Varna, Bulgaria

City landmarks include the Varna Archaeological Museum, exhibiting the Gold of Varna, the Roman Baths, the Battle of Varna Park Museum, the Naval Museum in the Italianate Villa Assareto displaying the museum ship Drazki torpedo boat, the Museum of Ethnography in an Ottoman-period compound featuring the life of local urban dwellers, fisherfolk, and peasants in the late 19th and early 20th century.

You can see the highlight landmarks using Varna City Card – it combines all essential cultural locations, gives many discounts to tourists in restaurants and bars, and overall saves money.

thumb|left|"Fountain of the Sirens" in the Sea Garden

thumb|The [[Sea Garden (Varna)|Sea Garden]]

The 'Sea Garden' is the oldest and perhaps largest park in town containing an open-air theatre (venue of the International Ballet Competition, opera performances and concerts), Varna Aquarium (opened 1932), the Festa Dolphinarium (opened 1984), the Nicolaus Copernicus Observatory and Planetarium, the Museum of Natural History, a terrarium, a zoo, an alpineum, a children's amusement park with a pond, boathouse and ice-skating rink, and other attractions. The National Revival Alley is decorated with bronze monuments to prominent Bulgarians, and the Cosmonauts' Alley contains trees planted by Yuri Gagarin and other Soviet and Bulgarian cosmonauts. The Garden is a national monument of landscape architecture and is said to be the largest landscaped park in the Balkans.

The waterfront promenade is lined by a string of beach clubs offering a vibrant scene of rock, hip-hop, Bulgarian and American-style pop, techno, and chalga. In October 2006, The Independent dubbed Varna "Europe's new funky-town, the good-time capital of Bulgaria". The city enjoys a nationwide reputation for its rock, hip-hop, world music, and other artists, clubs, and related events such as July Morning and international rock and hip-hop (including graffiti) venues.

thumb|[[Euxinograd palace]]

The city beaches, also known as sea baths (морски бани, morski bani), are dotted with hot (up to 55°С/131 °F) sulphuric mineral water sources (used for spas, swimming pools and public showers) and punctured by small sheltered marinas. Additionally, the long, high Asparuhov most bridge is a popular spot for bungee jumping. Outside the city are the Euxinograd palace, park and winery, the University of Sofia Botanical Garden (Ecopark Varna), the Pobiti Kamani rock phenomenon, and the medieval cave monastery, Aladzha.

Tourist shopping areas include the boutique rows along Prince Boris Blvd (with retail rents rivalling Vitosha Blvd in Sofia) and adjacent pedestrian streets, as well as the large mall and big-box cluster in the Mladost district, suitable for motorists. Two other shopping plazas, Piccadilly Park and Central Plaza, are conveniently located to serve tourists in the resorts north of the city centre, both driving and riding the public transit. ATMs and 24/7 gas stations with convenience stores abound.

thumb|Varna History Museum

Food markets, among others, include supermarket chains Billa, Kaufland and Metro. In stores and restaurants, credit cards are normally accepted. There is a number of farmers markets offering fresh local produce; the Kolkhozen Pazar, the largest one, also has a fresh fish market but is located in a crowded area virtually inaccessible for cars.

Like other cities in the region, Varna has its share of stray dogs, calm and friendly, flashing orange clips on the ears showing they have been castrated and vaccinated. However, urban wildlife is dominated by the ubiquitous seagulls, while brown squirrels inhabit the Sea Garden. Cats are also everywhere in the city. In January and February, migrating swans winter on the sheltered beaches.

Churches

thumb|Dormition of the Theotokos Cathedral at night

thumb|left|[[Saint Nicholas seamen's church]]

thumb|left|St. Athanasius church with [[Roman Thermae (Varna)|ancient thermae in foreground]]

thumb|Interior of the Dormition of the Theotokos Cathedral

Notable old Bulgarian Orthodox temples include the metropolitan Dormition of the Theotokos Cathedral (of the diocese of Varna and Veliki Preslav); the early-17th-century Theotokos Panagia (built on the site of an earlier church where Ladislaus III was perhaps buried); the St. Athanasius (former Greek metropolitan cathedral) on the footprint of a razed 10th-century church; the 15th-century St. Petka Parashkeva chapel; the seamen's church of Saint Nicholas; the Archangel Michael chapel, site of the first Bulgarian secular school from the National Revival era; and the Sts. Constantine and Helena church of the 14th-century suburban monastery of the same name.

The remains of a large 4th- to 5th-century stronghold basilica in Dzhanavara Park just south of town are becoming a tourist destination with some exquisite mosaics displayed in situ. The remains of another massive 9th-century basilica adjacent to the scriptorium at Boris I's Theotokos Panagia monastery are being excavated and conserved. A 4th- to 5th-century episcopal basilica north of the Thermae is also being restored. There is also a number of newer Orthodox temples; two, dedicated to apostle Andrew and the local martyr St. Procopius of Varna, are currently under construction. Many smaller Orthodox chapels have mushroomed in the area. In early 2009, Vasil Danev, leader of the ethnic Organization of the United Roma Communities (FORO), said local Roma would also erect an Orthodox chapel.

There is an Armenian Apostolic church; two Roman Catholic churches, a thriving Evangelical Methodist episcopal church offering organ concerts, active Evangelical Pentecostal, Seventh-day Adventist, and two Baptist churches.

Two old mosques (one is open) have survived since Ottoman times, when there were 18 of them in town, as have two once stately but now dilapidated synagogues, a Sephardic and an Ashkenazic one, the latter in Gothic style (it is undergoing restoration). A new mosque was recently added in the southern Asparuhovo district serving the adjacent Muslim Roma neighbourhood.

There is also a Buddhist centre.

On a different note, spiritual master Peter Deunov started preaching his Esoteric Christianity doctrine in Varna in the late 1890s, and, in 1899–1908, the yearly meetings of his Synarchic Chain, later known as the Universal White Brotherhood, were convened there.

Architecture

thumb|[[Art Nouveau mansion on Prince Boris I Boulevard]]

thumb|Chaika apartment complex, the socialist showcase for the 1972 World Congress of Architecture

By 1878, Varna was an Ottoman city of mostly wooden houses in a style characteristic of the Black Sea coast, densely packed along narrow, winding lanes. It was surrounded by a stone wall restored in the 1830s with a citadel, a moat, ornamented iron gates flanked by towers, and a vaulted stone bridge across the River Varna. The place abounded in pre-Ottoman relics, ancient ruins were widely used as stone quarries.

Today, very little of this legacy remains; the city centre was rebuilt by the nascent Bulgarian middle class in late 19th and early 20th centuries in Western style with local interpretations of Neo-Renaissance, Neo-Baroque, Neoclassicism, Art Nouveau and Art Deco (many of those buildings, whose ownership was restored after 1989, underwent renovations).

Stone masonry from demolished city walls was used for the cathedral, the two elite high schools, and for paving new boulevards. The middle class built practical townhouses and coop buildings. Elegant mansions were erected on main boulevards and in the vineyards north of town. A few industrial working-class suburbs (of one-family cottages with small green yards) emerged. Refugees from the 1910s wars also settled in similar poorer yet vibrant neighbourhoods along the city edges.

During the rapid urbanisation of the 1960s to the early 1980s, large apartment complexes sprawled onto land formerly covered by small private vineyards or agricultural cooperatives as the city population tripled. Beach resorts were designed mostly in a sleek modern style, which was somewhat lost in their recent more lavish renovations. Modern landmarks of the 1960s include the Palace of Culture and Sports, built in 1968.

With the country's return to capitalism since 1989, upscale apartment buildings mushroomed both downtown and on uptown terraces overlooking the sea and the lake. Varna's vineyards (лозя, lozya), dating back perhaps to antiquity and stretching for miles around, started turning from mostly rural grounds dotted with summer houses or villa into affluent suburbs sporting opulent villas and family hotels, epitomised by the researched postmodernist kitsch of the Villa Aqua.

With the new suburban construction far outpacing infrastructure growth, ancient landslides were activated, temporarily disrupting major highways. As the number of vehicles quadrupled since 1989, Varna became known for traffic jams; parking on the old town's leafy but narrow streets normally takes the sidewalks. At the same time, stretches of shanty towns, more befitting Rio de Janeiro, remain in Romani neighbourhoods on the western edge of town due to complexities of local politics.

The beach resorts were rebuilt and expanded, without being as heavily overdeveloped as were other tourist destinations on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, and their greenery was mostly preserved. New modern office buildings started reshaping the old centre and the city's surroundings.

Education

In 2016, Varna was home to over 37,000 students.

Higher education

thumb|[[Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy]]

thumb|[[Kaliakra (Tall ship)|Kaliakra, the Naval Academy training barquentine, in Varna Bay]]

University of Economics, founded on 14 May 1920 as the Higher School of Commerce, is the second oldest Bulgarian university after Sofia University. It is the first private one—underwritten by the Varna Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Prof. Tsani Kalyandzhiev, University of Zurich alumni and a research chemist in the United States, was university's first rector (principal).
Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy is the oldest technical educational institution in Bulgaria. The institution started as a Maritime School, established in 1881 in Ruse. After 1900 the now called Engineering School to the Fleet was moved to Varna and subsequently named as His Majesty's Naval Academy in 1942. In 1949, the Naval School adopted as its patron Nikola Vaptsarov, a poet, who graduated the school in 1926, and received the name N. Y. Vaptsarov People's Naval School.
Medical University Varna was established in 1961 and is a recognised abroad as a leading institution for quality medical education. The university has attracted students from 44 countries and is partnering with 85 foreign institutions across the globe.
Technical University of Varna was founded in 1962 and was first established as Mechanical-Electrical Engineering Institute.
Chernorizets Hrabar Varna Free University, founded in 1991, was the first private university after 1989. It specialises in International Economics and Administration, Law, and Architecture.

Institutes and colleges

There are four BAS research institutes: Oceanology, Fisheries, Aero and Hydrodynamics, Metallography. The Institute of Oceanology (IO-BAS) has been active in Black Sea deluge theory studies and deepwater archaeology in cooperation with Columbia University, MIT, UPenn, and National Geographic.

Colleges:

College of Tourism, University of Economics
Higher School of Management

Other universities' local branches:

New Bulgarian University Local Centre Varna
Constantine of Preslav University of Shumen Department of Information, Qualification and Continuing Education Varna

Secondary education

Some of the top high schools are:

First Language School (English and German)
Dr. Petar Beron Second High School of Mathematics
Acad. Metodi Popov Third High School of Science and Mathematics
Frédéric Joliot-Curie Fourth Language School (French, English, Spanish and Portuguese)
John Exarch Fifth Language School (English, German, French and Russian)
Alexander Pushkin Eighth Language School (English, Russian, Italian, German and French)
Constantine of Preslav National High School for the Humanities and Arts
Dobri Hristov National School of Arts (instrumental and vocal music, dance, and visual arts)
Private Trade School (offering opportunities for international students and distance education)

Libraries

Pencho Slaveikov Public Library

Culture

Varna has some of the finest and oldest museums, professional arts companies, and arts festivals in the nation and is known for its century-old traditions in visual arts, music, and book publishing, as well as for its bustling current hip hop and pop-culture scene. Over the past few decades, it developed as a festival centre of international standing. Varna was a front-runner for European Capital of Culture for 2019, planning to open several new high-profile facilities such as a new opera house and concert hall, a new exhibition centre, and a reconstruction of the Summer Theatre, the historic venue of the International Ballet Competition.

Museums

thumb|The [[Dolphinarium]]

thumb|National Naval Museum, on display [[Drazki torpedo boat]]

thumb|"Nicolaus Copernicus" Observatory and Planetarium

Varna Archaeological Museum (founded 1888)
Naval Museum (founded 1923)
Roman Baths
Aladzha Monastery
Battle of Varna Park Museum (founded 1924)
Museum of Ethnography
National Revival Museum
History of Varna Museum
History of Medicine Museum
Health Museum (children's)
Puppet Museum (antique puppets from Puppet Theatre shows)
Bulgar Settlement of Phanagoria ethnographical village (mockup, with historical reenactments)
Aquarium (founded 1912)
Nicolaus Copernicus Observatory and Planetarium
Naval Academy Planetarium
Museum of Natural History
Terrarium
Varna Zoo
Dolphinarium (founded 1984)

Galleries

Boris Georgiev City Art Gallery
Georgi Velchev Gallery
Modern Art Centre (Graffit Gallery Hotel)
Print Gallery
Numerous smaller fine and applied arts galleries

Performing arts professional companies

thumb|[[Stoyan Bachvarov Dramatic Theatre]]

Opera and Philharmonic Society (opera, symphonic and chamber music, ballet, and operetta performances; earliest philharmonic society founded 1888)
Stoyan Bachvarov Drama Theatre (founded 1921)
State Puppet Theatre Varna (in Bulgarian, founded 1952; often cited as the finest one in the nation, performances for children and adults)
Bulgarian Theatre
Varna Ensemble (traditional folk music and dance)

Other performing arts groups

Morski Zvutsi Choir School (academic choirs)
Dobri Hristov Choir School (academic choir)

Notable bands and artists

Deep Zone (tech house/electro)
DJ Balthazar (house)
Big Sha and the Gumeni glavi (Rubber Heads) (hip hop)
100 Kila (hip hop)
Elitsa Todorova (ethnic & electro)
Stephen Sacklarian (artist)
Nelko Kolarov (composer, musician)
Gery-Nikol Georgieva, Gery-Nikol (pop, R&B, club)
Darina Yotova, Dara (pop, R&B)

Concert halls

thumb|Festival Centre organ

thumb|The [[Palace of Culture and Sports also hosts trade shows.]]

Festival and Congress Centre (in Bulgarian, 1986; concerts, film, theatre and dance shows, exhibitions, trade shows)
Palace of Culture and Sports (1968; sports events, concerts, film shows, exhibitions, trade shows, sports classes, fitness)

International arts festivals

In the Palace International Short Film Festival, founded in 2003, annual
Varna International Ballet Competition, founded 1964 (biennial)
Varna Summer International Music Festival, founded 1926 (annual)
RADAR Festival Beyond Music, founded 2014 (annual)
Moving Body Festival , founded 2016 (annual)
Without Borders International art forum and Festival – Varna, Albena, Balchik (biannual)
Varna Summer International Jazz Festival (annual)
International May Choir Competition (annual)
European Music Festival (annual)
Operosa Euxinograd opera festival (annual)
Sea and Memories international music festival devoted to popular sea songs (annual)
International Folk Festival, (annual)
Discovery International Pop Festival (annual)
Song on Three Seas pop and rock competition (annual)
Brazilian Culture Festival (annual)
Varna Summer International Theatre Festival (annual)
Golden Dolphin Intenrtional puppet festival (triennial)
Under the Stars arts festival (annual, theatre and opera)
Zvezdna daga children's competition (annual)
Love is Folly film festival (annual)
International Festival of Red Cross & Health Films (biennial, founded in 1965) International Red Cross Films Festival
World Animation Festival (founded 1979, to resume in 2009)
International Print Biennial (founded 1981)
August in Art festival of visual arts (triennial) (in Bulgarian)
Videoholica international art festival (annual)
product Festival of Contemporary Art (annual)
Slavic Embrace Slav poetry readings (annual)
Fotosalon (annual)

National events

Golden Rose Bulgarian Feature Film Festival
Got Flow National Hip-Hop Dance Festival (annual)
May Arts Saloon at Radio Varna
Bulgaria for All National Ethnic Festival (annual, minority authentic folklore)
Dinyo Marinov National Children's Authentic Folklore Music Festival
Morsko konche (Seahorse) children's vocal competition (annual, pop)
Navy Day (second Sunday of August)
Urban Folk Song Festival
Christmas Folk Dance Competition

Local events

Easter music festival
Classical guitar festival
Golden Fish fairy tale festival
Kinohit movie marathon
Crafts fair (August 2012)
Dormition of the Theotokos festival, cathedral patron, Varna Day (15 August)
Beer Fest
Saint Nicholas Day (6 December)
Christmas festival
New Year's Eve concert and fireworks (Independence Square)
Operosa Opera Festival
Anifest (Anime, Manga and Japanese culture Festival)

Varna in fiction

In Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula Varna was Count Dracula's "transportation hub" — the point of origin of the ship Demeter, the initial destination of the Czarina Catherine, and the place where the vampire's annihilation was planned to be carried out.
In the Mechanic: Resurrection film, Tommy Lee Jones's character Max Adams lives in Varna and the headquarters of his criminal organisation is based there.
In Andrei Gulyashki's novel Avakoum Zahov versus 07 British spy 07 kidnapped Soviet physicist Konstantin Trofimov from a villa in Varna.
In Geoffrey Trease's novel The Hills of Varna "the monastery at Varna" is a fictional place in the Balkans, not related to the real city.
In All the Year Round (Vol. 30), 1873 Charles Dickens mentioned modern Varna when he visited the city as a war correspondent during the Crimean War in 1854.
In Garth Greenwell's 2016 novel What Belongs to You Varna is the hometown of Mitko, the narrator's love interest, and a pivotal scene takes place in a hotel there.
In Hungarian historical series Rise of the Raven the Battle of Varna is depicted as part of Hunyadi's crusade.

Media

As early as the 1880s, numerous daily and weekly newspapers were published in Bulgarian and several minority languages. Local newspapers include: Cherno More, Chernomorie, Dialog, Narodno Delo, Pozvanete, Varna (weekly), Vlastta (e-newspaper), Varna Utre. The national newspapers' local editions are 24 Chasa More, Morski Dnevnik, Morski Trud. Morski Sviat and Prostori are the two major magazines published in Varna.

Local radio stations are Radio Varna opened in 1934, DarikNews (Varna), FM+ Varna, Radio Bravo, Alpha Radio (online radio). Local TV stations: BNT More, TV Cherno more, TV Varna.

Galaktika book publishing house occupied a prominent place nationally in the 1970–1990s, focusing on international sci-fi and marine fiction, contemporary non-fiction and poetry.

Publishing houses in Varna include: Alfiola (New Age), Alpha Print (advertising), Atlantis, Kompas, Liternet (poetry, fiction, non-fiction: electronic and print), Naroden Buditel (history), Slavena (history, children's books, travel, multimedia, advertising).

Web portals include: Varna Info (general info, English), Moreto.net (general info, news), Chernomore.bg (news), Ida.bg (general info, news), Varnaeye (tourism, history, events and business), Varna-guide (travel guide), Programata (cultural guide), Varna-sport.com (sports), Varna na mladite (youth), Zdravochnik.bg (health guide).

Sports

thumb|Sea Garden leisure centre

thumb|"Julian Rusev" swimming pool

Football

In the late 19th century, Varna was considered the birthplace of Bulgarian football with a Swiss gym teacher, Georges de Regibus, coaching the first varsity team at the men's high school. Association football is the biggest spectator sport with two rival clubs in the nation's top professional league, Cherno More (the Sailors), founded in 1913 and four times national champion, including the first championship in 1925, and Spartak (the Falcons), founded in 1918, one time champion and participant in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1983, when it reached the second knockout round and played Manchester United. In 2021, Fratria was established. Few other football academies exist.

From 1993 to 2003, Grand Hotel Varna was a hegemon in the women football league, winning 10 consecutive titles.

By 2024, Spartak Stadium and Ticha Stadium are the biggest stadiums in town, since Yuri Gagarin Stadium demolition. New Varna Stadium is currently in construction on the place of Gagarin Stadium and is expected to become the biggest stadium in the city.

Swimming

Modern Bulgarian swimming dates to 18 May 1923 when the Bulgarian Public Marine Union was established in Varna. The organisation was the first to manage and administer swimming as a sport in Bulgaria. Famous Bulgarian swimmers from Varna are Aleksi Aleksiev (aka the Pope), Milko Rachev (aka Brother Milko), Maria Nikolova, Julian Rusev. Some of the leading swimming clubs are PSK Cherno More, KPS Asteri, KPS Torpedo, SKPS Albatros and KPS Cherno More.

Julian Rusev pool is the second oldest 50 m Olympic-size pool in the country, built in 1964 and located on the South beach in Varna. After a major redevelopment in 2008 council owned entity was established named Swimming Complex "Primorski". The 50m pool, now in line with FINA pool criteria, was adjacent to the water polo and diving pool "Aleksi Aleksiev". Subsequently, a third 25 m covered pool was built next to the diving pool along with a SPA & gym centre.

There are three other swimming pools in the city.

On the first Sunday of August the marathon "Galata – Varna" takes place, the oldest Bulgarian swimming marathon. It dates back to 1939 and it attracts nearly 300 national and foreign swimmers. Bulgaria greatest swimmer Petar Stoychev holds the all-time record of 46 min for swimming the 4.5 km open water distance, crossing the Varna Bay.

Other sports

Men's basketball (Euroins Cherno More), women's volleyball, gymnastics, boxing, martial arts, sailing and tennis are also vibrant. A karting racing and a go kart track and a hippodrome with a horseback riding school is located in the Vinitsa neighborhood. Varna karting track is biggest track in Bulgaria .It has more than 30pcs rental go kart and 10 buggies. Another horse club is located just 10 minutes' drive away from Varna in the nearby village of Kichevo. Asparuhov bridge is a major Bulgarian bungee jumping site managed by Club Adrenalin. Cricket has been most recently introduced by ex-pats from cricket playing nations to the city's sport scene.

In August 2007 a new public leisure centre was opened in Mladost district. The track-field stadium consists of football, basketball and volleyball fields and is part of a larger complex of sports facilities for mini-golf, tennis, biking, mini-lakes and ice-skating. Other public leisure centres opened in the Sea Garden, Asparuhov Park and elsewhere. The number and range of gym and recreation clubs in Varna have increased in recent years, which reflects the healthy lifestyle of the average Varna citizens.

In the region, there are three golf courses—Lighthouse Golf Club, BlackSeaRama Golf & Villas and Thracian Cliffs Golf & Beach Resort. The three 18-hole golf courses are of professional quality, constructed in the region to the north of the city in the vicinity of Balchik and Kavarna.

Varna also hosts international competitions, including world championships, and national events in several sports on a regular basis, including auto racing and motocross, karting, open water swimming marathons. Bulgarian national basketball and volleyball teams host their games, including FIVB Volleyball World League games, at the Palace of Culture and Sports.

Varna athletes won one of the three medals for Bulgaria at the 2016 Summer Olympics and four of the 12 medals at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Legacy: Other places named Varna

Varna Peninsula on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica, is named after Varna.

Varna, Illinois, a small town of 400 people, was named in this city's honour. The War of Varna was going on at the time.

Varnensky District and its administrative centre in the Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia are named in commemoration of the taking of Varna by the Russian army during the 1828–1829 Russo-Turkish War.

Varna Drive, in Toronto, Canada, is named after this city. There is also a hamlet in southern Ontario (Huron County) named Varna.

Varna, an area just outside of Aarhus, Denmark. This was named after the Bulgarian city, because Baron Christian C. N. Gersdorff, a former owner of Marselisborg estate, had participated in Russian war service on the Black Sea coast.