Download Sofia City Tour - ISSE 2017 Official Website

City tour of Sofia
The earliest known inhabitants of the Sofia's plain are the Thracian people of Serdi. These Thracians, who according to Herodotus
lived near the springs of the Strimon River (nowadays Struma River, which has its springs in Vitosha Mountain), took part in the
famous campaign of the Persian king Xerxes in Ellada (Greece) during the 80s of the 5th century BC. One of the main settlements
of the Serdi was located at the northern slopes of Vitosha Mountain, around the warm mineral springs in the centre of present-day
Sofia. Many archeologists and historians believe that at this time or during the Hellenistic period (4th-1st centuries BC) on the
latest this settlement grew into a city, landscaped following the architectural standards of the ancient Greek polis.
After the Roman conquest in the present-day Bulgarian lands and the foundation of the Roman province of Thrace around 45 AD,
Serdica was already an important urban center. It was officially confirmed as such during the time of Emperor Marcus Ulpius Nerva
Traianus (98 – 117 AD), when it received the official city rights of Ulpia - a guarantee for relatively independent self-government.
In the second half of the 2nd century AD Ulpia Serdica was strongly fortified with monumental city walls for defence against the
impendent barbarian menace, coming from the lands north of the Danube River. The heyday of the ancient city came in the end
of the 3d century AD, when it was chosen for the administrative center of the Province of Dacia Mediterranea, organized after the
withdrawal of the Roman legions from the lands north of the River Danube. During the reign of Emperor Constantine I the Great
(306 -337 AD) Serdica was already as important administrative center of the empire, that the emperor himself often resided in
the city and governed from here the enormous Roman Empire, spreading from Mesopotamia (in present-day Iraq) to the Atlantic
Ocean and the British Islands. Constantine I the Great who was born in the nearby city of Naissus (the present day city of Nis in
Serbia) was heard often to say "Serdica - this is my Rome".
After the adoption of Christianity for a sole official religion in the vast empire, made under the government of the same emperor Constantine I the Great, Serdica was chosen for a host city of the the Oecumenical Council which was held in 343-344 AD. Here
came the high-level clergy from all provinces of the Roman Empire to discuss the unification of the rites of the new state religion.
The event was written in the historic books as the Council of Serdica.
The walking tour of Sofia includes: St. Nedelya and St. Petka churches, the
Banya-Bashi mosque, the Sheraton Hotel building, St. George's Rotunda, the
President's building, The building of the Council of Ministers, the
Archaeological Museum, the building of the BNB, the building of the Royal
Palace, the Alexander Batenberg Square, the City Garden, the Ivan Vazov
National Theater, the St. Sofia Church, the Russian Church, the Monument of
the Unknown Soldier, the Monument Temple St. Alexander Nevski and
Archeological Remains of Roman Serdica.