The royal palace Vrana

The Palace Vrana is located 11 kilometers east the city of Sofia. Before the liberation of Bulgaria Vrana is a farm of Osman Pasha. In 1898 Knyaz Ferdinand I bought it for 600 gold levs. The Knyaz was an amateur ornithologist, and decided to call the farm after the first bird perched on the roof. The palace was alighted by a flock of crows and since then it has been known as Vrana (Crow). The first building in the new estate – two-storey villa, was built by architect Georgi Fingov in 1904. He decorated it with a modest southern facade of wood. Architect Nikola Lozanov was given the main building. He designed it like the boyar palaces in Veliko Tarnovo, with interior columns made of carrara marble. It was built in 1909-1914 and has a warm connection with the house. The main building has carved ceilings, oak paneling, built-in metal lamellae and ceramics from Delft. The best preserved is the Karelian hall (Republic of Karelia), a gift from the Russian Tsar Alexander III. Its table, the chairs and the splendid dressing table were made of Karelian birch by specially sent master carpenters. The ground floor has a movie hall and tea rooms. On the second floor are the apartments and the third is separated for the courts and the servants. The palace complex has 3203 square meters area. In 1946 the whole estate consisted of 18 buildings with 2556 decares, 1200 decares of which acres are enclosed in a park. It has 4 lakes, 4 greenhouses and 4 rock-gardens and own eco-farm. More than 400 species of plants could be seen in the park. It is declared a monument of culture.

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