And more street art from Sofia...painted outdoor electric boxes, part 3

 

Its November again...it starts to get grey, foggy and cold, so I am presenting today some colourful shots from the Sofia street-art scene. I have written 2 times before about the painted outdoor electric boxes here and there. Every time I am home depending on which streets I walk,  I  do discover new ones! So below you may enjoy my latest discoveries from the streets Rakovski, Graf Ignatiev, Patriarch Evtimii and the Sofia University!

The Sofia cathedral Alexander Nevski: colourful mosaics and blue hour

 

With risk to repeat myself I will be showing you some more pictures from the symbol of my home city, Sofia: the cathedral Alexander Nevski. While walking in the city on a sunny day one cant miss the golden domes...The inside is simply breathtaking, however no pictures are allowed. I did though discovered few beautiful details and colourful mosaics at the entrance, which I did photograph for you.

 
The last two pictures are my first attempt for blue-hour-photography. In the minutes after sunset the sky gets incredible blue tones and lots of photogpraphers simply die to take pictures with such a background. I was impressed to see how quick the blue colour changed (about a minute between the two pics below)!

Flowers in Dragalevski monastery, Vitosha mountain, Sofia/ Драгалевски манастир и цветя

 

Dragalevski monastery is still working as a female monastery located in the Vitosha mountain a short drive from the center of Sofia. There are documents mentioning the monastery back to 1371-1393! This holy place was already existing in the first Bulgarian kingdom.... Nowadays a nice walk during the green forest takes you to the complex consisting of a church (dating from the 15th century) and few adminstartive building+appartments for the nuns. At the end of May the nuns were busy with the garden, tons of beautiful flowers were on display! The garden of the complex is open for visitors who may enjoy the flowers, fresh mountain water and light a candle in the little church. I had fun taking pictures of the colourful blossoms and plants, my mum had a lesson in macro photography with her new camera too:-)

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Some more colourful street art from Sofia, Bulgaria

 

Some of you may remember that 2 years ago I have reported here from a very cheerful street-art-project in my home town Sofia. The boring grey electricity boxes in street Shishman were painted by artists. This timeat home I have realised that other streets were "decorated" too. So today I am presenting you with my selection of the original boxes in street Rakovska. As the National Opera is locate din this street as a lot of theaters you may see (or not) some links to some of the art work:-))

 

...and believe it or not...I have found elephants in the center of Sofia too...

Wet Sofia & night pictures of the cathedral Alexander Nevski

 

I wrote few weeks ago about the symbol of Sofia, the beautiful and special cathedral Alexander Nevski here...Somehow everytime I am home I do pass by. This time it was wet and later it got a bit dark, so you will see the cathedral in other lights...I had fun experimenting with different white balance of my small compact and got some stunning effects, especially the colours of the cloudy sky!

Sofia from above and the cathedral Alexander Nevski

 

If there is a building which is an unmistakable symbol of my home town Sofia then this is, without any doubt, the majestic cathedral Alexander Nevski. This architecture masterpiece was built in the period 1904-1912 and is the most colourful and glorious way of the Bulgarians saying "thank you" to the Russians. The cathedral was created in honour to the Russian soldiers who died during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, as a result of which Bulgaria was liberated from Ottoman rule.

 

But enough of history here... I would like to show you that this fantastic basilica cant be missed even when landing in Sofia. The first picture I have taken from my plane on the way to the Sofia airport. The building itself is decorated with a lot of gold (the 45m high dome and 53m high bell tower), marmor, onyx and plenty of mosaics of various saints. The temple has 12 bells with total weight of 23 tons, the heaviest weighing 12 tons and the lightest 10 kilogrammes. The colourful inside walls are almost completely covered with icons (unfortunately no photos are allowed). I have prepared a small selection of pictures I have made through the last 6-7 years. You can find pictures of the cathedral by night, in the snow or just bathing in the Sofia sun...

Lost in colours in the middle of Sofia: the paintings of Wladimir Dimitrov, the Master

 

Last weekend I was incredibly happy to visit the absolutely beautiful expo honouring 130 years of the birth of one of the most amazing Bulgarian painters, Vladimir Dimitrov, known also as the Master (Majstora)...Masterpieces from different corners of Bulgaria were gathered and put on display in the halls of the National Art Gallery...My favourite painter was born in 1882 and for some 78 years he had kept on capturing the beauty of the people living&working in the nature. Most of his works depict his friends and/ or neighbours during their daily life, on the field or by fruit picking. A lot of apples, pears and flowers are present in his happy-making and heart-warming masterpieces! I hope you get a bit of the feeling of this lovely event from my pictures!

 
For a lot of the paintings the sketches done by the painter, were available next to art piece, as the one below.

Another thing I would like to draw your attention to is the building where the National Art Gallery is located in Sofia (and also where this expo took place). The  Bulgaria's national gallery houses over 50,000 pieces of Bulgarian art. It is located on Battenberg Square, occupying most of the historic and imposing edifice of the former royal palace of Bulgaria.

About Sofia Central Mineral Baths/ Zentralni mineralni bani

Sofia (as well as my whole country Bulgaria) is blessed with tons of natural mineral water sources. In the area of Sofia there are around 50 of them. The water comes from very deep, which garantees that is ecologically clean. One differ 8 completely different mineral water sorts (depending on mineral ingredients). "Zentralni bani" ("Sofia Central Mineral Baths") are located down town and should not be missed. You can drink from the hot mineral water taps, or even better you bring an empty plastic bottle and fill it for later. You will see a lot of locals doing the same (in big bottles) as the mineral water has great healing effect too....

The building of the Sofia Central Mineral Baths (in yellow behind the fountain) has been refurbished for the last few years. Before this it was used as the city's public baths until 1986. Public baths have existed in Sofia at least as early as the 16th century. During his visit to Sofia in 1553–1555, Austrian traveller Hans Dernschwam noted the presence of one large bath and two smaller baths on either side of the city!

The building was designed in the Vienna Secession style, but contains also typically Bulgarian, Byzantine and Eastern Orthodox ornamental elements.

Next to Zentralni bani one may find several posters of old post cards from Sofia as a decoration hiding one building place:-)