First on the list for my walk this morning was the building of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food. Build in the 1920's and designed by prominent Bulgarian architect Nikola Lazarov.
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It was build on the site of the former Christian and Jewish cemetery, which was moved to the Orlandovtzi cemetery before the construction began. In the beginning of the 20th century the building was playing host to the District Court and later tо the Court of Auditors. After 1944, the Ministry of Agriculture was moved there. It's one of my favourite buildings in Sofia, sadly it is mostly obscured by trees and you cannot see the whole building.
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An old booth that used to sell magazines and newspapers more than 20 years ago.
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Continuing on Alabin street you can see the contrast between this gorgeous building from the early 20th century and the dull apartment building next to it with an advertisement for a company that probably disappeared long ago, but nobody bothered to remove it.
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One of the lions in front of the Palace of Justice standing guard and looking towards the Saint Sunday church.
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The Palace of Justice itself, a very imposing building that you cannot miss in the center of Sofia. The first design that was chosen was again of architect Nikola Lazarov, but after the Balkan War, it was decided that the priorities for the nation have changed, and the current project was not to be realized. Instead they chose architect Pencho Koychev, who was later fired and retired.
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I met this nice lady on the other side of the street in front of the Palace of Justice. She was surrounded by more than 20 pigeons who were eating seeds of her lap. In a way she reminded me of the old lady in Central Park from Home Alone 2.
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The hands of a statue in front of the City Art Gallery, I thought that a forced perspective will be more interesting than just a picture of the statue itself. You can see that the color of the tip of her finger is different because of the many kids, and probably adults that have expressed the desire to hold on to it.
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I am not sure if this statue represents a historical figure or just the author's vision, but I think it's supposed to be somebody important since it's holding the globus-cruciger (symbolises Christ's (the cross) dominion over the world (the orb), literally held in the dominion of an earthly ruler). Most emperors, tzars and kings had one.
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This one I remember from my childhood, growing up near the City Garden where those statues are. My grandma used to tell me that those statues represent peasants in the early 20th century and their reaction when they first saw an airplane.
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Next time I will visit the small backstreets of Sofia in search of forgotten architectural treasures...
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