site.bta71 Years Ago Today: Snow in Sofia

Seventy-one years ago today, Sofia woke up to a hefty snow cover. That is quite unusual:  according to a report by the Sofia City Hall, November in Sofia has two snowy says on average and snow cover usually starts to form only after the first week of December.

The pictures in this gallery were taken in Sofia's Prince Boris' Gardens (then Freedom Park). It is Sofia’s oldest park, conceived in 1882 when Swiss gardener Daniel Neff was brought to the city to establish a large nursery and design the first plan. He created the initial layout with acacias, flower beds, a small lake, and expanding alleys that soon grew into a 30-hectare park. By the late 1880s the garden broadened and its plant palette shifted from acacias to oaks, maples, birches, and conifers sourced from nearby forests and the Rila mountains. A major redesign followed under Josef Frei from 1906, who added the park’s signature alleys, the Bigor Fountain, and the Rosarium. From 1934, Georgi Dukhtev further expanded and beautified the garden, creating the Japanese Corner and modernizing plantings. By 1942 the park covered more than 90 hectares and included lakes, sports fields, and cultural facilities. Shaped through three main stages - Neff, Frei, and Dukhtev - it preserved a consistent baroque-inspired plan that led to its recognition in 1986 as a monument of Bulgarian landscape art.