eastern Rumelia, Gavril Krastevich, through the streets of Plovdiv with a drawn saber, in the phaeton with which he was escorted to the village of Golyamo Konare (present-day town of Saedinenie).

In 1886, the Bulgarian artist Nikolay Pavlovich created the lithograph "Unification of Northern and Southern Bulgaria in 1885". The central place is occupied by the figures of two women, with wreaths on their heads, wrapped in a common royal mantle. And although some see Nedyalka Shileva and Ekaterina Karavelova in the images, documents refute this theory:

 "The draft of Nikolay Pavlovich's auto-review has been preserved, in which he explains exactly what he invested in the creation of this lithograph", says Rumyana Doneva and quotes part of it: "I have represented the whole of Bulgaria through three young female figures - three sisters: Bulgaria, Thrace and Macedonia, of which Bulgaria and Thrace are situated in the foreground, stepping victoriously on the torn enemy Serbian flag. Macedonia, as not an accomplice in the events, is represented further away, disarmed, sitting on the bare stones, sadly bowed and chained to the rocks. Above her head hangs the Turkish flag, still a sign of her enslavement." And since the names Thrace, Bulgaria and Macedonia are feminine - explains our interlocutor - it is normal for them to be presented as women, and there is no connection, not even a visual resemblance to Nedyalka Shileva and Ekaterina Karavelova."