- National Palace of Culture
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Front view of NDK with the Vitosha mountain in the background
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 worked out by a team of Bulgarian and foreign architects, lead 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, lead 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 [1].
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. Sofia Film Fest, an annual film festival held in the capital of Bulgaria, Sofia takes place in NDK.
More than 10,000 tons of steel were used for the construction of the NDK - 3,000 more than the Eiffel Tower.
Halls
Data is according to the official website. Hall 12 is reserved for journalists and no public events are held there.
Hall Area (m²) Height (m) Capacity (by seat arrangement) concert classroom n-wise meeting banquet cocktail party Hall 1 11,000 - 3,380 - - - - - Hall 2 995 - 510 - - - - - Hall 3 1,650 6.5 1,500 540 400 150 460 1,200 Hall 3.1 300 3 200 90 70 54 110 220 Hall 3.2 300 3 200 90 70 54 110 220 Hall 4 300 3 150 60 45 30 80 150 Hall 5 300 3 150 60 45 30 80 - Hall 6 480 6 480 220 144 78 240 600 Hall 7 380 6.5 280 130 90 72 200 400 Hall 8 380 6.5 280 130 90 72 200 400 Hall 9 380 6.5 280 130 90 72 200 400 Hall 10 450 3 280 130 120 72 220 400 Hall 11 400 - 380 - - - - - Hall 13 300 - 200 - - 200 300 300 Gallery
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Another view of the facade
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View from the Panorama Restaurant of NDK
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Hall One of NDK
External links
Categories:- Buildings and structures completed in 1981
- Convention centres in Bulgaria
- Buildings and structures in Sofia
- Bulgarian culture
- Culture in Sofia
- Visitor attractions in Sofia
- 100 Tourist Sites of Bulgaria
- Economy of Sofia
- Event venues established in 1981
- Bulgarian building and structure stubs
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