Sofia Hidden Gems: Small-Group Walking Tour with Tram Ride

The Saint Sofia Church (Bulgarian: църква „Света София“, tsarkva "Sveta Sofia", "Church of Holy Wisdom") is one of the oldest church in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, dating to the fourth century. In the predecessor building took place the Council of Serdica held most probably in 343 and attended by 316 bishops. In the 14th century, the church gave its name to the city, previously known as Serdika (Сердика)

This is a Bulgarian Orthodox cathedral in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Built in Neo-Byzantine style, it is one of the 50 largest Christian church buildings by volume in the world.

Kvadrat 500, the newest and largest building of the National Gallery, opened on 25 May 2015. Some 1,700 artworks from the gallery’s rich fund of over 42,000 museum pieces by Bulgarian and foreign artists are exhibited in 28 halls on four levels. The Bulgarian collection dates back to the 1890s, while the greater part of the foreign collection was formed in the 1980s.
The exposition features works tracing the path of Bulgarian art from the mid-19th century and from the 20th century, European art from the 15th–19th centuries, and art exhibits from Asia, Africa, and America.

Today the Library's collection contains nearly 8.5 million documents. Every year, it receives about 70 000 publications. The National Library “St. St. Cyril and Methodius” is the largest book treasury in Bulgaria. The tourist will visit inside

The Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski is the first higher educational institution in Bulgaria. Its history is an embodiment and a continuation of centuries of cultural and educational tradition in this country.
Public teaching activities in Bulgaria date back to the second half of the 9th century.
During the Bulgarian Renaissance, a new idea for opening a School of Higher Education was conceived.

The prestige of the School of Higher Education grew rapidly with the cultural and educational mission it acquired after the Liberation in 1878. We will visit inside

It was built in 1884-1886 at the design of architect Constantin Yovanovic, who studied in Vienna and Switzerland and authored the design of the Serbian Assembly (1891-1892) as well. The style of the building is neo-Renaissance.

In 1890, three Bulgarian musicians Dragomir Kazakov, Ivan Slavkov and Angel Bukoreshtliev organized the first opera troupe in Bulgaria as a branch of the "Sofia Drama and Opera Troupe". The performances - 12 whole operas and excerpts from 11 operas, with the participation of Bulgarians, Czechs and Italians accompanied by piano, the Guards Orchestra, the orchestra of the Sixth Infantry Regiment and people of the Italian Singing Society are accepted with unexpected success.

The building of the National Theatre was finished in 1906 and the opening ceremony was held on 3 January 1907. It was designed by the architects Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer, who were hugely popular in the early twentieth century, to become one of Sofia’s most imposing and representative buildings in the Art Nouveau style, which was all the rage in those days. The plafond and the walls of the auditorium seating 848 were painted by artist Rudolf Fuchs from Vienna.

The Largo (Bulgarian: Ларго, definite form Ларгото, Largoto) is an architectural ensemble of three Socialist Classicism edifices in central Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, designed and built in the 1950s with the intention of becoming the city's new representative centre.

The Church of Saint George (Bulgarian: Ротонда „Свети Георги“, romanized: Rotonda "Sveti Georgi") is a Late Antique red brick rotunda in Sofia, Bulgaria. Built in the early 4th century as Roman baths, it became a church inside the walls of Serdica, capital of ancient Dacia Mediterranea during the Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire.[1] The Early Christian church is considered the oldest building in modern Sofia and belongs to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.

Ancient cultural and communication complex “Serdica” combines areas with various purposes, divided into two zones. The “Largo” zone, situated underneath Nezavisimost Square, integrates the unearthed archaeological remains into a site for cultural events. The remains of one of the two main streets of the Roman town, the decumanus maximus, which connects the eastern and the western gate of the city, can be seen here. A large residential building, covering an entire insula (urban block), can be seen south of it. The building also had small shops, from which travelers and the town’s inhabitants could purchase food and various goods. A lapidarium is located close to the building.

The current Central Mineral Baths building was designed in the Vienna Secession style, but integrating typically Bulgarian, Byzantine and Eastern Orthodox ornamental elements, by the architects Petko Momchilov and Friedrich Grünanger in 1904–1905 and approved on 30 January 1906, as projects by an Austrian (in 1889) and a French architect (in 1901) were declined.

In the early 20th century, the Jewish community of Sofia (lead by rabbi Dr. Ehrenpreis and president of the community Ezra Sol) collected donations and invited the Viennese architect Friedrich Grünanger to prepare a project for the Synagogue. You can see the names of the 10 "top contributors" to the left on the wall after entering. In just 4 years, the architect managed to organize and complete the construction. Tombstones from an old Jewish cemetery were used to build the base of the Synagogue.

The value of its construction amounts to 437 000 golden leva.

The building of the Central Sofia Synagogue was built on the old site of another one known with the Hebrew name “Ahava ve Chesed” (Love and Goodness),

The Western Gate of Serdica is protected by towers – in the preserved section of the fortress wall a pentagonal tower is next to the gate and another triangular tower – in close proximity. The Western gate of Serdica is located between "St. Joseph" Catholic Cathedral, Todor Alexandrov boulevard and the Monument Symbol of the City of Sofia.

Zhenski Pazar Market (Bulgarian: “Женски пазар”) is the oldest market in Sofia. Established more than 140 years ago, it has become one of the most important trading centres in the metropolitan city.

Banya Bashi Mosque is located in the center of Sofia, near the hot mineral springs. (Banya Bashi means “many baths”). It was built in 1576 during the Ottoman military expansion by the best known Ottoman architect Miamar Sinan. He was also created Selemiye mosque in Edrine and Suleyman mosque in Istanbul.