Bulgaria Concert Complex is part of the multifunctional building in the center of Sofia, built between 1935 and 1937.

The Bulgaria architectural complex, including a concert hall, a hotel, a restaurant and a pastry shop, originated as an idea of the Chinovnichesko Cooperative Savings Insurance Company, which in 1932 chose the project of the architects Stancho Belkovski and Ivan Danchov through a competition.

The building, situated on three streets – Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd., Georgi Benkovski and Aksakov, is considered an example of modernism of the period between World War I and World War II, with bold solutions including sinking chairs in the concert hall, a convertable transparent roof over the restaurant and sliding windows of the pastry shop.

The concert hall had 1 470 seats distributed on three levels – ground floor, first and second balcony. In order to achieve the extremely good acoustics, it was specially lined according to the requirements of the Hertz Institute for Acoustical Research in Berlin. One of the great achievements was the installation of the first concert organ in Bulgaria, a German Sauer make. With its 4 manuals, 72 registers and 6000 pipes, the organ remains the largest on the Balkan Peninsula to this day.

The opening of the Bulgaria Complex took place on October 9^th, 1937 with a festive concert of the Academic Symphony Orchestra. It was conducted by Tsanko Tsankov and the soloists were the French organist Joseph Bonnet and the famous Bulgarian musicians Lyuba Encheva, Dimitar Nenov and Pancho Vladigerov. The programme included works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg Friedrich Handel, Petko Stainov and Pancho Vladigerov, who composed one of his most popular works, Piano Concerto No. 3, especially for the opening of the new hall.

During the bombing on May 24^th, 1944 the hall was demolished and the organ and the two Steinway concert grand pianos were irreparably destroyed.

In 1949 the Bulgaria Concert Hall was partially reconstructed and became the home of the orchestra that had played at the opening twelve years earlier and is nowadays known as the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra. Over the next 25 years the hall grew increasingly popular with artists, the chamber hall being restored in 1974. In the same year, the German company Schuke installed a new concert organ with 3 manuals and 55 registers in the Bulgaria Hall, the biggest one existing in the country today.

In 1978 the Bulgaria architectural complex was proclaimed a cultural landmark of national importance.

The Concert complex with its concert halls became a kind of centre of classical music in Bulgaria, hosting all the outstanding Bulgarian musicians as well as some of the greatest international performers of the 20th century.

Until 1989, a national music festival was held every four years in Bulgaria Hall, attended by all state symphony orchestras in the country.

During the early years of the 21^st century the concert complex retained its extraordinary importance for the cultural life in Bulgaria. In addition to being home to the Sofia Philharmonic and a venue for various ensembles from around Sofia and the country, it also houses the National Sheet Music Library. The complex comprises a large hall with 1,087 seats, a chamber hall with 216 seats, a marble hall – Studio Musica – with 50 seats, a recording studio, and since 2004 – an art gallery which nowadays hosts exhibitions of great Bulgarian artists and photographers. All the halls are equipped with Steinway concert grand pianos, and in addition to these, the complex owns the Bösendorfer and Blüthner instruments.