In Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, there are many parks. Huge parks, "spread" over an extensive area that certainly takes a long time to cross. Recreation areas for the inhabitants and tourists of the city, with many colorful flowers to decorate the flower beds,sections with benches for resting, enjoying the sun and/or meeting friends, chess tables for the fans of the genre to play, but also many statues to decorate the space with their aesthetics. Art is all around, everywhere.
This was the one that I adired the most, as it symbolizes -IMO- the effect of other people in our way of thinking and perhaps our life. It felt like it spoke to my soul.
Of course, statues are not just in the parks. If you walk around the city of Sofia (a lot), you will find that in several parts of the city there are statues to beautify it and honour the great people of this country.
This post is about the ones that impressed me the most.
The lion, symbol of Bulgaria. This is one of the four lions, that are set at Lions' Bridge
Lions' statues are almost everywhere. This particular is outside the Courthouse
In Bulgaria, there is a lot of respect for their artists. You can see epigraphs on the walls where the artist used to live, or even statues of famous writers, like this one that I really liked (and took a photo with this one, a carefree traveller like me). If you watch carefully, you will notice that there is a suitcase near the statue's feet. And if you really look closely, you will see a small bunch of flowers left on the book that the statue holds with his left hand. Maybe simeone left it there, to honour the writer.
Aleko Konstantinof, one of Bulgaria great writers
This is perhaps the most photographed staues in all Sofia. Two men are sitting on a bench, the famous Slaveykov writers, while half of the bench is free for anyone to sit and take a photograph with these two. (Or perhaps have a chat with them, who knows...)
The statues of Petko and Pencho Slaveykov, father and son, two famous Bulgarian writers.
For this photo, I must admit that was taken for the flowers in front of the statue complex. The statues of two Christian missionary brothers, Cyrillus and Methodius, the inventors of Slav alphabet are set in front of Sofia's university's library, that is named after these two.
I really loved that every park in Sofia, apart from the statues had many, many, many beautiful, colorful flowers.
The monument of the Deity All Holy Sofia, a landmark now, of the city, has very short history. It is placed on the site, where Lenin's statue was (that was about 8 m. high, now as I was informed has been inside the Socialist Art Museum). The St. Sophia statue has an owl on her shoulder and is colored black and gold, I cannot say for sure if I liked it or not. Anyway, it is very high and I couldn't see any of the details clearly. It is said that even among the Bulgarians, there is still controversy about that statue.
Not an excellent picture, but it was the best from all the ones that I took
I am not really sure if the symbolish of the specific place that this bull statue is placed, but the statue itself is magnificent. Almost a real-life size, bull is in front of Sofia's stock exchange offices, perhaps a raging bull that sweeps away everything in its path, just like the economy does.
During our visit to Sofia, we moved around with the underground train (metro). Almost every station was decorated by many embossed sculptures, that adorned our descent with the escalators to the subway docks, impressive not only in size but also in detail.
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See the details around the wheels...
Finally, This embossed sculpture woth the magnificent Bulgarian technique that you may encounter all over Bulgaria. In our last trip to Veliko Tarnovo, there were on the sides of many central building, decorating them, instead of seeing a simple gray side of a building.
This, although with a lot of damage, caught my attention due to the huge shape of the girl and the patterns that are around her: apples, the sun, the other girls - her companions. A sculpture dedicated to the gifts of nature that we collect generously.
Art is not the distant thing that is only exhibited in museums. Art can be everywhere, on the streets, on the sides of apartment buildings, in parks.
Sofia filled our eyes with art (and statues). And honestly, I can't wait for the next chance to go there again ... Every time we discover something new.
Thank you for reading!
All photos were taken by me with the help of my faithful (but old) mobile phone!