Софийска градска художествена галерия – история, памет, бъдеще
The Sofia City Art Gallery – History, Memory, Future

Summary/Abstract: The appearance and development of museums in Sofia was due to the public-cultural and state-political interest characteristic of the first few decades following Bulgaria’s liberation. Museums and museum collections gradually multiplied, and by the 1930s the country had 83 such collections. The idea of creating a Sofia city museum that would preserve the local past, authentically reflect history and serve as a collective memory had been long considered. Founded as an independent museum, the gallery received its space in the building at 1 General Gurko St. in 1973. The gallery opened its doors in 1977 after the necessary architectural restructuring of the exhibition halls and storage vaults. The museum’s first exhibition was prepared. The 1977 exhibition included some of the most representative works of Bulgarian art from the 1920s until the 1980s. In the course of several years this exhibit alone was renewed and expanded. In the three decades since the opening of the first exhibition, the Sofia City Art Gallery has established itself as one of the capital’s important cultural spaces. In 2006 it opened a filial branch, the Vaska Emanuilova Gallery, which possesses a collection of 89 sculptures, 38 drawings and 48 watercolors by the famous Bulgarian sculptor, which are on display in a permanent exhibition. The Sofia City Art Gallery presents museum exhibits, curatorial projects, and visiting solo and group exhibitions by Bulgarian and foreign artists. Works from the gallery’s collections are displayed in thematic, genre- specific, stylistic and historical exhibitions. Visiting exhibits are an important part of the gallery’s policy and reflect its openness to international processes in art. It also organizes retrospective exhibits on prominent Bulgarian artists and also works actively with young artists and curators. The gallery partners with a series of Bulgarian and foreign institutions in its striving to develop the contemporary artistic scene.

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