The National Academy of Arts is an institution of higher education

Higher education

Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...

 in 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...

. It is the oldest and most renowned academy of arts in the country.

The National Academy of Arts was founded in 1896 by the noted artists and public figures 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...

, Anton Mitov and Dr Ivan Shishmanov, who drafted a bill regarding the establishment of the State School of Drawing.

1,000 students are being educated at the academy in various art subjects, as well as 130 foreign students and 35 future doctors. The academy consists of two faculties, a Faculty of Fine Arts and a Faculty of Applied Arts, each offering a number of subjects.

The National Academy of Arts edifice was built in 1906 after a project by Alexander Smirnov, the construction being guided by F. Schwanberg.http://www.stroitelstvo.info/index.php?act=articles&aid=6609&detail=1&gcat_id=101

External links

• NAA website (in Bulgarian and English)