The Central Military Club is a multi-purpose monument of culture building in the centre of Sofia

Sofia

Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...

, the capital of Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

, located on Tsar Osvoboditel Boulevard

Tsar Osvoboditel Boulevard

Tsar Osvoboditel Boulevard is a boulevard in the centre of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. It lies between Orlov most to the east and Nezavisimost Square to the west, where it merges with Knyaz Aleksandar Dondukov Boulevard to form Todor Aleksandrov Boulevard west of the square...

 and Georgi Rakovski Street

Georgi Rakovski Street

Georgi Rakovski Street , usually called with its old name Rakovska, is an important street in the capital of Bulgaria, Sofia, located in the central area of the city. It is named after the famous Bulgarian revolutionary Georgi Sava Rakovski...

. It serves the Bulgarian Army and is administered by the Executive Agency of Military Clubs and Information.

The foundation stone of the edifice was laid in 1895. The Military Club was designed by Czech architect Antonín Kolář in the Neo-Renaissance

Neo-Renaissance

Renaissance Revival is an all-encompassing designation that covers many 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Grecian nor Gothic but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of classicizing Italian modes...

 style and finished by Bulgarian architect Nikola Lazarov in 1907. The lot and the funding was provided by the Sofia Officers' Assembly. A stone from the victorious battlefield at Slivnitsa

Battle of Slivnitsa

Called by historians the "Battle of the captains vs the generals," referring to the young Bulgarian army, whose highest rank went up to a captain, the Battle of Slivnitsa was a decisive factor in the victory of the Bulgarian army over the Serbians on November 17–19, 1885 in the...

 from the Serbo-Bulgarian War

Serbo-Bulgarian War

The Serbo-Bulgarian War was a war between Serbia and Bulgaria that erupted on 14 November 1885 and lasted until 28 November the same year. Final peace was signed on 19 February 1886 in Bucharest...

 (1885-1886) was laid in the foundations.

The building has three stories and features a coffeehouse, an art gallery, a number of refined halls varying in size, as well as an imposing concert hall with 450 seats. Due to all this, the Central Military Club has always been an important cultural centre of the capital, once exhibiting works by Ivan Mrkvička

Ivan Mrkvicka

Ivan Mrkvička was a Czech-born painter and an active contributor to the artistic life of newly-liberated Bulgaria in the late 19th and early 20th century...

, Vladimir Dimitrov, Jaroslav Věšín

Jaroslav Vešín

Jaroslav František Julius Věšín was a Czech painter who mainly worked in Bulgaria and who was noted as a master of genre painting. The realistic depiction of battle scenes from the First Balkan War are the subject of a substantial part of his work.Věšín was born in the town of Vraný in what is...

 and providing these noted artists with studios. The concert hall has also seen performances by actors and opera singers like Krastyu Sarafov, Nicolai Ghiaurov

Nicolai Ghiaurov

Nicolai Ghiaurov was a Bulgarian opera singer and one of the most famous bass singers of the postwar period. He was admired for his powerful, sumptuous voice, and was particularly associated with roles of Verdi.Ghiaurov married the Italian soprano Mirella Freni in 1978...

, Feodor Chaliapin

Feodor Chaliapin

Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin was a Russian opera singer. The possessor of a large and expressive bass voice, he enjoyed an important international career at major opera houses and is often credited with establishing the tradition of naturalistic acting in his chosen art form.During the first phase...

, Boris Christoff

Boris Christoff

Boris Christoff was a Bulgarian opera singer...

, and bands like Ladytron

Ladytron

Ladytron are an English electronic band formed in 1999 in Liverpool, Merseyside. The group consists of Helen Marnie , Mira Aroyo , Daniel Hunt and Reuben Wu .Their sound blends electropop with New Wave and shoegazing elements. Ladytron described their sound as "electronic pop"...

etc.