{"id":205,"date":"2007-12-01T15:45:16","date_gmt":"2007-12-01T05:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/wordpress\/?p=205"},"modified":"2007-12-01T15:45:16","modified_gmt":"2007-12-01T05:45:16","slug":"tsars-palace-national-art-gallery-alexander-battenberg-square-sofia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/wordpress\/bulgaria\/things-to-see-in-sofia\/tsars-palace-national-art-gallery-alexander-battenberg-square-sofia","title":{"rendered":"Tsar&#039;s Palace &amp; National Art Gallery &#8211; Alexander Battenberg Square &#8211; Sofia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"float: right\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\"><!--\r\ngoogle_ad_client = \"pub-1009507070974015\";\r\ngoogle_alternate_ad_url = \"http:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/google_adsense_script.html\";\r\ngoogle_ad_width = 300;\r\ngoogle_ad_height = 250;\r\ngoogle_ad_format = \"300x250_as\";\r\ngoogle_ad_type = \"text_image\";\r\n\/\/2007-06-30: TSBlog 300x250\r\ngoogle_ad_channel = \"2928184950\";\r\ngoogle_color_border = \"FFFFFF\";\r\ngoogle_color_bg = \"FFFFFF\";\r\ngoogle_color_link = \"FF6600\";\r\ngoogle_color_text = \"000000\";\r\ngoogle_color_url = \"339933\";\r\n\/\/-->\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"\r\n  src=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\">\r\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p>To the north side of the Alexander Battenberg Square is an elegant building known as the former <a href=\"http:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/Destination\/v\/Bulgaria\/Sofia\/DSC_2741.jpg.html\" title=\"Tsar's Palace &amp; National Art Gallery, Sofia\">Tsar&#8217;s Palace<\/a>.\u00a0 It is nowadays <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" vspace=\"3\" align=\"right\" width=\"110\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.travelsignposts.com\/Destination\/d\/28136-2\/DSC_2741.jpg?resize=110%2C85\" hspace=\"3\" alt=\"Tsar's Palace &amp; National Art Gallery, Sofia\" height=\"85\" style=\"width: 110px; height: 85px\" title=\"Tsar's Palace &amp; National Art Gallery, Sofia\" \/>home to the National Art Gallery and the Ethnographic Museum.\u00a0 We arrived early in the morning and the art gallery was closed, but we were glad to huddle under the portico and be out of the morning chill as our tour director gave us a rundown on the building&#8217;s history.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" vspace=\"3\" align=\"left\" width=\"110\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.travelsignposts.com\/Destination\/d\/28118-2\/DSC_2737.jpg?resize=110%2C85\" hspace=\"3\" alt=\"Tsar's Palace &amp; National Gallery\" height=\"85\" style=\"width: 110px; height: 85px\" title=\"Tsar's Palace &amp; National Gallery\" \/>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/Destination\/v\/Bulgaria\/Sofia\/IMG_7931.jpg.html\" title=\"Tsar's Palace &amp; National Gallery, Sofia\">Tsar&#8217;s Palace <\/a>was built in 1873, and during the Ottoman occupation, it became the residence of the ruling governor, with administrative offices and police headquarters on the lower floors.\u00a0 It was here that Vassil Levski was tried and sentenced to death.\u00a0 Vassil Levski was leader of the national revolutionary movement against the Ottoman rule and a national hero to the Bulgarian people.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" vspace=\"3\" align=\"right\" width=\"85\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.travelsignposts.com\/Destination\/d\/28128-2\/IMG_7935.jpg?resize=85%2C110\" hspace=\"3\" alt=\"Tsar's Palace - Sofia\" height=\"110\" style=\"width: 85px; height: 110px\" title=\"Tsar's Palace - Sofia\" \/>After liberation, the Tsar&#8217;s Palace was the first building to be refurbished in contemporary Viennese style and it became the seat of Bulgaria&#8217;s first post-liberation monarch, Kniaz Alexander Battenberg.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/Destination\/v\/Bulgaria\/Sofia\/IMG_7935.jpg.html\" title=\"National Art Gallery - Sofia\">art gallery <\/a>has recently re-opened and it would have been great to see the exhibits in the renovated chambers of the former royal palace. The Ethnographic Museum in the eastern wing covers Bulgarian folklore and traditions, <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" vspace=\"3\" align=\"left\" width=\"85\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.travelsignposts.com\/Destination\/d\/37109-2\/AJP_2864.jpg?resize=85%2C110\" hspace=\"3\" alt=\"Art Gallery entrance, Sofia\" height=\"110\" style=\"width: 85px; height: 110px\" title=\"Art Gallery entrance, Sofia\" \/>including costumes from various regions.\u00a0 Although established in 1878, many valuable exhibits were lost during the bombing in 1944.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" vspace=\"3\" align=\"right\" width=\"110\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.travelsignposts.com\/Destination\/d\/37111-2\/DSC_0673.jpg?resize=110%2C85\" hspace=\"3\" alt=\"Art Gallery Gift Shop, Sofia\" height=\"85\" style=\"width: 110px; height: 85px\" title=\"Art Gallery Gift Shop, Sofia\" \/>The gift shop was opened and we had a quick 20 minutes to look at the typically traditional Bulgarian handicrafts. The little <a href=\"http:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/Destination\/v\/Bulgaria\/Sofia\/DSC_0673.jpg.html\" title=\"Art Gallery Gift Shop, Sofia\">shop was jammed with goods <\/a>and no photography was allowed, the explanation being that this was part of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/Destination\/v\/Bulgaria\/Sofia\/AJP_2864.jpg.html\" title=\"Art Gallery Entrance, Sofia\">Art Gallery<\/a>, a bit ludicrous we thought. Postcards, rosewater fragrance and soaps were popular quick purchases amongst the ladies.\u00a0 There was a thick woollen vest that I thought would look quite nice and ethnic and I asked for the price &#8212; only to be told that it&#8217;s an antique piece of costume that was part of the gallery display.\u00a0 It was a bit strange having it hanging amongst other clothing for sale.<\/p>\n<p>Helen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To the north side of the Alexander Battenberg Square is an elegant building known as the former Tsar&#8217;s Palace.\u00a0 It is nowadays home to the National Art Gallery and the Ethnographic Museum.\u00a0 We arrived early in the morning and the art gallery was closed, but we were glad to huddle under the portico and be [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-things-to-see-in-sofia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Tsar&#039;s Palace &amp; 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