SOF
7.
Sofia History Museum
1, Banski square
HISTORY, ARCHITECTURE AND COLLECTION Do you know there is a mineral spring beneath the building? Yes, the place has been known as ancient Roman thermal springs, and consequently, an old Turkish bath was located there. Building’s construction in its present kind was initiated in 1889. The idea was to build a new city mineral bath with a hotel at the location of the old small building, destroyed during the Second World War bombarding.
No hotel appeared there, but it used to operate as a bath for around 70 years. Then the building was fully refurbished and turned into museum of Sofia.
It was built in 1911 according to the project of Friedrich Grunanger and Petko Momchilov in the style of Viennese secession with elements of the Byzantine and Bulgarian architectural traditions.
At both entrance sides you could see the statues of Apollo Medicus (Healer) and the goddess Tyche – patronne saint of cities.
The interior and exterior are very beautiful – ornamented facade that is easy to remember, a flower garden with a fountain, large open air spaces, meandering staircases and beautiful wrought iron railings. For building heating, they use the still operational old warm springs.
The museum would surprise you pleasantly. It has around 120 000 historical valuable items, all of them were found in Sofia or are related to the city history. The earliest ones date back to the Neolithic period, there are also golden Thracian items and jewels, archive documents and photographs, items owned by famous personalities from various epochs, valuable items that belonged to the royal family, works of art, items from Sofia inhabitants everyday life.
A whole hall is occupied by one of the most valuable exhibits – the golden carriage of Marie Antoinette, gifted for the wedding of the Bulgarian king Ferdinand by his mother – a French princess. You could see king Ferdinand’s golden desk, a gift by the German Chancellor Bismarck, also very rare kind of English clock, gifted by Queen Victoria, even a whole vehicle Mercedes-Benz – the first vehicle imported in Bulgaria, owned by Kind Ferdinand, retro tram power car that used to travel along the Sofia streets, an old bike of the “Spider” type, the throne of King Boris III and many more. There is a large library to the museum where they store a print book dating back to 1714 and manuscript dating back to 1820.
You would see much more than you expect.
NEAR BY you can see also
SOFIA
SYNAGOGUE
The synagogue in Sofia is the biggest at the Balkan peninsula, 3rd in Europe and the largest Sepharadic synagogue on the continent. It could take up over 1000 people.
It is located in the centre of Sofia, at 16, “Ekzarh Yosif” Str., in a colourful, old and multicultural neighbourhood. It is nearby the oldest open air market in Sofia, the Roman remnants and the temples of three religions – the Mosque, the Catholic cathedral and one of the most famous orthodox churches, “Sveta Nedelya”. It was built in 1909 whereas during the opening ceremony tsar Ferdinand personally cut the ribbon at the main entrance. The facade is mixture of Venetian and Mauritanian style, inside there are floor mosaics, marble columns, golden and colourful ornaments onto the walls, furniture and ceiling with encoded ancient Jewish symbols. Please, pay special attention to the chandelier that is a real work of art.
CATHOLIC
CHURCH
" ST. JOSEPH "
The Roman catholic church “Saint Josef” is located right in the centre of Sofia.
It is built at the place of the old Catholic church named the same way, whose building was constructed in the end of the ХIХ century, yet during the bombarding above Sofia, in 1944 it was fully destroyed. Miraculously, only the statue of Virgin Mary from Lourdes survived and it could be seen even today in the temple.
THE MOSQUE
"BANYA BASHI "
It was built in 1567 and until present days it is a operational Muslim temple. It was designed by the Ottoman architect Sinan who was quite famous for his time. It was built in the spirit of the Ottoman architecture dating back to the XVI century of the type “Sultan mosques”.
When it comes to prayers, it gathers over 1000 people. Ever since ancient times it was known as “Banyabası” thanks to its proximity to the old Turkish bath of the XVI century whose spring was renown ever since Roman times and is present today.
It is located in the centre of Sofia, at 18, “Knyaginya Mariya Louisa” Boulevard, at “Banski” Square, being one of the oldest squares in Sofia, nearby numerous sights.
At present, it is the only operational mosque in Sofia, inherited from city’s Ottoman period. In addition to prayers, it is open for visits by inhabitants and guests of the capital city.
