Batenberg plan – the first cadastral plan of the city of Sofia
On 2.VI.1881, the first cadastral plan of Sofia was approved by the City Council. Prince Batemberg legitimizes with a decree the combined into one plan – street-regulatory and cadastral plan of Sofia and it enters into force. The first regulation plan of Sofia in a scale of 1:1000 is known under the name “Batemberg Plan”. Steps are being taken to Europeanize the capital. The goal was to transform the city in a short time, to make good streets, good sewage drains, good water pipes, to repair the bathrooms, to build the necessary buildings for the city institutions (schools, hospitals). Sofia is expected to transform from a large village into a developed and modern European city. For this purpose, the radial-circular system of the city, laid down since the first regulatory plan of 1881, was adopted and further developed. On the left, a series of new cadastral and regulatory plans: from 1892. and since 1897 (of Wilhelm Bartel). The territory of the city has grown significantly, as new land has been regulated and parceled out in all directions, to the north between the Lion Bridge and the new railway station, to the west – “Yuch bunar”, to the east – between the church “St. Sofia” and Perlovska Reka, to the south – between the Infantry Barracks and Alexandrovska Hospital. The city grows mostly in the east and west, along the long axis of the Sofia field. A second circular belt is formed around the central urban core. By the beginning of the 20th century, the city already had a clearly defined regular structure, a maximally regular street and neighborhood network, in a single module and approximately a single scale, spread over the entire city. Entire street ensembles have already been built in European style, such as “Targovska”, “Patriarch Evtimii”, “Lege” streets. Gradually, public gardens and central public spaces were formed, and squares were furnished with monuments and framed by public buildings and greenery such as. At the beginning of the 20th century, Sofia already had the appearance of a European city. 24 factory establishments were established in the capital. In 1899 the population of the capital amounted to 61,000 people. In 1900, the first electric lamp was lit in Sofia, and in 1901, the first tram started running. 1907 marks the end of the first stage in the development of the city after Liberation.
In 1881, the first town planning plan of Sofia was approved. With this plan, called “Batenbergov”, the central part of the city was outlined – between today’s “Vasil Levski”, “Patriarch Evtimii”, “Hristo Botev” and “Slivnitsa” boulevards.
On the plan from 1907 the “remarkable buildings” are noted, including the new National Theater, Renaissance Cinema, Academy of Fine Arts, Agricultural Bank, Central Synagogue, the churches “St. Nikola Sofiyski”, “Sveti Sedmochiselnitsi” (the former “Black Mosque”), the Military Club, Theological Academy and others. In the same years, the Eagle and Lion Bridges were arranged, the Pipiniera and the City Garden were designed, and the large boulevards were reforested. Since 1888 until 1907, Sofia was supplied with Vitoska water – the Boyansky aqueduct was laid.
The second stage of Sofia’s growth coincides with the turbulent days surrounding the wars. During this period, new neighborhoods grew continuously, which necessitated new expansion and partial-regulatory plans. This is due to the urbanization of the country and the arrival of Bulgarian refugees from Thrace, Macedonia, the Western outskirts and Dobruja. In 1907 and in 1910 new plans of the city were drawn up, including the already newly built and designed areas until the wars, then, in the years from 1912 until 1934 followed a new series of partial regulation plans for the development of additional terrains. In the 1920s and 1930s, the center of Sofia was visibly renewed with the appearance of magnificent, representative buildings: Sofia University, University Library, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Public Buildings, Bulgarian Commercial Bank (Garibaldi Square), French -Bulgarian Bank, “Phoenix” Insurance Company, Teachers’ Fund, Student’s Cultural House, House of Lawyers, Macedonian Cultural House, Jewish Cultural House, Workers’ House, House of BIAD (Society of Bulgarian Engineers and Architects), New Hotel “Bulgaria”, Queen Joanna Hospital, Royal Cinema and others. In terms of style, these buildings, depending on the generations of the authors, continue the traditions of eclecticism or, on the contrary, represent completely modernist works.
Source: www.sofiahistorymuseum.bg