Sofia Sights

  1. 1300 Years Monument

    At the northern end of pl Bulgaria is the disintegrating 1300 Years Monument, built in 1981 to celebrate the anniversary of the creation of the First Bulgarian Empire. It has been falling to pieces and fenced off for years, and nobody seems to want to take responsibility for the renovation - or more likely, the demolition - of this unloved monstrosity.

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  2. Aleksander Nevski Memorial Church & Crypt

    One of the symbols not just of Sofia but of Bulgaria itself, the massive, awe-inspiring Aleksander Nevski Memorial Church was built between 1882 and 1912 in memory of the 200,000 Russian soldiers who died fighting for Bulgaria's independence during the Russo-Turkish War (1877-78).

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  3. Archaeological Museum

    The Buyuk Djami (Great Mosque), with its nine lead-covered domes, was built in 1496, and since 1899 it has housed Sofia's fascinating Archaeological Museum.

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  4. Banya Bashi Mosque

    Sofia's only working mosque was built in 1576 by the celebrated Ottoman architect Kodja Mimar Sinan, who also designed the Selim II Mosque in Edirne, Turkey. It's certainly an eye-catching edifice and the red brick minaret makes a convenient landmark. At the rear of the building is a small, recently excavated section of the bathhouse that once joined onto the mosque and a hot-water drinking fountain. Visitors are welcome outside prayer times if modestly dressed.

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  5. Borisova Gradina

    Sofia's most attractive expanse of greenery is home to the Vasil Levski Stadium, CSKA Stadium and Maria Luisa Pool, as well as bike tracks and tennis courts. It's laid out with countless statues and flowerbeds, and is a relaxing place to take a leisurely stroll on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

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  7. Church of Sveta Sofia

    There has been a church on this site since the mid-4th century, although the Church of Sveta Sofia as it stands today is a much-restored 6th-century foundation, making it the oldest Orthodox church in the Bulgarian capital, to which it eventually gave its name. The church fell victim to invading hordes, fires and earthquakes several times over the centuries, and after a devastating 1858 earthquake, the building, then used as a mosque, was abandoned.

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  8. CSKA Stadium

    Football (soccer) is Bulgaria's main sporting passion, and Sofia alone has four teams. CSKA is one of the main clubs, and plays at the CSKA Stadium in Borisova Gradina.

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  9. Doctors' Garden

    Just behind the National Library, in one of the smartest residential areas in town, this neat, secluded and well-maintained park is a pleasant place to catch your breath. At the centre is a big, pyramidal monument dedicated to the medics who died in the Russo-Turkish War (1877-78). Also here is an outdoor lapidarium featuring lots of Roman architectural fragments dug up around Sofia.

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  10. Ethnographical Museum

    Spread over two floors in the Royal Palace, the Ethnographical Museum has a permanent collection of regional costumes and crafts, although most of the space is usually occupied by long-term temporary exhibitions on topics of varying interest, such as traditional festivals, carpet-making, or, as was the case through 2007, provincial bread stamps. (Everything is captioned in English.)

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  11. Georgi Asparoukhov Stadium

    Football (soccer) is Bulgaria's main sporting passion, and Sofia alone has four teams. Levski is one of the main clubs, and is based at the Georgi Asparoukhov Stadium.

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  13. Ivan Vazov House Museum

    Bulgaria's best-loved author, Ivan Vazov (1850-1921), lived at this house, now a museum, from 1895 until his death. Vazov wrote Under the Yoke , a classic of Bulgarian literature based around the 1876 April Uprising against the Turks. Several rooms have been restored to their early-20th-century appearance, and in the study, you can even meet Vazov's beloved pet dog, Bobby, whom Vazov had stuffed after he was run down by a tram.

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  14. Mineral Baths

    The Mineral Baths - also known as the Turkish Baths - was built between 1911 and 1913. With its elegant striped façade and ceramic decorations recalling the designs of Nesebâr's medieval churches, it's one of Sofia's architectural gems, but it fell into dereliction in the 1990s and has been undergoing sporadic restoration for over a decade. When restoration is finally complete, it will house a new civic museum, although no date has been set for this.

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  15. Monument to the Soviet Army

    The giant Monument to the Soviet Army was built to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Russian 'liberation' of Bulgaria in 1944 and is a prime example of the forceful socialist-realism of the period. The place of honour goes to a Red Army soldier atop a column, surrounded by animated cast-iron sculptural groups depicting determined, gun-waving soldiers and grateful, child-caressing members of the proletariat.

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  16. National Art Gallery

    Occupying the east wing of the Royal Palace, the National Art Gallery holds one of the country's most comprehensive collections of Bulgarian art, with several galleries full of mainly 19th- and 20th-century paintings and sculptures. All the big names are represented, including the ubiquitous Vladimir Dimitrov, whose orange, Madonna-like Harvester hangs in the former royal music room.

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  17. National Gallery for Foreign Art

    An eclectic assemblage of international artworks is on display in the huge National Gallery for Foreign Art, and although you won't find any world-class treasures here, there are a few big names and plenty of little-known artists to discover. On the ground floor you can browse Indian woodcarvings, Burmese Buddhas, African tribal art and colourful Japanese prints.

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  19. National Museum of Military History

    Don't be put off by the rusting army trucks in the overgrown front yard - the National Museum of Military History is among the most interesting and best presented in Sofia. Displays over three floors tell the story of warfare in Bulgaria from the time of the Thracians onwards, with extensive labelling and information boards in English.

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  20. National Museum of Natural History

    You can almost sense the ghosts of generations of school parties dutifully trooping through the musty halls of the old-fashioned National Museum of Natural History. The didactic collection of animal, plant and mineral specimens is vast, although there's little labelling in anything but Bulgarian.

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  21. National Palace of Culture (NDK)

    Bulevard Vitosha leads down to the National Palace of Culture, the city's vast concert hall, which watches over an elongated park known as pl Bulgaria.

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  22. National Polytechnic Museum

    One of Sofia's less visited attractions, this small museum is nevertheless a treasure trove for anyone interested in the history of technology. On show is a varied, though not always well labelled, collection covering such subjects as photography, radio and time measurement. A gleaming, perfectly restored 1928 Ford Model A stands just inside, while other displays include atomic clocks, typewriters, early movie cameras and mechanical pianos.

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  23. Peyo Yavorov House Museum

    The Romantic poet and revolutionary Peyo Yavorov (1878-1914) briefly lived in the small apartment in this house, now a low-key museum.

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  25. Pl Bulgaria

    The National Palace of Culture (NDK) watches over an elongated park known as Pl Bulgaria. There are a few kiosks and sociable bars here for those in search of a cheap alfresco beer, as well as carts selling popcorn and ice cream. It's also a favourite venue for Sofia's skateboarding teens.

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  26. Presidency

    The Bulgarian president's office occupies the eastern end of the grey, monolithic building that also houses the Sheraton Hotel. It's not open to the public, but the changing of the guard ceremony (on the hour) is a spectacle not to be missed, as soldiers in raffish Ruritanian uniforms stomp their way to their sentry boxes.

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  27. Royal Palace

    Originally built as the headquarters of the Ottoman police force, it was at the Royal Palace that Bulgaria's national hero, Vasil Levski, was tried and tortured before his public execution in 1873. After the Liberation, the building was remodelled in Viennese style and in 1887, apparently undeterred by its grisly recent past, Prince Alexander Battenberg moved in and it became the official residence of Bulgaria's royal family until the communist takeover.

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  28. Sofia City Garden

    Take a break from pounding the city streets and rest up in the leafy Sofia City Garden, with its cafés, swings, flowerbeds and lovely fountain, where old men gather to play chess. Until its sudden and unceremonious demolition in 1999, the mausoleum of Bulgaria's first communist ruler, Georgi Dimitrov, squatted at the northern end of the park facing the Royal Palace. It has since been replaced by some shrubbery.

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  29. Sofia Monument

    Erected in 2001 on the site where a gigantic statue of Lenin once stood, the 24m-high Sofia Monument was created as a new civic symbol for the city. The bronze female figure at the top of the column, holding the wreath of victory in her right hand and balancing an owl on her left arm, represents Sofia, personification of wisdom and fate.

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