National Gallery – Kvadrat 500
The National Gallery's main building, showing Bulgarian and international art across 28 halls.
Kvadrat 500 occupies the former State Printing House on the edge of St Alexander Nevsky Square, a neoclassical block designed by the Viennese architect Friedrich Schwanberg and built between 1881 and 1883. Damaged in the air raids of 1944, it was rebuilt and in the 1980s adapted by Nikola Nikolov to house the National Gallery for Foreign Art. A competition won by Yanko Apostolov in 2010 led to a reconstruction and extension carried out between 2012 and 2014.
The gallery opened to the public on 25 May 2015 and takes its name from the roughly 500 square metres of new atrium that link the old and new wings. About 1,700 works are shown in 28 halls on four levels, arranged so that Bulgarian art from the National Revival onwards is read alongside the foreign collections, which include European, Asian and African material. Temporary exhibitions occupy dedicated halls, and the gallery also manages the Square 500 courtyard for sculpture.
Highlights
- Around 1,700 works displayed in 28 halls on four levels
- Neoclassical printing house of 1881–83 by Friedrich Schwanberg
- Bulgarian collections shown alongside foreign art
- Atrium linking the historic block to the 2012–14 extension
