Yellow Pavements

The legend has it that the yellow pavements were gifted for the wedding of tsar Ferdinand Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, yet this is the romantic version that is historically imprecise. Sofia’s archives tell the real story that was kept secret for long. These were imported from Austro-Hungary upon the order placed by the Sofia mayor, Martin Todorov, as a continuation of his ambitious policy for the capital to change its Oriental appearance and turn into a beautiful European city. The time was marked by a construction boom, whereas many of the emblematic buildings in the centre were constructed. The city was electrified, lit up, trams were travelling along the streets, water-conduit was constructed with water coming from the mountain nearby Sofia – Vitosha.

In order to complete Sofia’s modern appearance, it needed a fitting pavement to become a distinguishable sign and ooze luxury. In the beginning of the ХХ century, the city streets and squares were still quite muddy and dusty, only at some places cobblestones were placed. 
There were hot debates – numerous versions were offered to the attention of the mayor, even asphalt that was modern back then, yet the yellow stone blocks were the chosen ones, as the archives do not unveil the exact reason for choosing them, even though these were quite expensive. Yet according to the available information, the mayor personally backed them. Today we already know that in addition to being quite beautiful, the blocks are quite strong as well, and looking back the decision made by the mayor was quite visionary.
These were moulded from limestone (called marga or mergel) acquired only from the mines nearby Budapest, that was grinded and roasted at very high temperature. In practice, they are impermeable, probably this is the reason for their durability and beauty for so many years. The pavement suffered heaviest damages during the bombarding above Sofia in 1944, yet the pavement had turned into irreplaceable part of the urban appearance and the municipality took great care of it, so it rapidly covered the holes that were opened up. 
Unfortunately, today the deposit in Budapest is exhausted and Sofia makes great effort to research the composition and properties of yellow stone blocks because soon we would have to look for an adequate replacement after exhausting the warehouse resource available to Sofia municipality.