The Royal Palace

Address

1 Knyaz Alexander I Sqr.

Location

42.696347,23.326988

Description

The Royal Palace (at present The Palace branch of the National Art Gallery and the National Ethnographic Museum). Built as the headquarters of the Ottoman Police Force, it was reconstructed and turned into a palace in the period 1879-1883 to serve as the seat of the Bulgarian head of state – Knyaz Alexander of Battenberg. In 1893-1894, during the reign of Knyaz Ferdinand, the palace was once again reconstructed after the design of architect Friedrich Grünanger. Today, two cultural institutions with rich and valuable collections of fine art and Bulgarian folklore – The Palace branch of the National Art Gallery and the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum, operate on the premises of the former royal palace.