City Garden

The City Garden is Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria's oldest and most central public garden, in existence since 1872. It is located between Tsar Osvoboditel Boulevard to the north, Knyaz Alexander Battenberg Street to the west and Joseph Vladimirovich Gourko Street to the south, in the historical centre of the city.

Originally arranged in the last years of the Ottoman rule of Bulgaria, it was radically transformed immediately after the Liberation of Bulgaria in 1878 and the choice of Sofia as the capital the following year under the city architect Antonín Kolář on the initiative of the temporary governor Pyotr Alabin. The alley network was reorganized, new plants were added, as well as a low wooden fence, a coffeehouse and a kiosk for musicians. The garden was initially named the Alexander II Garden in honour of Russian tsar Alexander II, who initiated the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, which led to the Liberation of Bulgaria.