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Monument to Vasil Levski, Sofia

1895 sculpturesBuildings and structures in SofiaMonuments and memorials in BulgariaTourist attractions in Sofia
Levski monument
Levski monument

The Monument to Vasil Levski (Bulgarian: Паметник на Васил Левски, Pametnik na Vasil Levski) in the centre of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, is one of the first monuments to be built in the then newly liberated Principality of Bulgaria. It commemorates the hanging of Bulgarian national hero and major revolutionary figure Vasil Levski on the same spot on 18 February 1873. The monument is 13 m high, made of grey Balkan granite and designed by Czech architect Antonín Kolář. The bronze bas-relief of the head of Levski, part of the monument, was created by Josef Strachovský (or, according to other sources, Austrian sculptor Rudolf Weyr), whereas Italian Abramo Peruchelli did the stonecutting work. It was inaugurated on 22 October 1895, but was planned and worked on ever since the Liberation of Bulgaria in 1878, the construction being hindered by a chronic lack of funds and negligence, and taking a whole 17 years. This ignited a wave of indignation among the Bulgarian intellectuals of the time, with the poet Konstantin Velichkov even branding this carelessness in an 1881 poem (see text). A draft for the monument featured a large Christian cross over a crescent, but it was rejected as religiously intolerant and incompatible with Levski's proper beliefs in equality and tolerance.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Monument to Vasil Levski, Sofia (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Monument to Vasil Levski, Sofia
pl. Vasil Levski, Sofia

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Latitude Longitude
N 42.696661111111 ° E 23.335261111111 °
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Паметник на Васил Левски

pl. Vasil Levski
1037 Sofia (Oborishte)
Bulgaria
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Levski monument
Levski monument
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Old Parliament House, Sofia
Old Parliament House, Sofia

The National Assembly Building is used by the Bulgarian parliament for parliamentary debates. The main building has been proclaimed a monument of culture for its historic significance. Situated in downtown Sofia, it was designed in Neo-Renaissance style by Konstantin Jovanović, a Serbian-Bulgarian architect who received his education in Vienna and Switzerland and whose other works include the Parliament of Serbia building. It was constructed between 1884 and 1886 by Friederich Wilhelm Gustav Liebe, a young builder from Saxony who was only 22 years old when construction began. The building was originally painted in an off-white hue, but since the latter part of the 20th century has been white. In August 1990, the current national assembly building (the former party house) was set on fire by communist partisans.The building is depicted on the reverse of the Bulgarian 20 leva banknote, issued in 1999 and 2007. Due to insufficient space in the main building at Parliament Square, some administrative offices of the National Assembly are now housed by the former headquarters of the Bulgarian Communist Party, located at the Largo. There has been a proposal that the entire National Assembly be permanently moved to the Party House, with its inner courtyard being converted into an interior space for the plenary chamber.Since September 2020, it has been moved to the Party House. Surprisingly, after the April 2021 Bulgarian parliamentary election, the National Assembly moved again to the old Parliament House because the new opposition led-majority (ITN, Democratic Bulgaria, ISMV) viewed the Party House building as a symbol of Bulgaria's communist past.