The Royal Palace in Sofia

There was a town-hall before the Palace, where the Ottoman administration and the law-court were situated. In 1816 the building was burned to the ground. The construction of the Palace consisted of two basic stages. The first one started in 1882 during the reigning of Knyaz Battenberg. Then the West part of the Palace was built – a ground administrative floor with offices and a large ball-hall above it. The third floor was for the servants. The second stage of the construction was during the reign of Knyaz Ferdinand. Then royal apartments, service premises and an elevator were set up in the East part of the Palace. By order of the Knyaz, a special balcony, from which he can show himself to the people during the public holidays, was built. In the past the garden around the Palace was enclosed by a high iron fence. There was the first small zoo on the Balkans in the royal park. There a black vulture, several pheasants, two bears and a deer were bred. The Royal Palace was left standing the air-raids during the Second World War and was functioning till the end of the monarchy. Then, during the government of Georgi Dimitrov, the gates and the iron fence were taken apart, and the royal garden was destroyed. In 1946 the National Art Gallery and the Ethnographic Museum were established in the Palace. Today there are more than 3000 art works in the Gallery. The largest collection of medieval icon-paintings is there as well. https://maps.app.goo.gl/4iFuKCxXYgYV2yZP8