The Royal Garden
Location / GPS: 42.69624711055225, 23.32802650912461
Objects nearby: The Clock House and the House of Moscow
Public object / Private object: Public object
The Royal GardenIts creation began in the period 1880 - 1882 due to the special weakness of King Ferdinand I to botany and exotic vegetation. During this period a decision was made to convert the old konak into a prince's palace. It is a private garden to the palace building, with an exquisite openwork fence and guarded entrances from east and west.
At the southern end of the garden is the Sofia Zoo, which existed there until the 80s of the 20th century and is the basis for the subsequent creation of the Zoo. The animals at the creation of the zoo were donated personally by King Ferdinand I. In 1946 the fence was removed and on part of the garden formed the current Square "Prince Alexander I". It has received exceptional care and has a huge variety of botanical species from around the world. Upon his arrival in 1887, Prince Ferdinand I invited from Plovdiv the city gardener, the Swiss L. Chevalas, to renovate the alley network, to build glazed pavilions for flower beds and to enrich the vegetation in the Botanical Garden. The gardener J. Kellerer was also summoned from Austria to form a large rock garden with several thousand rare species.
Interesting: In 1936, with the funds of Tsar Boris III, the architects Lyuben Neykov and Totyu Goranov built a "royal kindergarten" with a maze, swimming pool, summer and children's theater for 600 children, a small medical center with a rock garden and a flower corner with flowers from Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Pirin, Rila and the Rhodopes. A monument to the Soviet Army was erected in the garden in 1954 and it has been known since then as the "Garden of the (Monument to) the Soviet Army". To this day, only some interesting tree species have survived, and as a reminder of its glorious significance for the city in 2011 we decided to use the historical name of the garden - Knyazheska.
Sources:
Encyclopedia Sofia, BAS, Trud Publishing House
Source 1
At the southern end of the garden is the Sofia Zoo, which existed there until the 80s of the 20th century and is the basis for the subsequent creation of the Zoo. The animals at the creation of the zoo were donated personally by King Ferdinand I. In 1946 the fence was removed and on part of the garden formed the current Square "Prince Alexander I". It has received exceptional care and has a huge variety of botanical species from around the world. Upon his arrival in 1887, Prince Ferdinand I invited from Plovdiv the city gardener, the Swiss L. Chevalas, to renovate the alley network, to build glazed pavilions for flower beds and to enrich the vegetation in the Botanical Garden. The gardener J. Kellerer was also summoned from Austria to form a large rock garden with several thousand rare species.
Interesting: In 1936, with the funds of Tsar Boris III, the architects Lyuben Neykov and Totyu Goranov built a "royal kindergarten" with a maze, swimming pool, summer and children's theater for 600 children, a small medical center with a rock garden and a flower corner with flowers from Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Pirin, Rila and the Rhodopes. A monument to the Soviet Army was erected in the garden in 1954 and it has been known since then as the "Garden of the (Monument to) the Soviet Army". To this day, only some interesting tree species have survived, and as a reminder of its glorious significance for the city in 2011 we decided to use the historical name of the garden - Knyazheska.
Sources:
Encyclopedia Sofia, BAS, Trud Publishing House
Source 1
