Central Sofia Market Hall

The prototype of European covered markets at the end of 19th century was Les Halles in Paris - 10 pavilions with metal construction, covered with glass. These were revolutionary materials, which created new sense of space, but at the time (1852) they were used mainly for unpretentious industrial buildings. In this initial period, the metal structure often went hand in hand with massive surrounding walls in search of presentability. In the cases of the Market Halls in Budapest and Sofia, the architects sought the romantically coloured Secession with elements of the respective national architectural history that actually demonstrate presentability. For the Central Sofia Market Hall architect Naum Torbov used a modern metal construction to cover the three-nave general purpose space and combined it with massive surrounding walls. The slender metal columns don't obstruct the sight and that, coupled with the abundance of light from the glass roofing, creates a feeling of depth and lightness of the interior. What we witness is unity of space, function and aesthetisation through the materials' specifics - typical of Secession philosophy.

Naum Torbov (architect)

1909 – 1911

25 Maria Luiza Boulevard, Sofia 1000

SF0267