- National Gallery for Foreign Art
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Coordinates: 42°41′46″N 23°20′4″E / 42.69611°N 23.33444°E
NGFA edifice
The Royal Printing Office in the early 20th centuryThe National Gallery for Foreign Art (Bulgarian: Национална галерия за чуждестранно изкуство, Natsionalna galeriya za chuzhdestranno izkustvo) of Bulgaria is a gallery located on St Alexander Nevsky Square in the capital city of Sofia. It serves as the country's national institution for foreign (i.e. non-Bulgarian) art. It is situated in the imposing 19th-century Neoclassic edifice of the former Royal Printing Office. It was built between 1882 and 1884 during the rule of Knyaz Alexander Battenberg to the designs of Austrian architect Friedrich Schwanberg[1] and reconstructed after it suffered significant damage during the bombing of Sofia in World War II.[2]
The gallery was founded on 5 November 1985 as the art gallery of the Sts. Cyril and Methodius Foundation, its stock being collected by donations, as well as by the addition of the National Art Gallery's foreign art section.[3]
The gallery's permanent exposition features European, Asian (Buddhist, Japanese and Indian) and African art, as well as separate contemporary art and engraving sections.
Among the artists featured in the collection are Italian Renaissance painter Rosso Fiorentino, Dutch and Flemish artists Jan van Goyen, Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem, Isaac van Ostade, Frans Francken II, as well as Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt, Auguste Rodin, Ivan Meštrović, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso, Francisco Goya, Joan Miró and Salvador Dalí.[3]
The gallery's current director is Georgi Lipovanski.[3]
References
- ^ "The municipal buildings from the Liberation until 1920" (in Bulgarian). Sofia Municipality website. http://www.sofia.bg/history.asp?lines=1883&nxt=1&update=all. Retrieved 2006-07-24.
- ^ "За нас" (in Bulgarian). Национална галерия за чуждестранно изкуство. http://www.foreignartmuseum.bg/bg/about.html. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
- ^ a b c "Bulgarian National Gallery for Foreign Art website" (in Bulgarian and English). http://www.foreignartmuseum.bg. Retrieved 2008-09-28.
External links
Categories:- Art museums and galleries in Bulgaria
- Culture in Sofia
- Buildings and structures in Sofia
- Buildings and structures completed in 1884
- Museums established in 1985
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