The National Assembly Building is used by the

Bulgarian parliament The National Assembly () is the unicameral parliament and legislative body of the Republic of Bulgaria. The first National Assembly was established in 1879 with the Tarnovo Constitution. During the communist period between 1946 and 1989, the ...

for parliamentary debates. The main building has been proclaimed a monument of culture for its historic significance. Situated in downtown

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

, it was designed in

Neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival architecture, Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival ar ...

style by

Konstantin Jovanović Konstantin Jovanović ( sr-cyr, Константин Јовановић; ; 13 January 1849 – 15 February 1923) was a Serbian and Bulgarian architect known for providing the original designs of the National Assembly of Bulgaria and National Asse ...

, a Serbian-Bulgarian architect who received his education in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

and

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and whose other works include the

Parliament of Serbia The National Assembly ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Народна скупштина, Narodna skupština, ), fully the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia (), is the unicameral legislature of Serbia. The assembly is composed of 250 deputies who are ...

building. It was constructed between 1884 and 1886 by Friederich Wilhelm Gustav Liebe, a young builder from

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

who was 22 years old when construction began. The building was originally painted in an off-white hue, but since the latter part of the 20th century has been white. The building is depicted on the reverse of the Bulgarian 20 leva banknote, issued in 1999 and 2007. BASA-45K-1-18-19-National-Assembly-Sofia-WW2

BASA-45K-1-18-19-National-Assembly-Sofia-WW2

Due to insufficient space in the main building at Parliament Square, some administrative offices of the National Assembly are now housed in the former headquarters (Партийния дом, ''Partiyniya dom'', "the Party House") of the

Bulgarian Communist Party The Bulgarian Communist Party ( Bulgarian: Българска комунистическа партия (БΚП), Romanised: ''Bŭlgarska komunisticheska partiya''; BKP) was the founding and ruling party of the People's Republic of Bulgaria f ...

, located at the Largo. There has been a proposal that the entire National Assembly be permanently moved to the former

headquarters building, with its inner courtyard being converted into an interior space for the plenary chamber, which happened in 2020. In September 2020, parliament moved to the former BCP Party House. After the

April 2021 Bulgarian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Bulgaria on 4 April 2021 at the end of the term of the National Assembly (Bulgaria), National Assembly 2017 Bulgarian parliamentary election, elected in 2017. Parties in the governing coalition led by Boyko B ...

, the National Assembly moved again to the old Parliament House because the new opposition led-majority (

ITN Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based media production and broadcast journalism company. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, New York City, New York, Paris, Sydney and Washin ...

Democratic Bulgaria Democratic Bulgaria (, ДБ, ''Demokratichna Balgariya, DB'') is a political alliance in Bulgaria. Founded on 12 April 2018 as an electoral alliance between three political parties – DaB, DSB and the Green Movement, it merged into PP-DB in 2 ...

, ISMV) viewed the Party House building as a symbol of Bulgaria's communist past. In August 2023, the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

announced that they will move again to the former Party house building for a period of 2–3 years by September, due to main repair of the national assembly building. The former Party House was modernized before the start of September.

References

{{coord, 42.6944, N, 23.3328, E, source:wikidata, display=title Government buildings completed in 1886 Buildings and structures in Sofia Government buildings in Bulgaria Legislative buildings in Europe