Галерия Раковски 125 – лице на модернизиращия се художествен живот в България. Архитектурен облик, изграждане, реконструкции
125 Rakovski gallery – face of the modernising artistic life in Bulgaria. Architectural form, construction, reconstructions

Summary/Abstract: The article focuses on the gallery at 125 Rakovski Street - one of the first architectural environments designed for an art gallery in post-liberation Bulgaria, and the only one that has not changed its status to this day. The paper focuses on the history related to the idea of creation and its significance, the formation of the Exhibition Space Fund; the fundraising, the construction, the opening. Attention was paid to the first description of the technical works on the exhibition space, drawn up by architect Milko Bichev, stating that it was done according to a Western standard, showing that the architectural project was thought out in its entirety and in accordance with the purpose and functions of the spaces. Unpublished facts about the gallery and its architect are presented. Its importance as the first gallery to integrate a specially designed skylight structure in 1940 is examined. Based on newly discovered documents, the history of its reconstruction after the bombings of Sofia (1944) is traced, the difficulties in its reconstruction, the attempts of the UAB to restore it in every way, even to turn it into a modern cinema, as well as the efforts of the Union for the management and maintenance of the gallery area.

• Details
• Contents