Hristo Ganchev, Grigor Doytchinov
also of public and political relevance and an important
cultural implication in the dynamic developing
Bulgarian society. The urban design of the capital
city, which combines both the continuum and the
innovation, is even today an important identification
for the European belonging of the country. The
second phase of urbanism covers the time between
the 1890s and WW I. It is characterised with the
territorial expansion and the planning activities of
the first Bulgarian architects and engineers, who
have graduated in European higher schools and
academies.^41
In relation to the second phase the influence of
Camillo Sitte’s^42 principles of the art of building cities
have to be mentioned. They are very popular and
often quoted in that time.^43 The streets and places
of Sofia do not solve just pure pragmatic problems,
but they reflect on than actual artistic ideas. In the
composition of the public spaces the proportional
dependences defined by H. Martens and A. Tirsch, as
well as the gilt edge proportions, can be identified.
The streets and places are in characteristic functional
relations of their width, the height of the building
frame and the deepness of the perspective. There is
a constant characteristic in the perspective change in
the ring-road directions and the radials in the frame
of the five to ten minutes pedestrian isochronal.^44
Fig. 9: The boulevard-like northward prolongation of the
antique Cardo to the central railway station.
Fig. 10: An area view of the Alexander Nevski Cathedral Place.
Fig. 11: The Parliament Building and the Alexander-Nevski
Cathedral forming the representative part of the center.
(all Figures on this Page: Archive Ganchev)