bg Sofia

Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

- 15 November Street 1 -
The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) was founded in in 1869 as the . In 1911, after the , it was moved to Sofia and was renamed the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. The building was designed by the architect . It was expanded and rebuilt between 1926 and 1928 according to a project of the architects and .
An old postcard showing the building before the expansion
The building is designed in the styles of Eclectic and Neo-Baroque. The facade of the main entrance is crowned by a huge . Underneath the of the tympanum, you'll see strips of , which are a common feature for a tympanum. The middle of the tympanum features a richly decorated , which is flanked by a female and a male figure. The cartouche includes a book, which stands for knowledge.

The second floor is decorated with four pairs of and they are all crowned with a Corinthian . All of the second-floor windows have a and each balconet is decorated with seven to eight . Above the main entrance, an shows the inscription "БЪЛГАРСКА АКАДЕМИЯ НА НАУКИТЕ" (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences). The entrance consists of three double-winged doors, all flanked by four columns with Doric . The richly decorated barred windows above the doors are surrounded by decorative garlands.

One of the few differences between the two almost identical are the balconets and the domes. The balconet on the northern turret is identical to the ones on the rest of the building, while a cast-iron balustrade is attached around the southern turret. Also, four corbels decorated with three and can be seen underneath the cast iron balconet.
Photo of the building in 1930