The exhibition in UniCredit Studio Gallery will be open from September 2nd to September 22nd and is realized in partnership with the creator of the website Stara Sofia (www.stara-sofia.com) – Victor Mihaylov

The gallery for modern art, UniCredit Studio, hosts Sofia Transformations, an exhibition with photographs of Bulgaria’s capital city from the end of XIX and the first half of XX century. The exhibition is realized in partnership with the creator of the website Stara Sofia (www.stara-sofia.com), Victor Mihaylov, and is under the auspices of the Mayor of Sofia, Yordanka Fandakova. With an elegant ceremony yesterday late in the evening she opened the exhibition together with the Chairman of the Management Board and Chief Executive Officer of UniCredit Bulbank, Levon Hampartzoumian.

“I hope that all citizens and visitors of Sofia will be able to feel the spirit of old Sofia as at the same time we attempt to make our city a better place for living” Yordanka Fandakova said to the guests at the opening ceremony. She received a present from Mr. Hampartzoumian – a copy of an advertisement supplement in the Times newspaper dated 1925. On the last page, one finds a photograph of the building of the Bulgarian National Bank, which back then was accommodated in the building where UniCredit Studio is currently housed.

Sofia Transformations presents a different face of the capital city that few of us remember. The pictures take the visitors on a journey through the old main streets: Rakovski Str., Targovska Str., Lege Str. Knyaz Dondukov Blvd. The pictures show buildings beyond time that have become the capital’s symbols. The exhibition displays the transformations through the years of symbolic sites such as the National Theatre, the Military Club, Sofia University, Lion’s Bridge, Sveta Nedelya Church, Ariana Lake, the Bulgarian National Bank etc.

The black and white photographs tell stories of fortune and misfortune, glamour and ruin. The exhibition takes the visitors 130 years back in time, a period during which the capital of Bulgaria changed a lot.

For many years, Victor Mihaylov has been collecting the photographs taken by a large number of photographers, publishers and explorers. The priceless images were captured for greeting cards, publications or were made by amateurs.

Visitors of UniCredit Studio will be able to see the unique photographs between September 2nd 2015 and September 22nd 2015.

UniCredit Studio Gallery

Sofia, 12 Knyaz Aleksander I Str.

Working hours:

10:00 a.m. - 18:30 p.m. Monday to Friday

10:00 a.m. - 17:00 p.m. Saturday

Free admission

UniCredit Bulbank FOR the culture

UniCredit Bulbank develops a targeted programme to support projects of value in the field of culture. UniCredit Studio was inaugurated in January 2012 and ever since it has given many young talents and interesting photographic exhibitions the opportunity to be seen.

Further information for clients:

UniCredit Bulbank, Call Centre

Phone number: 0700 1 84 84

More information for media:

UniCredit Bulbank, Identity & Communications Department

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

Magdalena Ivanova, Phone: + 359 2 9232 528, nbhebmfob/jwbopwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch