Historic Background Of Sofia

The earliest settlement at Sofia was established about 7000 years ago, though the first proper city here came up thirty centuries ago, although few signs remain of the Thracians, the people who founded it. At the time the Thracians established this town, it wasn’t much more than a small provincial trading centre, but as the centuries passed, it grew in importance. By the 4th  century AD, Sofia was one of the most important political, commercial and cultural centres of the Byzantine Empire; the city was at its zenith during the reign of the Emperor Constantine.

The Bulgars arrived in Sofia only during the ninth century, and their achievements were neutralised by the Turkish occupation in the 14th century. The Ottoman Turks razed most monuments – churches, palaces and public buildings built by the Bulgar period.  The rise of the communists in the early 20th century, the Turks reigned in Sofia.