Sofia Theological Seminary

The Sofia Seminary of St John of Rila (Bulgarian: Софийска духовна семинария „Св.

Yoan Rilski“), located in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, is the main seminary of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and an ecclesiastical institution of high education.

The Sofia Seminary's construction began in 1902, when Knyaz Ferdinand of Bulgaria laid the foundation stone together with the chairman of the Holy Synod, Metropolitan Simeon of Varna and Veliki Preslav, in the presence of ministers and other influential figures.

The complex, designed by Austro-Hungarian architect Friedrich Grünanger, who united Eclecticism with elements of traditional Byzantine architecture, was completed towards the end of 1902 and inaugurated on 20 January 1903.

In the spring of 1990 the buildings of the Sofia Seminary were given back to the Holy Synod and education was restored.