Even if it is one of the oldest cities in Europe Sofia is one of the youngest European capitals as well. The town was elected as the administrative center of the Third Bulgarian State at the Constituent Assembly in Tarnovo on April 3rd, 1879, on the idea of Prof. Marin Drinov.
At this time the town is an oriental settlement with multiple mosques and population of 14,000. It is divided into neighborhoods of small houses with courtyards. The streets are narrow, some are dead. The town was build without special planning, there is no public utility.
The first events in the development and transformation of Sofia into a modern European capital began as early as the temporary Russian government. During a thunderstorm, Commander Mosolov ordered the minarets of many neighborhood mosques to be demolished. In 1880, the first regulatory plan was made by the Russian architect Kopitkin. He provides for the whole city to be regulated " American way" - with new streets and wide boulevards.
Inspired by freedom our ancestors continue the work. The elite of the nation is gathering in the new capital. At the time of Mayor Dimitar Petkov Sofia started to acquire a modern European appearance. In order to implement the urban plan, many private buildings are demolished and alienated. Today's central boulevards, squares and streets of the city are shaped. The main entrances of Sofia - the Eagle Bridge and the Lion Bridge - are also built. The old plumbing was replaced with new cast iron pipes. The city has street lights with gas lanterns, but very soon after that it was lit by electricity in 1900. The old horse-drawn tram was replaced by electric on January 1, 1901.
As the number of the population increases Sofia gradually expands its territory. There are many new buildings built European way by foreign and Bulgarian architects graduated abroad. More than 60 large state and public buildings, monuments and hundreds of houses were built. Some of them have become emblematic for the capital such as the National Assembly, the State Printing Works – turned into Foreign Art Museum nowadays, Sofia University, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Military Club, Central Market Hall, Central Mineral Bath, National Theater, Academy of Clergy, Synodal Palace, The Doctors’ and Russian monuments, as well as some buildings like the beautiful Panah Hotel and the Slavyanska Beseda Hotel, which no longer exist.
In the period from The Liberation to 1919 the city changed radically its appearance in less than four decades. The lifestyle of the citizens of the capital is changing in every way - their houses, the furniture, the clothes of their inhabitants, and their household habits are already different. Sofia is a modern European city.
Later than the "St. Alexander Nevski" temple monument was build as well as the “Tzar Liberator” monument, the Court of Justice, the National Bank and many others making up the architectural heritage of the capital city. Parks and gardens are formed, restaurants, pubs, cafeterias and pastry shops appear and Sofia becomes a favorite place for rest and relaxation for the capital citizens.
