Borisova Gradina

The expansive park is the city’s biggest and oldest. On its grounds are two lovely lakes and the city’s biggest beach. A Japanese garden, created in 1940, may be located on the edge of one of the lakes. The park also houses the Sofia University’s Astronomical Observatory.

Tennis courts and a swimming pool are available for sports enthusiasts. The park has two national stadiums: the Vasil Levski National Stadium and the Bulgarian Army Stadium.

Among the various monuments, the memorial to the remembrance of Bulgarian anti-fascists deserves special note. It is shaped like a towering obelisk and contains the ashes of 17 Bulgarian Communist Party and Workers’ Youth Union militants who died fighting the tyranny. There are also other monuments portraying notable Bulgarians throughout the lanes.

Ariana, an artificial lake, is located at the very beginning of the park, near to Orlov most (Eagles’ Bridge). During the summer, you may hire a boat and enjoy the refreshing water. During the winter, the lake transforms into the largest ice rink on the Balkan Peninsula. Vasil Levski National Stadium and Bulgarian Army Stadium are the two largest football stadiums in Borisova Gradina. Both stadiums host major concerts in addition to sporting events.

Lily Lake, not far from Ariana Lake, is a great site for anybody who wishes to relax on a bench in a peaceful area and read or talk with a friend. The area of Borisova Garden closest to the center is a little livelier, with a few places to eat or drink and a lot of open grass space. However, beyond Yavorov Boulevard, the Garden starts to resemble a deeper forest with much fewer people and many more trees. It could even make you forget you’re in the middle of Bulgaria’s largest metropolis.

History of Borisova Gradina

Because of the large green space it occupies in the center of the city, it is known as “the lungs of Sofia.” It is a nationally significant garden and park art monument. Borisova Garden has gained the title of the most beautiful and favored Sofia park throughout the years, being a popular destination for walks and recreation for numerous generations of rulers. Her lanes are filled with memories of a number of artists who found inspiration here, of secret meetings and loves, of carefree children’s radiance and bright football enthusiasm. There isn’t a Sofia resident who doesn’t have a personal connection to the Borisova Garden, although few are aware of the nuances of its past.

Borisov’s year is already more than a century old. It first appeared in 1882. Until then, the area is a cattle-grazing urban meera. Because of its closeness to a historic Turkish tabia, the region was dubbed “Tabiya” (fortification). Following the liberation of this area, the soldiers of the Sofia Garrison practiced. In 1879, a large portion of the park’s land was converted into Russian cemeteries. This sparked civic unrest, and it was closed down shortly after, on municipal orders, in 1882.

At the time, Sofia’s then-mayor, Ivan Hadzhienov, advocated establishing a nursery in this location from which trees, shrubs, and flowers might be supplied – both for the requirements of this garden and for future public gardens. In March 1882, during a conference. The mayor’s proposal is approved by the City Municipal Council. Hadzhienov discovered the ideal individual to carry out his plan after months of diligent study – the gardener of the Romanian royal court, the Swiss Daniel Eff. He devised the first garden layout, established a nursery near the river’s mouth, and constructed a dwelling.

Initially, 10,000 seedlings of various kinds were planted. When the planting material was ready for use in 1884, Neff planted his favorite acacias in the bottom left corner of the planned garden, organized flower beds, and installed the entry (gate) from Tsarigradsko shose. In two years, the nursery’s size grew by 14 thousand square feet. A lake with fish and ducks was also built during the time.

Florists were located next to the gardener’s home and were used for both the garden and the selling of flowers to the general public. The butterfly is currently a 300-acre shaped garden with four major pathways. Aside from the Tsarigradsko Shoss, the garden stretches southwest to the location of the ancient Levski course, where the forest above it is planted, a buffet is erected, and the Great Lake is made (1889).

In 1888, on the request of Prince Ferdinand, the majority of the akatium trees in the capital’s gardens and street plantings were replaced with forest oak, sycamore, ash, birch, and other trees. The first dozen oaks were brought from the woodland to Lozenets. The first was planted near the gardener’s residence. Over the following three to four years, deciduous tree species imported from the Pasarel and Kokalyan Forests were mass-planted. Significant numbers of coniferous tree species – black pine and spruce – had also been imported from Rila Mountain by the 1890s. Exotic species such as sequoia, cedar, ginkgo biloba, and others have also been planted.

The building of Sofia University’s Astronomical Observatory started in 1892 and was finished in 1894.

On January 9, 1895, Pepiniera gained his formal name – “Knyaz Borisova Garden” – in honor of Crown Prince Boris, who became one year old. The nursery already generates substantial cash for the town via the sale of saplings and flowers around the turn of the century.

In the year 1899. The big lake next to the entryway, dubbed “Ariana,” has been extended and rebuilt. For years, Sofia residents have used it for boat rides in the summer and as a slide in the winter. It has an islet with a casino on it.

The flower garden is also growing, and additional alleyways for walkers, riders, and bicycles are being created. Another, smaller lake named Ribno (later The Lily Lake) was formed on the place of a previous marsh. The fish pond is filled with red fish and water lilies. Borisova Garden is over 500 decares in size as of 1900.

Alsace Joseph Fry, a dedicated flower enthusiast, was named head municipal gardener in 1906. He recreated the garden according to his own design, based on The Naf’s ideas. He found the large center and two side alleyways – from the Children’s Playground to Fish Lake – and planted the two major alleys at the foot of the garden – the lime and chestnut – in 1910-1912. The Rosarium was founded on his concept, and they began organizing yearly flower shows.

Since 1920, renowned Bulgarians’ busts have been put in the park. The first is by Ivan Vazov on the occasion of his 70th birthday. The number of bust-monuments gradually increased, and some of Bulgaria’s most prominent patriots, such as Vasil Levski, Hristo Botev, Georgi Rakovski, Marin Drinov, and others, were featured. More.

An open-air school was created, which also served as a residential school for orphaned Russian expatriate children. The sculptural embellishment of the fish lake, which has evolved through time, is created. Some of the iconic taps are being created – a bear tap near the lake, and the People’s Tap in the center of the garden, subsequently bordered with bigor and dubbed Bigor’s Tap.

Scout Court (on the location of today’s summer estrada), Armenian playground (on the site of the lake with ducks), and tennis courts were gradually created in the park. Back in 1903, it was permitted to create a playground for the gymnastic society “Yunak,” the hunting club “Falcon,” and the cycling and tourism business – a total of 77 decares – in the northwestern portion of the park, on the site of the Russian cemetery. In 1922, the Bulgarian National Sports Union and the First Bulgarian Cycling Society are given a plot of land in the desert region for the building of a colloquium of the Bulgarian National Sports Union and the Bulgarian Cycling Society. The location is free of charge for the next 15 years. The Sofia Cycling Company’s management was ambitious in its plans to create a track for the Balkaniada in 1931. The capital develops a colloquial, which exists not just on the Balkan peninsula, but also in many of Europe’s more sophisticated nations. A short time later, a field was assigned adjacent for a football club “A.S.23” sports field (59 decares). The municipality gives a location in the western section of the Borisova Garden and the Levski Sports Club in 1924, where the namesake national stadium now stands. It was constructed entirely by volunteers and finished in 1926.

The Collodraum debuted in 1928, followed by the United Stadium two years later. So it was in 1933. The park’s sporting facilities cover an area of 177 decares.

Along with frogs and turtles, a stone lily was created in the center of the fish pond about 1930, from which water jets poured. A dozen years later, a new sculptural adornment for the lake was created. According to Vasil Zidarov’s cultural proposal, a figure of bathing children is put in the middle, surrounded by the famed turtles and frogs. The bear tap is also created near the pond.

During his lengthy work as a municipal gardener, Joseph Fry transformed the then-garden “Knyaz Boris Turnovski” into a spectacular park that matched the royal grounds in Euksinograd and Vranje in beauty and spaciousness.

Following Fry, the gardeners Georgi Nikolov (1933) and Georgi Dutev, appointed manager of “Gardens and Parks” in 1934, claimed responsibility for the park’s establishment. Forest trails, rocks, benches, semi-gazebos, and forest trees were pushed through Georgi Nikolov’s plans during his brief tenure, in addition to the continuous maintenance work of the garden. Thanks to Georgi Dutev and the then-mayor of the city, Eng. Ivan Ivanov, the capital’s park work is on the rise. The ancient rosarium is being expanded, a children’s playground has been established on the location of the buffet, and the balusory at Fish Lake has been constructed.

Under the design of architect Boris Dalchev, the Knyaginya Maria Luisa bath house was built in 1937 and inaugurated in 1939.

The creation of the “Japanese Corner” in the area above the Fish Lake to the Tsarigradsko Shose was a significant point in the establishment of the newly developed lands in the garden. This occurred in 1940, and the plants for the nook, predominantly vini, were delivered from Japan via The Japanese Minister Of Power Hachia as a gesture of the Japanese people’s warm emotions for the Bulgarian people.

Borisova Garden was developed in the second part of the twentieth century with children’s playgrounds, summer estradis and theater, reading room, tennis courts, monuments, and an equestrian foundation.

After September 9, 1944, a new era in the garden’s growth starts. The name of the park has been changed to “Freedom Park.” The rockery’s construction starts in 1952.

The “Brother’s Mound” — a memorial to deceased anti-fascists constructed like a huge architectural sculptural composition, above which rises a 41-meter obelisk – was dedicated on June 2, 1956.

The first TV tower in Sofia and Bulgaria, 120 meters high, was erected in 1959 in the forest park section. The pool’s name has been changed to “Republic.”

From 1963 to 1973, 30 decares were spent on the renovation of Boulevard “Lenin” (“Tsarigradsko Shose”) and the twofold enlargement of Vasil Levski Stadium from the park.

In the year 1972. Lake Ariana has been rebuilt, but the historic brasserie on the islet, which has long attracted the capital’s bohemians, has been demolished.

Since 1984, the park’s total land area has been 4120 decares, with a representative portion of 326 decares. Its most recent significant refurbishment was in 1986, planned by a group led by Eng. Georgi Radoslavov.

In early 1992, the former name was reinstated – Knyaz Borisova Garden, or simply Borisova Garden, as it is now known.