History
Planned since the 1960s, construction of the Metro was not officially launched until the late 1990s mainly because the city did not experience an urgent need for an underground system in addition to the stalled construction due to lack of sufficient funding. Another factor was the depth at which the construction works had to be carried out: being one of the oldest cities in Europe, Sofia contains many historical layers underneath its central areas. Evidence of antiquity can be clearly seen at the Serdika Station which exhibits a wealth of unearthed Thracian and Roman ruins and modern architecture. During the construction of the enormous complex of the National Palace of Culture two stations forming part of the then future Line 2 and their connecting tunnels were built.
The construction of the system began from the route that sees the highest volumes of passenger traffic, that can easily reach up to 40,000 at rush hour.
Read more about this topic: Sofia Metro
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“I am ashamed to see what a shallow village tale our so-called History is. How many times must we say Rome, and Paris, and Constantinople! What does Rome know of rat and lizard? What are Olympiads and Consulates to these neighboring systems of being? Nay, what food or experience or succor have they for the Esquimaux seal-hunter, or the Kanaka in his canoe, for the fisherman, the stevedore, the porter?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Perhaps universal history is the history of the diverse intonation of some metaphors.”
—Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986)