"Grand Hotel Bulgaria“ Exhibition

The Bulgarian Development Bank organized a photo exhibition with archival footage of the construction process of the financial institution. The exhibition takes place at 1, Dyakon Ignatiy St. and is conducted on the occasion of the initiated construction of the new headquarters of the bank in the capital. The project fully preserves the authentic facade of the building from the late 19th century, which was declared a cultural monument of regional importance.

The building was built in 1880-1881 by the Czech engineer and architect Antonin Kolar (Adolf Vaclav Kolar). Initially it housed the Grand Hotel "Bulgaria", which was part of the complex of the Royal Palace. Designed in the so-called "Vienna style", the building was one of the main attractions of the city in its time.

Hotel "Bulgaria" accommodated all distinguished guests of the capital - politicians, musicians, actors, writers and public figures. Some of its famous visitors were the popular Russian bass vocalist Feodor Chaliapin, the world-famous soprano of the Milan opera Totti dal Monte, and the stars of German cinema Iva Vanya and Evelyn Holt.

The Irish journalist and correspondent of "The Times” James Boucher lived in the hotel for 30 years. Throughout this period, he had an outstanding contribution in the coverage of the Balkan wars and the First World War. Boucher died at the hotel in 1920 at the age of 70. Here is the place where the book of the American writer John Reed "Ten days that shook the world" was written and dedicated to the October Revolution of 1917.

Architect Antonin Kolar worked in Bulgaria for more than two decades (1878 - 1900). He was the first chief architect of Sofia who drew up the urban plan of the capital after the Liberation. Kolar uses the strict Renaissance forms with a variety of classical and baroque details and ornaments.

The Czech architect is the author of the project of the City Park and the monument of Vasil Levski. Some of his other projects are the building the Ministry of War, the Central Railway Station and the Military Academy. Kolar worked on the construction of the Military Club, subsequently completed by architect Nikola Lazarov and arcitect Friedrich Grünanger.
The new building of the bank is expected to be commissioned in the autumn of 2016.