| With a population of 1.3 million, Sofia is the largest city in Bulgaria.
It is its undisputed political, economic, cultural, and academic center as well. While
there are many great places in the country, the capital boasts the pride of place as the
one that sets the tone for the rest.
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28 Centuries of History |
Sofia is one of the oldest cities in Europe. Although there are numerous sites of Neolithic villages, the first recorded name of the city was given to it by the Thracian tribe Serdi, who settled here in the 7th century B.C. The name, derived from the name of the tribe, was Serdica. In 29 A.D. the Romans conquered the region and made Serdica the capital of the province of Inner Dacia. They fortified the city, which became an important point along the route to Constantinople. During the Hun invasion, Attila razed the city completely, but it was later rebuilt by the Romans. In 809 A.D. Khan Krum annexed the city and renamed it Sredets, and it was under that name that it played its important role in the First Bulgarian Empire. However, in 1018 Byzantium re-took Triaditsa (the name by which they referred to Sredets) and remained its rulers until the 12th century, when Bulgaria overthrew the dominance of the Byzantine Empire. Sredets became an important trading center in the Second Bulgarian Empire. The city was renamed Sofia in the 14th century. The name comes from the basilica St. Sofia and means wisdom in Greek. In 1382, the Ottoman Turks captured Sofia and made it the center of Rumelia. The Turks ruled the city for nearly five centuries until 1878, when Bulgaria was liberated by Russia (reconstituted as an independent state in 1908.) Sofia became the capital of restored Bulgaria in 1879, at which time the city had only 20,000 inhabitants. Today, almost nothing remains of the Oriental heritage as most buildings were constructed at the turn of the century or after the Second World War (Sofia was heavily bombarded by American and British aviation). There are over 250 historic landmarks and architectural monuments that tell of the enduring history of this great city. |
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