Bulgaria Hall is the largest concert hall in the 1937-built Bulgaria Concert Complex.
The structure is considered exemplary of Bulgaria’s incipient modernism of the interwar period. Originally, the concert hall had 1470 seats arranged in three levels: ground floor, dress and upper circle. To achieve the exceptional quality of the acoustics, it was furnished with a special kind of paneling, in line with the requirements of the Hertz Institute for Acoustic Research in Berlin.
The hall sustained devastating damages in the May 1944 bombing raids, with the organ and the two Steinway concert grand pianos destroyed beyond recovery.
In 1949, the Bulgaria Concert Complex was partially restored and became the home of the orchestra which had performed at its inauguration twelve years earlier and which is currently known as the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra. The next 25 years saw the hall’s rise in popularity with art communities and in 1974 the chamber venue was rebuilt. In the same year, the Schuke company of Germany installed a new concert organ in the Great Hall equipped with 3 manuals and 55 registers, which is the largest instrument of its kind to have ever been installed in this country.
In 1978, the Bulgaria Architectural Complex was named a cultural landmark of national significance.
The concert complex and the pertaining facilities have become a kind of central venue for Bulgaria’s classical music, hosting performances of the country’s leading musicians, as well as some of the greatest performers of the twentieth century worldwide.
All halls are equipped with Steinway concert grands, and the complex also possesses additional Boesendorfer and Bluethner instruments.
Bulgaria Hall, with its 1050 seats, is currently a central location for stage appearances of local and foreign artists and music ensembles – concerts, competitions, sound recordings, reviews, festivals, lectures and more.