The Sea Garden is one of the symbols of the city of Varna. It stretches along the sea it is famous for its well-maintained landscaped areas, quiet alleys, rich and diverse natural vegetation, and the numerous cultural monuments, located within its territory.
The impressive central entrance of the Sea Garden, designed with columns, was built in 1939 according to a project by Georgi Popov, who was the city’s chief architect at the time.
Following the Liberation, in 1881, Mayor Mihail Koloni was the first to raise the issue of creating a city garden (behind the Theatre) and a modern seaside park. Thanks to the efforts of Mihail Koloni and his associates the garden soon expanded to 26 decares, the first 130 trees were planted, the paths were improved.
The Sea Garden is forever associated with the name of the Czech landscape architect Anton Novak. At the request of the Varna municipality, in 1894, Karel Shkorpil invited Novak to Varna. The park designer had specialized in Schönbrunn and Belvedere palaces in Vienna. In a short time the slaughterhouse and dump were moved, the bank cleared, and the improvement of the site behind the ravine next to the cemetery begun. The work of procuring the appropriate tree vegetation was enormous. Valuable species from Varna, Longosa and Strandzha, the Mediterranean and Constantinople were transported with carts. Soon the Sea Garden won the fame of the most beautiful park in the Balkans.
In 1908, the committee decided to establish the Alley of the National Revival, featuring monuments to Hristo Botev, Vasil Levski, Paisii Hilendarski, Georgi Rakovski, Lyuben Karavelov, Stefan Karadzha, Georgi Benkovski, Panayot Volov, Sofronii Vrachanski, Neofit Bozveli, Antim I, Petar Beron, Konstantin Fotinov, Vasil Aprilov, Petko Slaveykov, Miladinovi brothers, Gavril Krastevich, and Todor Ikonomov. The committee raised voluntary donations from private individuals, municipalities, district councils, associations, etc. to achieve this goal. It was decided a monument to be unveiled every year on July 27th but the Balkan Wars and the First World War prevented the realization of the initiative.
