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Area Information - Sofia

The History of the City of Sofia

Sofia has a history that goes back thousands of years. Through the centuries, many peoples have occupied it and added to its rich and diverse history. Many Neolithic villages have been discovered in the area, while a chalocolithic settlement has been recently exposed in the very center of modern Sofia.

The St. Sofia Church, a three-nave basilica
built in the late 5th century AD

The Thracian Serdi tribe settled here in the 7th century BC and gave the first recorded name of Sofia -- Serdica. The Byzantines called it Triaditsa and the Slavs - Sredets. The modern city of Sofia was named in the 14th century after the basilica St. Sofia. In Greek, word sofia means wisdom. In the 3rd century AD, the Romans built sturdy walls around Serdica, their capital of Inner Dacia and an essential stopping point on the Roman road from Naisus (present Nish, Yugoslavia) to Constantinople.

The ancient St. George rotunda behind the
Sheraton Hotel

Today there are numerous archaeological sites in Sofia, that display the city's diverse history - the castle gates and towers of Serdica, public buildings and streets thousands of years old. A large part of the ancient city of Serdica is underneath main modern buildings. The ancient city council (bulefteris) is hidden under the "Sheraton" hotel, while a number of basilicas are below the National Historical Museum. The Roman thermal baths are under the Sofia Mineral Baths and a Roman residence with intricate mosaics is below the "Rila" hotel. After the Hun invasion of 441, the town was rebuilt by the Byzantines. The Slavs gave Sredets a key role in the First Bulgarian Empire, then in 1018 the Byzantines retook Triaditsa. At the end of the 12th century, the Bulgarians returned and Sredets became a main trading center of the Second Bulgarian Empire. The Turks captured Sofia in 1382 and made it the center of the Rumelian beylerbeyship. The city declined during the feudal unrest of the 19th century, but with the establishment of the Third Bulgarian Empire in 1879, Sofia once again became the capital of Bulgaria.

The National Art Gallery

Rapidly the city's image changed from an Oriental, to a European. Today many streets, buildings, parks, and even whole neighbourhoods safeguard the architectural style from the turn of the century. Between 1879 and 1939, the population of Sofia grew from 20 000 to 300 000, while today 1 250 000 people live in Sofia.