In the previous post I talked about the historical significance of the buildings I photographed and here is the second part of the story (the first one was too long so I decided to split the posts).
The oldest university in Bulgaria, Sofia University, was founded in 1888. The founders were two brothers, Evlogi and Hristo Georgievi, who donated six million golden leva (which is a huge sum of money even today). The two had become rich from scratch and had a successful trading business with cotton and wool (legend has it that during the war in the US, the whole cotton produce of the South was bought by them and then re-sold in Europe). Another legend has it that the two grew rich through speculations but the popular story tells a different tale.
Towards the end of their lives, the two wanted to leave something meaningful behind. Hence they decided that the most important thing for their homeland was education. Hence, they bought a plot of land and donated the money to the state. The idea was to create a university campus, following the example of the old universities in Europe, where the auditoriums and the students' quarters are in one and the same place.
It took several decades for the building to be opened (and a lot of bureaucracy to be overcome) and by the time the state finally decided that it needs an "alma mater" most of the donated money were already gone. Hence, the building that was created was much smaller than the initial plans and there were no money for students' quarters either.
Still, the Rectorate building (above) is an architectural masterpiece. In the 1930s (when the picture above is said to have been taken) - it was a relatively small building. Today, the Rectorate building of Sofia University is one of the biggest in Sofia - up till the 1970s it was built and rebuilt and now this one (called "the central building") is the smallest part of the complex. Each wing of the building is interconnected with the two only at ground floor level (all other floors can be accessed only though the wing itself) and the whole plan is very complicated (which gave the building its nickname among the students "Hogwards" because you can always find a new door on an unknown corridor here and there).
Most people nowadays do not realise that the huge building in the centre of Sofia was once a tiny one (and that it exists not because of the state but of two people who thought of the future).
The story of this place is one of the saddest in the crop. This is the palace of the Bulgarian Tsar as seen in the 1920s. Back then the place in front of the palace was a huge square where the crowds would gather to meet their sovereign. The palace was surrounded by a huge wall and gardens where the royal family would walk safely.
That building in itself was an architectural masterpiece too. It was built in the place of the old Turkish municipal building by Viennese architects - I usually compare the gates of the palace in Sofia to the gate of Belvedere palace in Vienna because the two look so alike (to some extent).
The sad story of the building starts with the death of the Bulgarian tsar Boris III in 1943. He left the country to his son, Simeon (then only 6 years old). A regency was set while the country was amidst the turmoil of WWII. The country was plunging in a civil war in the meantime and in 1944 the Communists took over the government. The three regents were shot and the widow of the tsar with her children was put under house arrest. There were plans to kill the royal family, the same way the Bolsheviks did with the Romanovs in Russia. What stopped the Communists from doing so was the public love for the tsaritsa and her children. Ioanna was known for her charity work and saw genuinely popular among the crowds. Her son (the infant tsar) was the country's favourite so the new regime wisely deduced that if they kill the royals, the country will plunge into another civil war.
Hence, the tsaritsa was given practically a few hours to leave the country with only the clothes on her back. The exiled royals were forbidden to enter Bulgaria ever again and the palace was plundered. Everything that was worth anything was plundered and torn from the walls. The beautiful wall around the palace was demolished. There were plans to demolish the whole building too but as the revolution drive receded, there were way more pressing matters to deal with. So the building, or the shell of the building, survived. Now its sad bare walls house the national gallery.
This bridge, Lions' bridge. also has a sad story to tell.
This is one of the most iconic places in Sofia - mostly because of the 4 bronze lions that flank the bridge and guard the entrance to the downtown area. The 4 lions are there for a reason. In the 1800s (full story in another post) 4 book makers of Bulgarian dissent were accused of revolutionary activities (their true guilt being only that they were all men of authority within the Bulgarian community) and brutally killed in front of their families, then their dead bodies were hanged to rot in front of their shops. To commemorate them, the lions now stand at the bridge, so that they should never be forgotten.
No comments:
Post a Comment