Open Air Stage Balchik

An open-air stage on the Black Sea coast at Balchik, below the terraced gardens of the palace built for Queen Marie of Romania in the 1920s. The botanical garden and the stage together carry the town's summer season. The site is administered as a single complex by the State Cultural Institute Cultural Centre Dvoretsa, which reports to the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture and holds the palace buildings, the botanical garden and the open-air stage together. The centre works the whole year and lets the stage to festivals, competitions, exhibitions and congresses, and runs an artist residency programme on the grounds. Visitor numbers reach tens of thousands in a single summer month.