The city emerged as an ancient Thracian town on the site of a Neolithic village around thermal springs in the 8th century. The Roman conquerors called it Serdica or Town of the Serdi, the name of the Thracian tribe who originally settled here. In the Roman Age (1st-4th c.) Serdica flourished as a provincial centre. After the mid-6th century it became an important administrative and commercial centre of the Byzantine Empire, and was renamed Triaditsa.
In 809 the city was incorporated into the Bulgarian Empire and given the Slavic name of Sredets. After the liberation from Ottoman rule and the restoration of the Bulgarian State, Sofia was designated capital in 1879.
Among Sofia's preserved and accessible archaeological sites are the remnants of an ancient fortress, parts of which have been arranged as museum expositions. The oldest wholly preserved archaeological sites are St. George's Rotunda, the Church of St. Petka Samardjiyska and the Church of St. Sophia. A number of religious and cult buildings in the capital are true masterpieces of architecture and art. Best known among them is the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, one of the largest and most beautiful churches on the Balkan Peninsula. The Crypt of the Cathedral houses a collection of more than 1,500 Bulgarian icons from all periods and schools of icon-painting between the 9th and the 19th centuries.
The National Museum of History has a number of priceless exhibits, including gold and silver treasures (e.g. the Panagyurishte Gold Treasure), archaeological finds and ecclesiastical art.

Visitors will also enjoy the rich collections of the National Gallery for Foreign Art and the National Art Gallery, as well as the expositions at the city's many private art galleries.
It is virtually impossible to present a full picture of Sofia's cultural life. There are exciting concerts and art shows virtually every day. However, the hub of the capital's cultural activities is the National Palace of Culture, which has 14 state-of-the-art stages for various cultural events: concerts and theatre productions, expositions and film festivals.

Here are some of the major annual festivals in Sofia:

Sofia Music Weeks Festival
www.ndk.bg
24 May – 10 June
National Palace of Culture
Bulgaria Hall

Sofia Film Fest
www.ndk.bg
May
Lumiere Cinema, National Palace of Culture

2004 Salon of the Arts
www.ndk.bg
May – June
National Palace of Culture

Festival of New Bulgarian Music
June
Bulgaria Hall

2004 CineMania Festival
www.ndk.bg
November
National Palace of Culture

In the suburbs of Sofia lies one of Bulgaria's best known cultural heritage sites, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List: the Boyana Church, famed for its exceptional frescoes from the 13th century. The church was constructed in three stages, in the late 10th, 13th and mid-19th century. A two-storey annex adjoining the old church was built in the 13th century, and decorated by an anonymous painter known as the Boyana Master. The paintings are vibrant and realistic. The portraits of the donors, Sebastocrator Kaloyan and his wife Dessislava, are the oldest portraits done from life in the history of Bulgarian painting. The couple are represented in ceremonial dress, Kaloyan's face is delicate and noble, whereas Dessislava is considered as the most beautiful portrait of a woman from the Middle Ages. The Boyana frescoes from 1259 are an unquestionable contribution to European culture.

Photos by (in alphabetical order):
Dimitar Stoimenov, Grigor Margaritov, Jivko Arabov, prof.Nikolay Ovcharov, Orlin Kotov,
Rossen Dimitrov, Vesselin Valchev,
Vladimir Alekseev

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