The Red House

"What style is your house?"
"None." My. Naturally, I was influenced by Italy. I stayed there for so many years.
- What will happen to your huge studios someday?
- Others will work in them. I made a house not only for myself."
From an interview of Hristo Brazitzov with Andrei Nikolov for the Literary Voice newspaper, 1929

Andrei Nikolov (1878 - 1959) "transferred" the Italian spirit to his capital address - 15 Lyuben Karavelov Street. The Red House was built in 1929. not only for a family hearth, but also as a place for creative activity. After returning from Rome, where he lived and worked from 1914 to 1927, the sculptor Andrei Nikolov, fascinated by the Italian urban environment, decided to build his home in Sofia - a magical place to preserve the spirit of Italy, to create conditions for a happy life. of a large family and to meet the working needs of the artist. Since its construction, the house has become a center of intellectuals and young artists, with whom Andrei Nikolov exchanges ideas and shares his studio for work.

With his life and work Andrey Nikolov creates a bridge between the European sculptural tradition in the spirit of Rodin and the Bulgarian modern sculpture of the XX century. After the death of Andrey Nikolov, his heirs donated a home-studio to the Ministry of Culture for management and implementation of public and cultural activities. In 2004 The Red House Center for Culture and Debate was opened, which has established itself as the home of independent artists in Bulgaria and a place where the most important and current social, political and cultural issues are freely discussed. Today the building is a cultural monument of national importance.