There are many buildings and streets downtown Bulgaria’s capital Sofia with interesting history. One of them is the shortest street in Sofia – Malko Tarnovo. Although it is only 60 meters long, the street connects two of the busiest arteries in the city – Alexander І square and Dondukov Avenue. The street bears the spirit of the romantic and at times dramatic past of the city from antiquity until present days. In other words, we seem to be taking a real journey through time when crossing this street. The author of the project for a new look of the street Filip Boyadzhiev accompanies us in this journey:

If we look back in time, nearly 4,500 BC, we will find a settlement of the stone and copper age on this place. In the 2^nd century AD during the period of Ulpia Serdika, there was a building on this place, but we do not know yet what type of building it was. One thing is for sure-such building existed, because it was mentioned in some ancient maps.

Sofia’s clock tower was on Malko Tarnovo Street before the liberation of Bulgaria from the Ottoman rule. It was painted in an aquarelle of the famous Austrian painter Joseph Oberbauer who worked at that time in Sofia. Today, the work of art is kept at the Sofia City Art Gallery. After the liberation, urban life flourished in the region around Malko Tarnovo Street. Braches of banks and insurance companies opened on Malko Tarnovo Street. Luna (Moon) pub, which was very popular at that time was also situated on this street. The gossips have it that Tsar BorisІІІ often visited this pub after a busy day. After the Monarchic period in Bulgaria, the State Security used this building for its headquarters. Today, it is home to the Archives State Agency.

Before being used by the State Security and the Sofia Department of the Bulgarian Ministry of Interior, the building, which was constructed in 1937, was home to an insurance company and a representation of the German company manufacturing medicines. After 1947, people were reluctant to talk about this building, because the citizens who disagreed with the new government, were detained there. The arrests in this building continued until the 1960s and during that period only one person managed to escape from the building. His name is Stafan Tabakov – former leader of the Social Democratic Party who was detained in 1948 as opposition activist. Today, his escape can be used as a plot of a movie. Mr. Tabakov managed to escape from the police directorate, because the investigator who was interrogating him was summoned by his chief and was left alone for a while. Tabakov left Bulgaria and went to Austria where he worked as gardener in the beginning. He worked in a radio station for 16 years. Later, Tabakov was employed by the Ministry of Interior of Austria and worked there until his retirement.

In the recent years, there have been many ideas for renovation of Malko Tarnovo Street, but the start of the project was given in the beginning of 2019. The company selected to renovate the street has been gathering plenty of information and organizing a series of discussions with citizens, as well as a special exhibition, which lasted between May 20 and June 5 and was dedicated to the history of the street.

This summer, thanks to the assistance of local residents, the information collected about Malko Tarnovo Street turned into a fascinating story about the legends the cobblestone street has been hiding. For a very long time, however, there was a lack of a unifying element around which the stories are linked. Time is actually this element, although it may sound simple. Thus, the name of the project “Malko Tarnovo – Street of Time” was born. The purpose of the project is to take us to a journey in the past with the help of various interactive elements such as videos or photos, which will be built into the walls of some of the buildings.

The citizens should be able to receive basic information about its history while crossing the street, Filip explains. However, if people want to go deeper and learn more details, legends and stories, they can do that with the help of the interactive methods.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov