The exhibition presents four institutions having a common origin – Sofia History Museum, the City Library, Sofia State Archives and Sofia Art Gallery.

In 1928 on the occasion of celebrating the half-century jubilee since the Liberation of Sofia and the 1000th anniversary of the Golden Age of Bulgarian Letters and Literature the then mayor General Vladimir Vazov issued a written order by virtue of which the Sofa Municipal Museum was set up.
This was the beginning of collecting materials and evidence about the history, culture and art of Sofia – books, documents, photos, maps, schemes, archaeological findings, artefacts, sculptures, paintings, graphics.

The museum was housed at different addresses from 1929 to 1941 when a special building was opened for it at 3 Banski Square (the same building was later demolished during the bomb raids in March 1944). In 1948 part of the pictorial fund of the museum was transferred to the newly established National Art Gallery. In April 1952 the library and the archives separated from the City Museum and in October the same year the Museum of the History of Sofia and the City Gallery were pronounced independent institutions.

Today, 80 years after the visionary creation of the City Museum, which gave rise to four significant situations, these same institutions have their own addresses and paths of development.

The exhibition is an exploration of the historic and artistic memory and shows over 150 exhibits – paintings, sculptures, books, documents, photos.

The exhibition is accompanied by a bilingual catalogue.