“Ever growing, never aging” is the motto of Bulgaria’s capital city Sofia, and it is just as true of the Sofia City Library, an institution that is 90 years old. Its readers this year – and the year is not over yet – number 50,000. The firm tendency in recent years is for half of them to be young people, indicate data made public in connection with the library’s 90^th anniversary. 

24 October, 1928 is the date considered to be the birthdate of the Sofia City Library. By formal notice, Vladimir Vazov, then mayor of the city, set up a municipal museum with three departments: museum, library and archive. But of course, the new library did not appear out of thin air. Sofia was part of the awakening of the nation at the time of the national revival. The first chitalishte (culture community club) opened doors in the country in 1867, during the time of Ottoman domination. It was supported by the prominent entrepreneur and benefactor Ivan Denkoglu (nine years later he set up the first girls’ school in Sofia). The Cyril and Methodius National Library was set up a little before Bulgaria’s liberation, in 1878.

The history of the Sofia City Library is a long one, but it is also studded with interesting facts and dramatic turns. The municipality built a beautiful building for the library, in Bansky square, not far from Sofia’s mineral baths. But this first building was destroyed in the 30^th March, 1944 bombing, when a large part of Sofia was burnt to the ground by incendiary bombs.

“Out of 50,000 volumes, 40,000 were burnt, including Denkoglu’s own home library which he had donated to us,” says Yulia Tsinzova, Director of the Sofia City Library. “So, we had to start from scratch and build the library with the help of many benefactors. And we are very grateful to the people of Sofia through the years. As a matter of fact, we have around 350 paintings, 13,000 rare and valuable editions – and they have all been donated to the library.”

The anniversary was marked with a host of events, of which the BNR is media partner. One of them was the exhibition of documentary photographs “The library of Sofia – 90 years in/and the city”, which opened in the City Garden.

“The biggest public library – the library of the city of Sofia – is turning 90. It stores more than one million volumes, has more than 50,000 readers, has lent out 450,000 books, has been visited more than half a million times, has a rich history, and that is something we are showcasing in photographic exhibitions, in books, in a conference,” said Yulia Tsinzova at the opening of the exhibition. She added that the library has more than one million book volumes, 250,000 books in foreign languages. There is an American corner, a Korean corner, a large Scandinavian reading room, a Russian centre.

Again in connection with the library’s 90^th anniversary, the 11^th Sofia Autumn Salon of Poetry was organized at the Sofia City Library’s American corner, and a National Biennial of Illustration was organized.

One of the most interesting side-events is the exhibition “The fate of books”. “We are presenting books with a history that is interesting, and we think it will be interesting to readers,” says Ana Anastasova, head of the “Local history and literary heritage” section. Books have different fates, just like people. Valuable books will be put on display, donated by prominent figures or rescued from the fire in 1944, but also books forbidden under different political regimes and books that have been salvaged (discreetly preserved in the library’s collections without ever “officially” being catalogued). And many more…

The oldest book here is Mauro Orbini’s “The kingdom of the Slavs”, 1601. It is one of the sources used by monk Paisius of Hilenadar – the first historian of this age - for his “Slavonic-Bulgarian History”.

Alongside the valuable gems of Bulgarian and world cultural heritage which the library owns in classical paper book form, it has also been taking big strides on the road to new technologies.

“The library has the biggest digital centre out of all cultural institutions in Sofia, perhaps even the country,” says its director Yulia Tsinzova.

English version: Milena Daynova

Photos:Veneta Pavlova and Sofia City Library