Slaveykov Square ( bg, Площад Славейков) is one of the most popular squares in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

, the capital of

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

. It is named after Bulgarian writers Petko and

Pencho Slaveykov Pencho Petkov Slaveykov ( bg, Пенчо Петков Славейков) (27 April 1866 O.S. – 10 June 1912 ( O.S. 28 May 1912)) was a noted Bulgarian poet and one of the participants in the Misal ("Thought") circle. He was the youngest son o ...

, father and son. A sculpture of the two sitting on a bench is one of its main landmarks. A square called ''Kafene Başi'' is first mentioned to have existed at the modern place in 1515. A coffeehouse, a mosque, and two Turkish police stations were situated there. In the 17th century, the square was an important crossroad stretching from modern Sveta Nedelya Square to

Vitosha Boulevard Vitosha Boulevard ( bg, булевард „Витоша“, often called just , Vitoshka) is the main commercial street in the centre of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, which is abundant in posh stores, restaurants and bars. It extends from the ...

and featured a fountain. After the liberation of Bulgaria, the square was extended, and many one- and two-story houses with gardens were erected on the site, one of which belonged to Petko Slaveykov, whose name the square later took. During the 1920s and 1930s, Slaveykov Square formed its modern appearance, with five- to seven-storey buildings featuring a shop on the ground floor. The first significant constructions appeared in this period — the Teachers' Fund (1924). the Ministry of Public Works (1928), and the French Institute (1934). After 1944, the automobile traffic around the square was gradually limited, and it turned into a pedestrian area. In the years following 1990, the square became a preferred place for booksellers, and many bookshops emerged on it. This is probably because the Sofia City Library is at the square.

References

* {{cite web, url=http://www.libsofia.bg/slaveikov.html , title=Площад "Славейков" вчера и днес , language=Bulgarian , access-date=2007-02-18 , publisher=Столична библиотека , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041012211544/http://www.libsofia.bg/slaveikov.html , archive-date=October 12, 2004 Squares in Sofia Bookstore neighborhoods