All places

Modern period, 1879

Ivan Vazov National Library

Library in Bulgaria.

Open map
Ivan Vazov National Library
Спасимир · CC BY-SA 3.0 Image license

Story of the place

How to read this place

The Ivan Vazov National Library is among the oldest in Bulgaria — born in the year after the Liberation and holding more than one and a half million volumes.

Founded
1879
Holdings
over 1.5 million
New building
1974

Founded in 1879

The library was founded in 1879 — the country's second-oldest and second-largest national library. It is named after the writer and poet Ivan Vazov.

Source trail: Wikipedia — Ivan Vazov National Library ↗

Over 1.5 million volumes

The holdings exceed 1.5 million books. In 1974 the library moved to a new building south of the City Garden, and today it works with 134 staff, among them 90 highly qualified specialists and researchers.

Source trail: Wikipedia — Ivan Vazov National Library ↗
Today and what to notice

Current status

Publicly documented institution, building, district or urban site in Plovdiv.

Open map ↗

Public Wikidata record

library in Bulgaria

Type
national library
Inception
1879
Wikidata record ↗ Wikipedia: Ivan Vazov National Library ↗

Traces and evidence

Current status

Publicly documented institution, building, district or urban site in Plovdiv.

Ownership, care and institutions

The public record used here does not identify a traceable ownership or management history. This page therefore shows only verified institutional and source links.

Connected people

No people are linked in the current knowledge base.

Visit and orientation

Coordinates
42.13944, 24.74611 · wikidata_coordinate
Built/date
1879
Architect/builder
not identified in the current public source
Open map

Full event stream

No separate events are linked to this place.

No separate events are present for this place in the current knowledge base; use the public record, sources and description.

Around this place

No other places are linked through the same events.

Then/now

Reference photo: Ivan Vazov National Library after the earthquake — then/now Then Reference photo

Ivan Vazov National Library after the earthquake — then/now

Comparison between the archive image “Ivan Vazov National Library after the earthquake” and a modern open-licensed image of Ivan Vazov National Library.

Editorial review: This pairing of a historical image and a reference photo was automatically prepared and is shown as a provisional reference; independent editorial review of the visual match, licence and attribution information, and context is still pending.

Match
same place, approximate viewpoint
Then
Credit: Unknown author Media file Public domain accessed 2026-06-19
Reference photo
Credit: Спасимир Media file CC BY-SA 3.0 accessed 2026-06-19

Archive for this place