If you climb above the Journalists’ Quarter in Lozenets, hidden from the view of passers-by, you will find the elegant building of the Sofia Theological Seminary. It has stood there for over a century – a temple of knowledge and tranquillity, sheltered from the hustle and bustle of the city. Its foundations were laid in 1902, when Prince Ferdinand himself laid the cornerstone on a donated plot of 50 decares. Sofia awaited it – teachers and students arrived a year later. And as early as 1904, the Church of St Ivan of Rila was consecrated. Just a year later, the municipality donated a further 30 decares of land, on which a picturesque park was built.

After the end of the First World War, during the rule of the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union (BZNS), the building briefly hosted classes for the newly established Faculty of Agronomy. This came to an end following the fall of the Agrarians from power. The seminary’s properties were damaged during the Anglo-American bombings, when the religious organisation’s assets were evacuated to the countryside.

In 1950, the clergy were relocated to Cherepish railway station following the merger of the Sofia and Plovdiv seminaries. The buildings in the capital were converted into the Palace of Pioneers. The church remained standing, but was separated by an iron fence. And so it remained until 1990, when the seminarians returned to the hill in the ‘Kurubaglar’ area (Lozeneț).