A bust-monument of the leader of IMRO, Ivan Mihaylov, was unveiled in the City Garden of Blagoevgrad. The bust is the work of sculptor Alexander Haitov. The funds for the monument were raised by an initiative committee. The memorial is placed in the city garden among the busts of other heroes of the liberation struggle in the region of Macedonia such as Todor Aleksandrov, Mara Buneva and the poet Peyo Yavorov.

Ivan Mihaylov is a revolutionary, publicist, writer and the last major figure in the history of the Macedonian liberation movement. The Macedonian Bulgarian was born in 1896 in Novo Selo,. He died in Rome in 1990.