Varna, the Sea capital of Bulgaria, one of the most famous summer resorts, is a destination for congress and business events. It is a city full of culture and many landmarks. Varna is one of the cities that you will never be able to explore in 1 week only. Yet, we have prepared a virtual tour for you and we will briefly take a look at most important places and landmarks that you should definitely include on your list.
Varna Cathedral
The 19th century Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin is an imposing landmark at the city center, which contains a finely carved iconostasis and bishop’s throne, some interesting murals and stained glass. The cathedral is one of Varna symbols. You can enjoy the splendid view from the bell tower but you have to climb up the narrow and spiral staircase of 133 steps.
It was Prince Alexander Battenberg who placed the first stone in the foundations of the construction starting on 22 August 1880. The design was made by Maas, an architect from Odessa. The building was completed in 1886 but its consecration was delayed until 1910.
Festival and Congress Center
Varna is a world famous venue for congresses, conferences, scientific and business forums. There are multifunctional halls and modern hotels is the city and the beach resorts north of Varna. They offer various services and facilities – modern equipment for simultaneous and consecutive translation, highly qualified specialists, catering cocktail parties, hotel accommodation and a package of tourist services.
The Festival and Congress Center offers one of the most modern facilities in Varna. The big hall seating 1000 is equipped with sophisticated projection, audio equipment and simultaneous interpretation system in
several languages. The Festival and Congress Centre also offers a smaller hall seating 250, a cafe-theatre, seating 100 and a modern press-centre. The restaurants and cafes in the complex create extra-comfort for its
guests.
Dolphinaruim
It is the only dolphinarium on the Balkan Peninsula and it is one of the greatest attractions that Varna can offer to its guests. The show lasts 40 minutes. The visitors will enjoy the incredible intelligence and playfulness of the sea mammals. A curious fact is that in 1992 a baby-dolphin was born in the Dolphinarium in Varna. The event was a sign that the animals feel at home in their surrounding.
Palace of Culture and Sports
The Palace of Culture and Sports is another venue for many business and scientific meetings and prestigious international sport events. Its Congress Hall can seat 3000 persons. There are 9 other halls seating from 50 to 800, air-conditioning, 10 cafes, a post office, a recreation centre, shopping area and a parking lot.
The unique architecture of the Palace and the great number of visitors of cultural and sport events make it desirable place for advertising and trade. Anually business forums of national importance are held here such as the fair of “Tourism and Leisure Time”, “Made in Bulgaria”, “The Three Keys – Home, Office, Villa”.
The Roman Baths
They date back to the time when the region was a part of the Roman Empire and the settlement was called Odessos. The preserved parts of the building give grounds to believe that the roman Baths were one of the largest buildings in the eastern part of the Empire and a proof for the wealth and importance of the town.
The height of the domed construction is supposed to have been no less than 20 m. The building was constructed in the second half of the 2ndcentury on an area of about 7000 square meters and was in use until the end of the 3rd century. Its thick walls were blocks with 5-6 layers of solid clay bricks.
The Archaeological museum
The Archaeological Museum in Varna is housed in the magnificent building, which is designed by the Bulgarian architect Petko Momchilov. Today it keeps over 55,000 exhibits. They date from the Paleolithic era (the Old Stone Age) to the late Middle ages. The first exhibits making up the two main departments – Art and Archeology were entered in the depository of the museum in 1888 when a group of teachers lead my Karel Shkorpil laid the beginning of the museum collection.
The visitors can see extremely valuable exhibit linked with the ancient Thracian culture, Slav and Proto-Bulgarian pottery, jewelry from the Middle Ages and others. The museum has a rich collection of tomb stones that any European museum would be proud to possess. The collection of icons include some masterpieces of icon painting from the National revival period in Northeastern Bulgaria the oldest of which date back to the 16th century.
National Maritime Museum
The history of Bulgarian maritime dates back to the year of 1883. Once the creation of the Bulgarian Marine by Russian naval officers was accomplished in 1879, there was made a collection of ancient marine exhibits. It was founded in Varna in 1923 by a group of enthusiasts and initially it was housed in the Naval School. In 1956 it was moved to Villa Diana in the Sea Garden. The museum displays a collection of marine guns, the old white house and the Sea Port of Varna and one of Bulgarian first minesweepers.
The collection is on show 12 halls. It traces the maritime history of the region of the ancient time to the present day. The most valuable exhibit is the Drazki torpedo boat which earned fame for its crew by sinking the Turkish cruiser Hamidie during the First Balkan War in 1912. thing is the only ship of its kind to be preserved till the present day.
Ethnographic museum
The Ethnographic museum was opened in 1974 in a restored house from the National Revival period, built around 1860. Due to the initiative of Maria Nikolova – ethnographer, Assen Stoychev – artist and Kamen Goranov – architect, the creation of the exposition was possible. The museum reflects the rich material and cultural heritage of the local population during the second half of the XIX and the beginning of the XX century – catering, crafts, clothes, jewellery, ritual bread, “survachki” (special colour-folded sticks, decorated with popcorns, candies, ribbons, used by children on the first day of the New Year to tap neighbours on the back, wishing them good health, happiness, success in the new year).
The national customs – Christmas, Kamili(Camels), Petlyovden (Cock’s day), Lazaruvane, wedding are presented in a rather interesting way.
A special corner is preserved for a luxurious city home from the end of the XIX and the beginning of the XX century – a vestibule, drawing room, bedroom, kitchen. The amazing tour ends with a story about the commercial life of old Varna and a panoramic view of the town.
Vladislav Varnenchik Park – Museum
This museum commemorates a historic event, dating back to the XV century. On November 10, 1444 a mixed Christian army, comprising of Hungarians, Polish, Czechs, papal knights, Bosnians, Croatians, Bulgarians, Romaninas and Routeni (Old Russians) fought a heavy battle near Varna against the Turks. Many lives were lost. More than half of the soldiers from the united army, together with the king of Hungary and Poland Vladislav III Yagelo (Varnenchik) perished.
In memory of the people, who sacrificed their lives in the name of freedom, on the place of the heroic battle there was built the park-museum Vladislav Varnenchik. The museum is a memorial complex.
Aladja Monastery
It is the most famous rock monastery along the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, 14 km away from Varna. The cells of the monks and the chapel were carved into the soft sandstone forming a group of caves. The predominating opinion of scholars is that the monastery was under the influence of a religious teaching that was in circulation in Byzantium and Bulgaria at that time. It taught about the energy of God – “isichasm” or “hesychasm”.
Visitors today can see in the high rock (40 metres) separate rooms of the monastery complex – the place of workshops, the chapel, a special church for requiescat (mass for the dead), tombs, the kitchen, the dining room, the cells of the monks and workrooms. They are all situated on two
natural terraces, one above the other. In the past the church was richly decorated with wall paintings. Probably that is why the monastery was called Aladzha meaning “motley, multicoloured” .In 17th – 18th century the monastery was abandoned by the monks.
Pobiti Kamani (“The Stone Forest”)
The natural attraction Pobiti Kamuni (The Stone Forest) is located in the western part of Varna lowland and it consists of cylindrical stone columns fixed in a small desert. The stone columns have porous surface and rise to an altitude of 5 – 6 m.
They are built of limy sandstones, containing many fossils – nummulites, mussels, snails. The majority have a smaller or bigger cavity, some are horizontally cracked. The cylindrical stone columns form several groups somewhere between the town Beloslav and the villages Strashimirovo, Slunchevo, Banovo and Povelyanovo with a total area of 50 km2.
The first impression is of a ruined temple but scientists have discovered that it is a geological formation of stalagmites some fifty million years old.
Source : Varna Bulgaria News & Information (varna-bulgaria.info)