Among Russian sisters of mercy, there were many brave heroines, and one of them was Baroness Yulia Petrovna Vrevskaya. She dedicated her life to saving soldiers during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878.

Yulia Petrovna was born into a wealthy noble family and became a widow at an early age. She served as a lady-in-waiting to the Empress and traveled extensively throughout Europe. Vrevskaya was friends with notable writers, artists, and composers, such as Ivan Turgenev and Victor Hugo, who admired her.

She could have continued to lead a comfortable social life, but when the war in the Balkans began, the baroness sold her estate and used the proceeds to organize a sanitary unit. After undergoing medical training, she began working as a sister of mercy in it.

In the front-line zone, Yulia Petrovna worked until early morning, helping to bandage the wounded, feed them, administer injections, and clean the floors. In letters home, she wrote: “The soldiers are suffering terribly. I was given a mad soldier, he was barely tied to the bed in a straitjacket, but he still thrashes about. I feel so sorry for him. I feed him, and he recognizes me.”

Vrevskaya selflessly served her fellow beings. When she was informed about a commendation and offered a leave, she sharply replied: “We are here to help, not to receive orders.” Instead of taking a leave, she transferred to another hospital, even closer to the front.

There, she participated in combat operations, pulling the wounded from the battlefield and providing first aid, and then helped in the surgical department. Vrevskaya was not afraid to work in infectious barracks, where she contracted typhus and fell seriously ill. In January 1878, she passed away.

Many soldiers whom she once helped attended her funeral. In Bulgaria, she is not forgotten: in the town of Byala, where the hospital was located, a street was named in her honor. In Russia, her name is immortalized on a memorial stele for nurses.