The National Palace of Culture (Bulgarian: Национален дворец на културата, Natsionalen dvorets na kulturata; abbreviated as НДК, NDK), located in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, is the largest multifunctional congress, conference, convention and exhibition centre in Southeastern Europe. It was opened in 1981.
The idea for the construction of this true contemporary castle comes from the former Bulgarian first-lady Lyudmila Zhivkova (daughter of the communist politician and leader of the former People's Republic of Bulgaria Todor Zhivkov). The project was designed by a team of Bulgarian and foreign architects, led by Alexander Barov. The landscaping of Bulgaria Square in front of the National Palace of Culture was made by another team of architects and landscape engineers, led by Atanas Agura.
In July 2005, the National Palace of Culture was proclaimed the best congress centre in the world for the year by the International Organization of Congress Centres .
The congress centre has a wide variety of technical equipment at its disposal in order to host different types of events, such as concerts, conferences, exhibitions and shows. It has an area of 123,000 m² on eight floors and three underground levels. The National Palace of Culture has 13 halls and 15,000 m² of exhibition area, a trade centre and a car park. The Hall 1 can seat over 3,000 people.
Sofia Film Fest, an annual film festival held in the capital of Bulgaria, Sofia takes place in NDK.
Read more about National Palace Of Culture: Gallery
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“Ignorance, forgetfulness, or contempt of the rights of man are the only causes of public misfortunes and of the corruption of governments.”
—French National Assembly. Declaration of the Rights of Man (drafted and discussed Aug. 1789, published Sept. 1791)
“It takes a heap o’ children to make a home that’s true,
And home can be a palace grand, or just a plain, old shoe;
But if it has a mother dear, and a good old dad or two,
Why, that’s the sort of good old home for good old me and you.”
—Louis Untermeyer (1885–1977)
“The highest end of government is the culture of men.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)