The Gallery for Contemporary Art UniCredit Studio is hosting the "Sofia Transformations" exhibition with photographs of Bulgaria’s capital city from the end of the XIX and the first half of the XX century.

The exhibition is realized in partnership with Sofia Municipality and the creator of the Old Sofia website (www.stara-sofia.com) Victor Mihaylov and is under the patronage of the Mayor of Sofia Yordanka Fandakova. She opened the exhibition together with the Chairman of the Management Board and Chief Executive Officer of UniCredit Bulbank Levon Hampartzoumian.

For many years Victor Mihaylov has been collecting the photographs taken by hundreds of photographers, publishers and explorers. The invaluable images were taken for greeting cards, publications or by non-professionals.

"In partnership with Sofia Municipality UniCredit supports the promoting of the exhibition "Sofia Transformations" because it shows us a face of Sofia that is unknown to us. Together we are putting effort to give our city a more modern and cozy look", said Levon Hampartzoumian to the guests and journalists.

"I would like to thank UniCredit Bulbank for supporting social projects in the field of culture. The "Sofia Transformations" exhibition is one such project. On the eve of Sofia Day the exhibition proves once again what an impressive and beautiful city Sofia is. What we see in the exhibition makes us feel responsible to preserve the face and spirit of the capital for the generations to come", said Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova at the opening.

The citizens and visitors of Sofia can see the unique photographs of Old Sofia from September 7th to September 21st 2016 in the City Garden (opposite the National Theater).

The captured moments in time will show them once again the beauty of some of Sofia's parks and gardens – Borisova Gradina, the City Garden, the Garden in front of Crystal. The scenes depict buildings that live beyond time and that have turned into symbols of the capital.

The black-and-white photographs tell the story of ups and downs, of magnificence and defeat. The exhibition takes the visitors 130 years back in time, a period during which the capital of Bulgaria underwent significant changes. Even after wars, natural disasters and fires the city has managed to come back to life.

"Sofia has been a city of transformations and changes since the very moment it was chosen for the capital of Bulgaria (1879). In the photographs collected by me, you can see also the faces of the people. It probably never crossed their minds that someday they would appear in a public exhibition, so my call is: Let's all smile more often because we never know if one day we won't be in an exhibition too", the creator of "Sofia Transformations" Victor Mihaylov advised the guests.

Address of the exhibition:

City Garden

Sofia, opposite the National Theatre

Free entrance

UniCredit Bulbank FOR Culture

UniCredit Bulbank follows a dedicated programme supporting valuable projects in the field of culture. UniCredit Studio was opened in January 2012 and since then it has given opportunity for expression to many young artists and has presented interesting photo exhibitions.

Vitoria Blajeva, Phone: + 359 2 9264 993, wjlj/ebwjepwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch

Mara Bareva, Phone: +359 2 9264 963, nbsb/cbsfwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch

Beatris Nikolova, Phone: +359 2 9232 528, cfbusjt/ojlpmpwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch