In 1928 on the occasion of the celebrations of the half-century anniversary of the Liberation of Sofia and the 1000th anniversary of the Golden Age of Bulgarian Literature the then mayor of the city, General Vladimir Vazov, issued an order for the establishment of a special commission to indicate the ways and means of building Sofia museum. The new museum has three departments - a museum, a library and an archive, and its main purpose is to "collect, preserve and study those objects of the material culture of Sofia that have or will have significance for the history of Sofia." This is the beginning of the collection of material testimonies about the history, culture and art of Sofia - books, documents, photographs, maps, plans, archaeological finds, household items, sculptures, paintings, graphics. The establishment of a "pictorial gallery" is an important part of the museum's activities.

 

The museum inhabits various buildings from 1929 to 1941, when the specially constructed building for the Metropolitan City Library and Museum on 3 Banski Str. (Destroyed during the bombing) was opened. This is the first time that the Sofia picture gallery was exhibited. In 1942 the "Sofia in Books and Paintings" award was established by the Sofia Municipality to encourage writers and artists to create works in which "the visible and spiritual appearance of Sofia is reflected". A purposefully collected collection of works by Bulgarian artists, creating the history and the present of the capital. This thematic collection has over 350 works.

 

In the first few years after the Second World War, the museum underwent various stages of development and change. In 1948, part of his artistic fund was transferred to the newly created National Art Gallery to mark the beginning of her artistic collection. In April 1952 the Library and Archives were separated from the City Museum and in October of that year, Sofia Municipality's Museum of History and the City Gallery were announced as autonomous institutions by decision of Sofia Municipality. The Sofia City Art Gallery again has no exhibition space and exhibits its collection from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s in a hall on 11 Levski Str., And after 1964 when this hall was destroyed, the works of the funds are shown in different cities in the country.

The gallery takes its space in the building on "Gen. Gurko "№1 only 21 years later - in 1973. It opened in 1977. During that time the necessary architectural reconstruction for the exhibition halls and storage facilities was carried out. The museum's first exposition is also being prepared. The exhibition from 1977 includes some of the most representative works for the history of Bulgarian art from the 20s to the 80s of the 20th century. For several years, this exposure has only been updated and supplemented. The turning of the picture collection into a significant collection has taken a long way. In the mid-70s, it now numbers 2,607 works, divided into three funds - painting, graphics and sculpture. These works are at the moment the main pillar of the museum.

 

Over the years Sofia City Art Gallery has become an important cultural area of the capital. In 2006 he opened his own Vasca Emanouilova Gallery, which has a collection of 89 plastics, 38 drawings and 48 watercolors by the famous Bulgarian sculptor, some of which are shown in a permanent exhibition.

 

Today the museum has four departments: painting, sculpture, graphics, contemporary art and photography, and the collection has over 8 000 works of Bulgarian artists from the end of the 19th century to the present day. Part of her sculptural works are arranged outdoors in the City Garden.

http://www.sghg.bg/