Borisova gradina or Knyaz-Borisova gradina is the oldest and best known park in Sofia

Sofia

Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...

, the capital of Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

. Its construction and arrangement began in 1884 and it is named after Bulgarian Tsar Boris III

Boris III of Bulgaria

Boris III the Unifier, Tsar of Bulgaria , originally Boris Klemens Robert Maria Pius Ludwig Stanislaus Xaver , son of Ferdinand I, came to the throne in 1918 upon the abdication of his father, following the defeat of the Kingdom of Bulgaria during World War I...

.

The history of the garden embraces three periods under three renowned gardeners. All followed the initial scheme, developing it further and perfecting it instead of making radical changes to the original design.

Neff period (1882–1906)

In 1882, the then-mayor of Sofia Ivan Hadzhienov brought Swiss

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 gardener Daniel Neff from Bucharest

Bucharest

Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....

 with the intention to create a garden for the capital of Bulgaria. The mayor's initial plans included first establishing a large nursery

Nursery (horticulture)

A nursery is a place where plants are propagated and grown to usable size. They include retail nurseries which sell to the general public, wholesale nurseries which sell only to businesses such as other nurseries and to commercial gardeners, and private nurseries which supply the needs of...

 where trees, shrubs and flowers for the future garden would grow, also providing material for the already existing gardens and for the streets.
Neff developed the first plan of the garden in the spring of 1882, set up the nursery and built a house for himself, starting construction in 1884. Acacia

Acacia

Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not...

 trees were originally planted, flowerbed

Flowerbed

A flowerbed is an element of many gardens. A flowerbed is a garden area especially prepared for growing flowers. The area is typically marked off, often by low-lying structures of brick or similar materials, designed to highlight the flowers and reduce the spread of weeds...

s were shaped, a small artificial lake was built and this all was fenced with a hedge of oaks and hawthorn

Crataegus

Crataegus , commonly called hawthorn or thornapple, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the rose family, Rosaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Europe, Asia and North America. The name hawthorn was originally applied to the species native to northern Europe,...

s. The nursery produced saplings that met the needs of the city and were also sold to the citizen. Acacia trees were most widely produced together with mulberry

Mulberry

Morus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae. The 10–16 species of deciduous trees it contains are commonly known as Mulberries....

 trees, trumpet flowers, elm trees, plane trees

Platanus

Platanus is a small genus of trees native to the Northern Hemisphere. They are the sole living members of the family Platanaceae....

 and others. The nursery was shaped as a garden in 1885 and had an area of 300,000 m² in 1886 with four main alleys.

Borisova gradina grew to the southwest in the following years and the large lake was built in 1889. Knyaz

Knyaz

Kniaz, knyaz or knez is a Slavic title found in most Slavic languages, denoting a royal nobility rank. It is usually translated into English as either Prince or less commonly as Duke....

 Ferdinand ordered in 1888 the replacement of most acacias with forest oaks, sycamore

Sycamore

Sycamore is a name which is applied at various times and places to three very different types of trees, but with somewhat similar leaf forms....

s, ash tree

Ash tree

Fraxinus is a genus flowering plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae. It contains 45-65 species of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous though a few subtropical species are evergreen. The tree's common English name, ash, goes back to the Old English æsc, while the generic name...

s and birch

Birch

Birch is a tree or shrub of the genus Betula , in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the beech/oak family, Fagaceae. The Betula genus contains 30–60 known taxa...

es. The next couple of years saw the planting of deciduous

Deciduous

Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...

 trees from neighbouring forests, as well as coniferous ones from Rila

Rila

Rila is a mountain range in southwestern Bulgaria and the highest mountain range of Bulgaria and the Balkans, with its highest peak being Musala at 2,925 m...

, black pine

European Black Pine

Pinus nigra, the European Black Pine, is a moderately variable species of pine, occurring across southern Mediterranean Europe from Spain to the Crimea, in Asia Minor and on Cyprus, and in the high mountains of the Maghreb in North Africa....

s and spruce

Spruce

A spruce is a tree of the genus Picea , a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the Family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal regions of the earth. Spruces are large trees, from tall when mature, and can be distinguished by their whorled branches and conical...

s.

Frei period (1906–1934)

The Alsatian

Alsace

Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...

 Joseph Frei was appointed manager of all gardens and parks of Sofia in 1906. He reorganized Borisova gradina according to his own plan further developing the one of Neff. In carrying out this plan Frei planted the two main alleys in the lower part of the garden, the linden

Tilia

Tilia is a genus of about 30 species of trees native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The greatest species diversity is found in Asia, and the genus also occurs in Europe and eastern North America, but not western North America...

 and chestnut

Chestnut

Chestnut , some species called chinkapin or chinquapin, is a genus of eight or nine species of deciduous trees and shrubs in the beech family Fagaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce.-Species:The chestnut belongs to the...

 one, and opened the wide central and two side alleys in the upper part, from the children's playground to the Fish Lake. This period also witnessed the construction of the People's Fountain, later faced with freestone

Freestone

A freestone is a stone used in masonry for molding, tracery and other replication work required to be worked with the chisel. The freestone must be fine-grained, uniform and soft enough to be cut easily without shattering or splitting. Some sources say that the stone has no grain, but this is...

 to be named the Freestone Fountain.
While Neff was an admirer of acacia trees, Frei had a passion for flowers. He created the Rosarium at the place of removed agricultural buildings, as well as the numerous modern nursery gardens and hothouse

Greenhouse

A greenhouse is a building in which plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings...

s. The garden was further extended south of the oak forest to the modern Dragan Tsankov Boulevard

Dragan Tsankov Boulevard

Dragan Tsvetkov Boulevard is a large boulevard in Bulgaria's capital Sofia. It is named after the Bulgarian politician Dragan Tsankov. It lies between its intersection with the Evlogi Georgiev Boulevard, before which it is called Graf Ignatiev Street, and the juncture with G. M. Dimitrov...

. The fruit plantations were gradually replaced with decorative tree and shrub species, pines and spruces, turning the garden into a wonderful park.

Duhtev period (1934–1944)

The Bulgarian gardener and specialist Georgi Duhtev became the manager of the Gardens and Parks Service in 1934. During his period, the old Rosarium was extended to embrace 7,000 m² with over 1,400 new cultivated rose

Rose

A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers are large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows...

 species being planted by him. The Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese Corner was created in 1940 above the Fish Lake towards Tsarigrad Road

Tsarigrad Road

Tsarigradsko shose is the largest boulevard in the capital of Bulgaria, Sofia. It begins from Orlov Most , before which it is called Tsar Osvoboditel Boulevard, and in the end becomes part of the Trakiya motorway . It runs from the north-west to the south-east...

. Plants sent by the Japanese minister plenipotentiary were used to arrange it. These plants represented the national flora of Japan

Flora of Japan

Flora of Japan refers to the plants, trees, flowers which can be found in Japan, such as sakura, katsura, momiji and azalea....

 and were a gift and a sign of friendship between the Japanese and Bulgarian people.

Around 1942 Borisova gradina embraced an area of 90,500 m², 68,600 m² of which planned and 4,400 m² not, the remainder of 17,350 m² being built up and including the Summer Swimming Bath, the University Observatory, the Open-air School, the Big Lake, the Yunak and Levski football fields, the tennis club, the diplomatic tennis court

Tennis court

A tennis court is where the game of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the center. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles.-Dimensions:...

, the cycling track and the Yunak Rectifying

Rectifier

A rectifier is an electrical device that converts alternating current , which periodically reverses direction, to direct current , which flows in only one direction. The process is known as rectification...

 Station.

Later history

The Borisova Gradina TV Tower

Borisova Gradina TV Tower

The Borisova Gradina TV Tower or the Old TV Tower is a 106-metre tall TV tower in the garden Borisova Gradina in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. It is known as the tower used for the first Bulgarian National Television broadcasts in 1959.- History :The tower was designed by architect Lyuben...

 was built 1958–1959. Borisova gradina was last reconstructed in 1986 under Georgi Radoslavov. It was proclaimed a monument of Bulgarian park and garden art the same year.

Name

Although Knyaz

Knyaz

Kniaz, knyaz or knez is a Slavic title found in most Slavic languages, denoting a royal nobility rank. It is usually translated into English as either Prince or less commonly as Duke....

 Boris became Tsar

Tsar

Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...

 in 1918, there is no evidence of the park's name ever having officially changed to reflect this fact. Instead (or, perhaps, because of this), the word Knyaz was gradually dropped to become simply Boris's Garden.

After the communist regime took power in 1944, the park was renamed Парк на Свободата (Park na Svobodata - "Freedom Park"), until its fall in 1989, when it reverted to its original name.