Maria Luiza Boulevard (Bulgarian: Булевард Мария Луиза), also called Maria Luiza, which is the Bulgarian transliteration of Marie Louise, is a central boulevard in Sofia. It connects Central Railway Station and Vitosha Boulevard which is its continuation to the National Palace of Culture. The boulevard passes over one of the city's most emblematic bridges, Lavov Most (meaning Lion's Bridge). It is named after Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parma, princess-consort of Bulgaria and wife to Ferdinand I. During communist period the boulevard was named after Georgi Dimitrov.
Many landmarks are situated on the Marie Louise Boulevard or in the vicinity. On the boulevard itself are located the Central Sofia Market Hall, TZUM, St Nedelya Church, Banya Bashi Mosque and one of Sofia's largest hotels Sheraton Sofia Hotel Balkan. Close to Marie Louise are administrative and governmental edifices such as the Presidency, the Counsel of Ministers, the offices of the deputies (which form the Largo), the yellow-paved Prince Alexander of Battenberg Square and others. The newly opened Knyaginya Maria Luiza Metro Station is located on the road.
Coordinates: 42°42′5.92″N 23°19′22.25″E / 42.7016444°N 23.3228472°E / 42.7016444; 23.3228472
Famous quotes containing the words marie louise, marie, louise and/or boulevard:
“To vice, innocence must always seem only a superior kind of chicanery.”
—Ouida [Marie Louise De La Ramée] (1839–1908)
“It is not love that should be depicted as blind, but self-love.”
—Voltaire [François Marie Arouet] (1694–1778)
“Sport inevitably creates deadness of feeling. No one could take pleasure in it who was sensitive to suffering; and therefore its pursuit by women is much more to be regretted than its pursuit by men, because women pursue much more violently and recklessly what they pursue at all.”
—Ouida [Marie Louise De La Ramée] (1839–1908)
“Arrive in the afternoon, the late light slanting
In diluted gold bars across the boulevard brag
Of proud, seamed faces with mercy and murder hinting
here, there, interrupting, all deep and debonair,
The pink paint on the innocence of fear;
Walk in a gingerly manner up the hall.”
—Gwendolyn Brooks (b. 1917)