site.btaRealignment of Sofia's Yellow Pavement Begins

The realignment of Sofia’s signature yellow paving blocks in the section near the National Assembly is starting on July 16, Sofia Municipality said on Sunday.

The road section that was closed in 2022 (from Vasil Levski Blvd to 15 Noemvri Str.) will be closed again.

Alternative traffic routes will be Vasil Levski Blvd, Patriarch Evtimiy Blvd, Dondukov Blvd, Slivnitsa Blvd and Oborishte Str.

The reconstruction will not cost Sofia Municipality anything, Deputy Mayor Angel Djorgov told journalists Saturday, adding that last year’s realignment has not been paid yet. The realignment of the yellow paving blocks costs some BGN 206,000 that have not been paid, and the second realignment will not be paid either, said Djorgov.

According to him, the realignment should be completed by September 15.

The yellow paving blocks have been in place for over a century. They were imported from what was then Austria-Hungary and were mostly laid in downtown Sofia over a period of two years in 1907-1908, to be completed finally in 1909. The yellow ceramic paving blocks are made of the limestone ‘margel’, known in Hungary under the name ‘marga’, located in a mine near Budapest. 

For instalment of the pavement, as well as for the repayment of the large-scale construction then under way, Mayor Martin Todorov concluded a second, after Dimitar Petkov, external loan in the amount of 35 000 000 gold leva with German banks. For this loan a law was issued, which obliged the state as a guarantor, and regulated specifically for what exactly the money would be spent by the municipality.

The yellow paving blocks are an informal monument of culture with multifaceted symbolism.