novinite 16 March 2010

Sofia Metro Construction Stumbles upon Invaluable Archaeology Site

The construction of the second metro line in the Bulgarian capital Sofia has been stopped over the discovery of a unique archaeology site.

On Monday the builders came across a medieval church located in the very downtown of Sofia, next to the Tzum retail center. This led to a temporary termination of the construction work.

Bulgaria's Culture Minister Vezhdi Rashidov and the Chief Architect of Sofia Petar Dikov inspected the site on Tuesday.

Archaeologist Snezhana Goryanova from the National Archaeology Institute showed the two top officials around the spot showing them the remains of the church with preserved murals dating back to the 12th century, and remains of early medieval buildings dating to the 5th-6th century. Several medieval graves have been discovered near the church.

Minister Rashidov has made it clear that a special commission of experts is going to inspect the site of the frozen construction, and will come up with measures on how to continue building the metro and to preserve the findings.

The Culture Minister has declared that he is impressed with the new discoveries and that the authorities have to do whatever is needed in order to preserve them.

Archaeologist Goryanova has stated that a temporary shelter must be constructed in order to preserve the finds. According to archaeologist Mario Ivanov, there are two ways to achieve this  by taking them out of the spot and setting them in a museum, or by keeping them on their original spot, and having the metro line go much deeper, below them.

The Chief Architect of Sofia, Petar Dikov, has promised to comply fully with the recommendations of the experts of the Ministry of Culture and the Archaeological Institute. He said the construction of the second metro line is going to continue only after a decision has been made on what to do with the finds.

Downtown Sofia is filled with archaeological sites from the Antiquity and the Middle Ages;
Sofia Architect Petar Dikov has revealed a plan to restore the Roman streets and structures of Sofia, known in Roman times as Serdika, in order to create an open-air tourist attraction.

anybody know if the Metro is open at the airport term 2 yet?

No it's still not open, it will be open towards the end of April

Useful to know: we were once ripped off big time by an OK Superchance rogue; another time flying out we were delayed quite a bit by morning traffic congestion - stressful!
Hopefully the Metro will be reliable and reasonably priced (and those Superchancers will be out of business!)

Sofia metropolitan speaks English

Starting today, the passengers of the Sofia underground will be able to hear the directions and information about the stations also in English. The change is introduced due to the opening of the new line up to Sofia Airport as of next month. There will be four new stations opening along the line. The ceremony is expected to be joined by EC President Jean-Claude Junker.

Sofia Metro to airport opens on April 2

The Sofia Metro railway line to the Bulgarian capital city’s airport is to come into service on April 2 2015 at 1pm.

Travel on the new route, which includes four stations – Druzhba, Iskursko Chausse, Sofia Sveta Gora and Sofia Airport – will be free-of-charge on April 2 until midnight.

Transport Minister Ivailo Moskovski will participate in the official commissioning ceremony of the new line, the government media service said.



The metro station at Sofia Airport is next to Terminal 2. According to a notice on the website of Metropoliten, the company in charge of the underground railway, Sofia Airport provides free transport at 30-minute intervals between Terminal 1 and 2 from 7am to 7pm.

Metro trains from the centre of the city to Sofia Airport will run daily from 5am to midnight. Travelling time is estimated at 18 minutes.



The opening of the subway train to the airport is being accompanied by changes to the route of public transport buses. The route of line 10 is being changed to provide a connection for residents of the Abdovitsa, Dimitar Milenkov, Vidnite and the villages of Bousmantsi and Kazichene with the Sofia Sveta Gora and Iskursko Chausse metro stations.

A metro train ticket costs one lev (about 51 euro cents) and the ticket is valid for travel throughout the metro network by using the interchange between lines 1 and 2.

From April, passengers on Sofia-Plovdiv trains will also be able to access the metro directly because of the additional of a small railway station at Iskursko Chausse, creating an intermodal link between urban, air and rail transport.