Sofia

Sofia is the capital city of Bulgaria.

It lies in a wide, flat valley. Right next to the city rises a big mountain called Vitosha. People can ride up the mountain on cable lifts.

Sofia is the capital and biggest city of Bulgaria, in southeastern Europe. It lies near the middle of the Balkan region, in the Sofia Basin, a long valley shaped like a trough in the west of the country. About 1.2 million people lived there in 2025.

The city is very old. Its name comes from the Church of St. Sofia, which has stood since the 500s. Beside the city rises Vitosha Mountain, and cable lifts carry people up its slopes.

Sofia, capital of Bulgaria, stands near the geographical center of the Balkans in the Sofia Basin, a troughlike valley in the west of the country, with the Vitosha massif rising beside it. Bulgaria's National Statistical Institute figure for 2025, cited by Wikidata, was 1,213,134 residents; Britannica gives 1,291,591 for 2011.

The city's name comes from the Church of St. Sofia, restored in the 6th century under the Byzantine emperor Justinian, which survives from that period. Over its history the place has been Thracian, Roman (Serdica), Byzantine, Bulgarian (Sredets), Ottoman and, since 1879, the capital of modern Bulgaria.

Sofia has some very old churches.

One small church, at the edge of the city, has wall paintings more than 750 years old. A big cathedral stands in the center.

Boyana Church, on the edge of Sofia, is made of three buildings. The oldest part dates from the 900s, and the paintings on its walls, made in 1259, are one of the most important collections of medieval paintings, says UNESCO. It is a World Heritage Site.

In the center stand the Church of St. Sofia, which gave the city its name, and the large St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, built to honor the Russian soldiers who freed the city from Ottoman rule in 1878. The city also has two historic mosques, a national theater and a national library.

UNESCO, which inscribed Boyana Church in 1979, describes three buildings on the city's outskirts: an eastern church of the 10th century, enlarged in the early 13th century by the sebastocrator Kaloyan with a second, two-story building, whose frescoes of 1259 make it one of the most important collections of medieval painting.

Britannica lists the restored churches of St. George, Boyana and St. Sofia; two mosques, one housing an archaeological collection; and the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, erected to commemorate Bulgarian gratitude to the Russian liberators of 1878. Cultural institutions include the Cyril and Methodius National Library, the Ivan Vazov National Theatre, an astronomical observatory and the University of Sofia (1888), the oldest institution of higher learning in Bulgaria.

Many people in Sofia work in offices, factories and shops.

Farms around the city grow fruit and vegetables and keep dairy cows. Vitosha Mountain is close by.

Sofia is Bulgaria's biggest center of work and learning. Its factories make machines, metals, food, cloth and clothing, and printing is important too. Around the city, farms grow fruit and vegetables and keep dairy cattle.

Students attend the University of Sofia, the oldest in Bulgaria, and scientists work at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. The city has a national theater, a national library, museums and an observatory, and Vitosha Mountain lies close by.

Britannica lists Sofia's chief industries as engineering, metallurgy, food processing, and textiles and clothing, with printing, rubber, footwear, furniture and woodworking, and chemicals also well represented; the city was further industrialized after World War II. An agricultural belt of fruit and vegetable growing and dairy farming surrounds it.

As the national center of learning, Sofia hosts the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the University of Sofia (1888), the country's oldest institution of higher education, along with the Cyril and Methodius National Library, the Ivan Vazov National Theatre and many museums.