Golden city architecture by Venelin Venelinov

Golden city architecture by Venelin Venelinov

Sofia offers a surprising architectural mix spanning from ancient Byzantine churches to modern office buildings. Deciphering the mosaic of architectural styles visible throughout the city is a pleasant exercise that requires some knowledge of Bulgarian history. Here is a brief guide. In the years before national independence, Sofia was a home to less than 12,000 inhabitants and had two schools, seven churches, 30 mosques, and 3,300 houses. The city had played a secondary role in the Bulgarian Revival, and never had the Bulgarian Revival architectural masterpieces that are typical for the rest of the country. Western travelers arriving to Sofia in the 18th and 19th centuries left less than favorable descriptions of mud-covered, dark, narrow streets and ruined city walls. In 1879, it was all about to change. After Sofia was chosen for the capital of the newly independent Bulgaria, architects from Central Europe were commissioned to work on the new capital. In the course of a few decades Sofia turned into a distinctively European city that its ever-increasing inhabitants lovingly called “the little Vienna.”

Venelin Venelinov: Photos