1928 Petrov Bulgarian-French Map of Sofia, Celebrating 50 Years since Liberation

A scarce and intriguing bilingual city plan or map of Sofia, Bulgaria, and accompanying booklet produced in 1928 by Alexander Petrov to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the city's liberation from Ottoman rule.

A Closer Look

The map covers the city of Sofia and its immediate suburbs. The city is divided into districts, which are numbered and color-shaded. Streets are named throughout in Bulgarian and French, as are various public institutions (which are also numerically indexed), including government offices, hospitals, arsenals and other military facilities, parks, train stations, schools, and houses of worship. Railways and the city's streetcar or tramway network are traced. The cartography here roughly corresponds to the Amadier Plan, a bold re-envisioning of Sophia, not only as a national capital but also as a modern European city - rejecting nearly 500 years of Ottomanization. A legend appears at the bottom-left, and a grid surrounds the map, corresponding to an index in the accompanying booklet.

The booklet, including the map, was produced to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Sofia from Ottoman rule in 1878. It includes a small map of Sofia as it appeared in 1878 (the second image above). The use of French alongside Bulgarian suggests that the booklet was intended for tourists as well as locals or perhaps was meant as an indication of the city's modern, Western European orientation (see below).

National Identity

This map emerged as Bulgaria, having been a Central Power and thus on the losing side of World War I (1914 - 1918), was struggling with low national morale, staggering war indemnities, and a refugee crisis that threatened cultural identity. The map is a lavish production meant to invoke national and local pride.

Sofia is an ancient city, most likely the oldest in Europe, with evidence suggesting it was occupied during the Stone Age. It came under the control of the Ottoman Empire in 1382 and, during the subsequent centuries, evolved into an Ottoman-style city. The Russo-Turkish War (1877 - 1878) left the Ottoman Empire unable to fully control its rebellious European provinces, and the 1878 Treaty of San Stefano declared Sofia the capital of a revived Christian Bulgarian state.

Reasserting Sofia's Europeanism

After nearly 500 years of Ottoman rule, Bulgarians were eager to shed 'oriental' influence and turn Sofia into a Western-style modern European capital. The city was completely redesigned according to a regulatory plan that S. Amadier and Vladimir Roubal devised in 1879. The winding streets and dead-end courtyards, born of the Ottoman Mahallah system, were replaced with an orthogonal street network (akin to Washington D.C.) and a regular grid cadastre. The main boulevards were aligned with the ancient trade arteries that defined Sofia in the Classical Era. The heart of the orthogonal center is thus situated at Sv. Nedelya Church (just south of the old Ottoman center), roughly in the same location as the ancient Roman Forum. Cardinal boulevards followed ancient trade connections active in the pre-Ottoman era, leading in the directions of Thessaloniki, Pautalia (Kyustendil), Germanea (Separeva Banya), Trimontium (Plovdiv), and Nansos (Nis).

Chromolithography

Chromolithography, sometimes called oleography, is a color lithographic technique developed in the mid-19th century. The process involved using multiple lithographic stones, one for each color, to yield a rich composite effect. Oftentimes, the process would start with a black basecoat upon which subsequent colors were layered. Some chromolithographs used 30 or more separate lithographic stones to achieve the desired product. Chromolithograph color could also be effectively blended for even more dramatic results. The process became extremely popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when it emerged as the dominant method of color printing. The vivid color chromolithography produced made it exceptionally effective for advertising and propaganda imagery.

Publication History and Census

This map was prepared by Alexander Petrov (Александър Петров), printed by Ivan Praze (Лит. Ив. Празе), and was published by T. F. Chipevŭ (т. ф. Чипевъ). The entire booklet was published by the Court Printing House (придворна печатница) in Sofia. The map differs considerably from Petrov's 1919 plan of Sofia (previously sold by us). This reflects the city's changing landscape more than different methods undertaken by the cartographer (the two maps share the same scale but have a slightly different orientation). In any event, the current map and booklet are quite rare; they are not cataloged in the OCLC, and we only note their appearance on the private market once in recent years.