Dohodno Zdanie

Peter Paul Brank, an architect from Vienna, gave Ruse the building that has defined its centre since 1902. It was conceived as an investment: shops, a library, a casino and a theatre hall whose rents would fund the town's schools. Seven allegorical figures stand along the Neoclassical façade — art, science, agriculture, crafts, trade, defence and the aspiring spirit — and behind them lies the grand hall of some 650 seats, with chamber and smaller rooms and a sequence of foyers. The Sava Ognyanov Drama Theatre has its home here, and the building carries much of the city's concert and festival life besides. In 2014 it was voted Bulgaria's emblematic building.