The city of Sofia at the foot of the Vitosha mountain and is the biggest city and capital of the Republic of Bulgaria.
On a site inhabited as early as the 8th century B.C., Sofia is the second oldest capital city in Europe. It has been given several names in the course of history, and the remnants of the old cities can still be seen today.
Sofia was originally a Thracian settlement named Serdica, named after the Thracian tribe of Serdi. It was captured by Rome in AD 29. When Diocletian divided the province of Dacia into Dacia Ripensis on the shores of the Danube and Dacia Mediterranea, Serdica became the capital of Dacia Mediterranea. It was destroyed by the Huns in 447. The city was rebuilt by Byzantine Emperor Justinian I and renamed Triaditsa. Sofia was first captured by the Bulgarians in 809. Afterwards it was known as Sredets, the name given to it by the Slavs. It was renamed Sofia (meaning "wisdom" in Greek) in 1376. Sofia was taken by the Ottomans in 1382 and became the capital of the Turkish province of Rumelia. Sofia was liberated by the Russians in 1878, and became the capital of the independent Bulgaria in 1879. During World War II the Russians occupied Sofia and Bulgaria after the pro-German government was overthrown.
There are 16 universities in the city, among them Sofia University, founded in 1889. It is the see of an Eastern Orthodox metropolitan and of a Roman Catholic diocese.
The most interesting sights of Sofia are:
The late Roman St. George's Church (4th century), hidden in the courtyard of the Sharaton Hotel.
The early Byzantine St. Sofia Church, erected in the 6th century.
The gold-domed Alexander Nevski Cathedral, built in the early 29th century in memory of the 200,000 Russian soldiers who died in the Russo-Turkish War which led in 1878 to the emancipation of Bulgaria from Turkish rule.
The tiny Church of Saint Petka Samardzhiiska, from the 14th century, at Pl. Sveta Nedelya. It contains some fine frescoes.
The Banya Bashi Mosque, built in the 16th century.
The National Museum of History, noteworthy for its Thracian treasures.