Itinerary 1 – European heritage buildings
The Central City Square- Svoboda Square – is convenient for tourist visits. Three parking areas around the the square ensure easy access. Moreover, there are a number of cafes, shops and a park with benches and fountains. This square is one of the few squares in Europe that are the gathering of twelve streets.
The Monument to Freedom is in the middle of the park; to its right is the Dohodno sdanie. Opposite the monument, just behind the small park with open cafes, is the house where a motion picture was shown for the first time in Bulgaria. The old residents of Ruse still remember the Odeon Summer Cinema on the place of the Post Office and the circus on the place of the Court. The monument to Freedom was built in 1909 with donations of the local community after the initiative of the Association of Volunteers in the Liberation War. It was designed by the architects Simeon Zlatev and Stoycho Kiryazov. The statue the bas-reliefs were made by the Italian sculptor Arnoldo Zocchi.
The Dohodno Sdanie – constructed in 1901. The design was made by Raul Paul Branck, an architect from Vienna; the construction was supervised by Georg Lang and Frank Scholtz also from Vienna; the entrepreneur was Gatyu Tsonev, the master builder was P.Atanasov. The building was expected to function as a source of revenues for the community. That is why there were shops and a casino in it.Besides, the theatre company, the town library and the art gallery were also there.
Next to the Dohodno sdanie, the Teteven Grand hotel was constructed in 1897 by the Italian architect Nino Rosseti for the factory-owner Andre Turiot. He sold the building to Ravenski brothers, who called their hotel Teteven because they were born in that town.
To the right of the Gourt is the building of the former Girdap Bank. The building of Girdap Shareholding Saving Company the first private Company in Bulgaria, established in 1889 was constructed by the architect Samuil Danailov in 1896.
The court was inaugurated on 28 January 1940. It was built on the place of the fish market.
To the left of the monument, at the far end of the pedestrian street, is the brick-coloured Ruse Opera House. Next to it is the Holy Trinity Church and Ruse Bishopric. Ruse Central Railway Station, The TV tower and the Pantheon of Revivalists can be seen from the Central Square in the distance.
North of the square is Knyazheska Street. In the late 19th century, that street was full of photo shops, tailor workshops, hatters and hairdresser. Now it abounds in cafes.
From Svoboa Square, the tour continues in Aleksadrovska Street. It passes by the Bulgarian National Bnak – a building with a small turrent and a clock. It was constructed in 1890 by the architect Herman Meyer. The 19th century buildings in this street keep the memory of the wedding of the Turkish Saafet and the Bulgarian young man Yordan. Martinov’s Trade House is at the crossing point between Aleksandrovska Street and K.Irechek Street.
The Bank of the Simeonov’s Brothers was constructed in 1895 by Nigohos Bedrosyan.people know it today as DSK Bank. To its right there was a cupola mosque. After the Liberation, there were plans to construct a church on that spot. However, the construction was delayed, and the fire brigade was placed there. Today it is part of the town park.
The old city centre in earlier times was around Alexander Batenberg Square. It is surrounded by the buildings that are national cultural sights: the Museum, the High School, and the Library. In the middle of the park is the War Memorial to the soldiers killed in the war between Bulgaria and Serbia.This most popular constructed in 1901 by the architect Nikola Lazarov an the civil Engineer Zheko Spiridonov.
The building of the museum was constructed in 1882 for the Regional Goverment by the architect Friedrich Gruenanger.This building was constructed as the first public administrative building in Bulgaria after the Liberation.
Lyuben Karavelov Regional Librery is in a building that was constructed in 1911 for the first Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Bulgaria. The architect was Nikola Lazarov. The building of the Museum Administration is From Turkish times. The prison was behind it , there were army barracks nearby. The Post Office was constructed in 1930 by the architect An. Monov. It is also a cultural site on the local heritage list.
Slavyanska Street is one of Ruse’s embems.It still keeps the town spirit and reminiscences alive. The building worth mentioning as emblematic for the European identity of Ruse are the Canetti’s House.
In his works, Elis Canetti described Ruse as a town of diverse ethnicities and told about the famous Ruse carnivals and the port. The house in Slavyanska Street. It is often the venue of informal art actions, performances and concerts organised by the Canetti Society. It was constructed in 1898 by the local architect N. Bedrosyan.
The building of the High School Of Music was constructed in 1901 for a German Protestant boarding school organised by Pastor Wangeman. The plans were made by the civil engineer Todor Tonev and the architect Ubo Ribau. After Word War One the building was used by St. Joseph French College.
The Museum of Transport is in the first railway station in Bulgaria, by the Park of Youth. The station was constructed in 1866 – the same year when the railway between Ruse and Varna was constructed. The expositions shows the Bulgarian railway and water transport development.
