The story of The Royal Station Kazichene:

A few kilometers from Sofia, near the Vrana Royal Palace, there is a forgotten architectural jewel – the Royal railway station in Kazichene with its rich history, important for both Bulgarians and Europeans. It was built by the first Bulgarian Monarch – Ferdinand Karl Leopold Maria – born in Vienna, Austria on February 26^th., 1861. He was first Prince (1887–1908) and then King/Tsar (1908–1918) of modern Bulgaria. It is located a few kilometers from the royal palace Vrana and its huge park with a famous botanical garden rich in hundreds of rare species of  trees and flowers, created personally by King Ferdinand, who was a passionate gardener and highly educated botanist.

The purpose of the small building in Viennese style was to welcome distinguished guests, visiting  the Bulgarian kings. It first served King Ferdinand and later his son – King Boris III. The famous personalities were traveling through Europe on the Orient-Express train, either with their destination being Bulgaria, or were stopping there, on their way to Istanbul. The guests were greeted with a ceremony  on the station’splatform. They were welcomed by the head of state in the beautiful, viennese-style rectangular waiting room with two sidewalks, magnificent arched windows and rich ornaments on the facade. The entrance arches had exquisite cast-iron columns with decorative capitals in support of the roof. Later, guests and hosts were  transferred on onto a  small, narrow-gauge train and just a  few minutes later they were at their destination – the beautiful park and the Royal Palace Vrana (Crow).

Many monarchs, such as Kaiser Wilhelm II, the English Kings George V, the Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire – Charles I, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, Kemal Ataturk, and other dignitaries, who paid official  or private visits to Bulgaria were met at the Royal Station. On September 9, 1936, during the Second World War,  Britain’s King Edward VIII arrived on a private visit to Bulgaria and was welcomed by King Boris III and his brother Prince Kiril at the Royal Station.

After the communist invasion of 1944, the Royal Station was plundered, the luxury interior furnishings were stolen and it’s splendor shattered. The building was used for many years as railway offices and then as a storage facility. Nevertheless, despite its destruction, it remained solid and beautiful.

In recent times, the Royal Station was totally  abandoned. The building  began to succumb to rain, snow andto  “accidental” fires. Еverything inside got ruined. Nearly a century after its construction, in 2009, it finally received the necessary status of “Cultural Property of Local Importance”, which at least on paper, should  save it from deliberate destruction or demolition.

Although it was declared a “cultural monument of architectural importance”, the Royal Station is still without an official owner. Several institutions – the National Institute for Cultural Heritage, Sofia Municipality, the District Government and the Ministry of Culture, have claimed ownership of the building, without assuming theresponsibility for the restoration and preservation of this architectural jewel.