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The history of the National Library dates back to 1878, when the City Council of the capital decided to establish a "public library, necessary for the development of Sofia in cultural and educational terms" - the Bulgarian National Library. A few years later, in 1900, the Civic Club on "G." Street was purchased for the needs of the library. S. Rakovski” №131 and it became its headquarters. Due to the growing needs for storing the book collection and serving an increasing number of readers, in 1939 construction activities began on the new independent building of the library. The current library building and the garden in front of it were created on the site of the former royal manege. It was chosen for this purpose in 1933. Four years later, in 1937, a competition was announced for the development of an architectural plan for the building. As many as 24 projects were included in the competition, and the winner after some ups and downs was the sketch of the Bulgarian architects Ivan Vasilyov and Dimitar Tsolov. The building was designed in the modern neoclassicism of that time, inspired by the ideas of the Enlightenment and based on plots from Greek and Roman history.
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