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Bulgaria
Centennial of Sofia as Capital of Bulgaria Commemorative
1979 Silver 20 Leva 37mm (21.70 grams) 0.500 silver (0.3482 oz. ASW)
Reference: KM# 106
СОФИЯ-СТО ГОДИНИ СТОΛИЦΑ ΗΑБЪΛΓΑΡИЯ (star)
1879-1979, head of the personification of Sophia as man with the “city walls” on
top of head, similar to the Greek goddess Tyche.
АРОДНА РЕПУБΛИКА ΗΑБЪΛΓΑΡИЯ 1979 20 ΛEBA around the coat of arms of Bulgaria.
You are bidding on the exact item pictured,
provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of
Authenticity.
Sofia is the
capital
and
largest city
of
Bulgaria
. Its history spans 2,400 years.
The city is located at the foot of
Vitosha
Mountain in the western part of the
country. It occupies a strategic position at the centre of the
Balkan Peninsula
.
Sofia is the
14th largest city
in the
European Union
with population of around 1.3
million people. It has been ranked by the
Globalization and World Cities Research Network
as a
Beta− city
. Many of the major
universities
, cultural
institutions
and commercial companies of
Bulgaria are concentrated in Sofia.
Names
Its ancient name Serdica derives from the local [Thracian] tribe of
the Serdi
who established the town in the 5th
century BC. It remained a relatively small settlement until 1879, when it was
declared the capital of Bulgaria.
The name Serdica or Sardica (in
Greek
Σερδική, Σαρδική) was popular in
Latin
,
Ancient Greek
and
Byzantine Greek
sources from Antiquity and
the Middle Ages
; it was related to the local
Celtic
[7]
tribe of the Serdi
. The name was last used in the 19th
century in a Bulgarian text, Service and hagiography of Saint George the New
of Sofia: ВЪ САРДАКІИ.
Another of Sofia’s names, Triaditsa (Τριάδιτζα or Τριαδίτσα), was
mentioned in Greek medieval sources. The Bulgarian name Sredets (СРѢДЄЦЪ),
which is related to среда sreda (middle), first appeared in the
11th-century Vision of Daniel and was widely used in the Middle Ages.
The current name Sofia was first used in the 14th-century Vitosha
Charter of Bulgarian tsar
Ivan Shishman
or in a
Ragusan
merchant’s notes of 1376; it refers to
the famous
Holy Sophia Church
(Αγία Σοφία), an ancient
church in the city named after the Christian concept of the
Holy Wisdom
. Although Sredets remained
in use until the late 18th century, Sofia gradually overcame the Slavic
name in popularity. During the Ottoman rule it was called Sofya by the Turkish
conquerors of Bulgaria.
The city’s name is pronounced by Bulgarians with a stress on the ‘o’, in
contrast with the tendency of foreigners to place the stress on ‘i’. The female
given name “Sofia” is pronounced by Bulgarians with a stress on the ‘i’.
Geography
Vitosha
Mountain seen from
National Palace of Culture
‘s Garden
Sofia’s development as a significant settlement owes much to its central
position in the Balkans
. It is situated in western Bulgaria, at
the northern foot of the
Vitosha
mountain, in the
Sofia Valley
that is surrounded by mountains on
all sides. The valley has an average altitude of 550 metres (1,800 ft). Three
mountain passes
lead to the city, which have
been key roads since antiquity, connecting the
Adriatic Sea
and
Central Europe
with the
Black
and
Aegean Seas
. A number of low rivers cross the
city, including the
Vladayska
and the
Perlovska
. The
Iskar River
in its upper course flows
near eastern
Sofia. The city is known for its
49
mineral
and
thermal
springs. Artificial and dam lakes were
built in the twentieth century.
It is 150 kilometres (93 mi) northwest of
Plovdiv
, Bulgaria’s second largest city, 385
kilometres (239 mi) west of
Burgas
[9]
and 450 kilometres (280 mi) west of
Varna
, Bulgaria’s major port-cities on the
Bulgarian Black Sea Coast
. Sofia is located 195
kilometres (121 mi) south of
Vidin
and 310 kilometres (190 mi) southwest of
Ruse
, the two biggest cities and ports on
Danube
river. The city is less than 200
kilometres (120 mi) from the borders with three countries: 55 kilometres (34 mi)
from Kalotina
on the
Serbian
border, 113 kilometres (70 mi) from
Gyueshevo
on the frontier with the
Republic of Macedonia
and 183 kilometres
(114 mi) from the Greek
border at
Kulata
.
Sofia has an area of 492 km2, while
Sofia City Province
has an area of 1344 km2.
Bulgaria,
officially the Republic of Bulgaria (Bulgarian:
Република България, IPA: [rɛˈpublikɐ
bɐɫˈɡarijɐ]), is a country in
southeastern Europe
. It is bordered by
Romania
to the north,
Serbia
and
Macedonia
to the west,
Greece
and
Turkey
to the south, and the
Black Sea
to the east. With a territory of
110,994 square kilometres (42,855 sq mi), Bulgaria is Europe’s
16th-largest country
.
Organised
prehistoric
cultures began developing on
Bulgarian lands during the
Neolithic
period. Its ancient history saw the
presence of the
Thracians
and later the
Greeks
and
Romans
. The emergence of a unified Bulgarian
state dates back to the establishment of the
First Bulgarian Empire
in 681 AD, which
dominated most of the
Balkans
and functioned as a cultural hub for
Slavs
during the
Middle Ages
. With the downfall of the
Second Bulgarian Empire
in 1396, its
territories came under
Ottoman
rule for nearly five centuries. The
Russo-Turkish War (1877–78)
led to the
formation of the Third Bulgarian State. The following years saw several
conflicts with its neighbours, which prompted Bulgaria to align with Germany in
both world wars. In 1946 it became a single-party
socialist state
as part of the Soviet-led
Eastern Bloc
. In
December 1989
the ruling
Communist Party
allowed
multi-party
elections, which subsequently led
to Bulgaria’s transition into a
democracy
and a market-based economy.
Bulgaria’s population of 7.4 million people is predominantly urbanised and
mainly concentrated in the administrative centres of its
28 provinces
. Most commercial and cultural
activities are centred on the capital and largest city,
Sofia
. The strongest sectors of the economy are
heavy industry, power engineering, and agriculture, all of which rely on local
natural resources.
The country’s current political structure dates to the adoption of a
democratic constitution in 1991. Bulgaria is a
unitary
parliamentary republic with a high
degree of political, administrative, and economic centralisation. It is a member
of the
European Union
,
NATO, and the
Council of Europe
; a founding state of the
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
(OSCE); and has taken a seat at the
UN Security Council
three times.
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