The hidden poetry of Sofia

Did you know that there are 28 poems from 28 countries in Europe on the walls of 28 buildings in Sofia?

You probably see some of them every day but haven’t realized they are all part of a common project. At our info stand during European Mobility Week we decided to create a game with the poems in order to make people explore the city through poetry and have fun at the same time. They had to pick a random building, guess a riddle to find out which exactly it is, look for the poem on it and take a photo with it in order to win a “Like 2 Bike” t-shirt.

See the winners in our European Mobility Week Photo Album on Facebook.

Wall-To-Wall Poetry project is a celebration of the European message of unity in diversity.

It was initiated by the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Bulgaria but became a European project in which EU member states and candidate countries share their poetry with Sofia. Within the project each embassy adopted a wall in the centre of the city and decorated it with a poem in its national language as well as translation in Bulgarian and English, thus bringing Europe’s values closer to people.

Here’s a list of all the poems in case you want to visit them:

1. Austria – Sofia Public Library, 4 Slaveykov Sq – Wolf Harranth
2. Belgium – Sofia University Metro Station (Orlov Most exit)
3. Bulgaria – Hristo Botev Construction and Architecture High School, 34 Evlogi and Hristo Georgievi Blvd – Hristo Botev
4. Cyprus – Lozenets Municipality, 2 Vasil Levski Blvd – Pantelis Mechanicos
5. Czech Republic – Czech Cultural Centre, 100 G.S. Rakovski Str – Jaroslav Seifert
6. Denmark – Sofia City Art Gallery, 1 Gurko Str – Piet Hein
7. Estonia – Architecture and Urban Planning Directorate, 5 Serdika Str – Jaan Kaplinski
8. Finland – Underpass in front of the Presidency – Pentti Saarikoski
9. France – Small City Theatre Behind the Canal, 2 Madrid Blvd – Paul Éluard
10. Germany – Vasil Levski National Stadium, 38 Evlogi and Hristo Georgievi Blvd – Friedrich von Schiller
11. Greece – Vasil Aprilov 38th School, 40 Shipka Str – Constantine Cavafy
12. Hungary – Sveti Sedmochislenitsi 7th School, 28 Tsar Shishman Str. – Sándor Petőfi
13. Ireland – Mall of SOfia, 101 Alexander Stamboliyski Blvd –  Máirtín Ó Direáin
14. Italy – Phone Palace, 4 Gurko Str – Dante Alighieri
15. Latvia – Honorary Consulate of Latvia, 4 Sveta Nedelya Sq – Rūdolfs Blaumanis
16. Lithuania – Sofia Public Library Branch, 1 Serdika Str – Marcelijus Martinaitis
17. Luxembourg – Sofia City Art Gallery, 1 Gurko Str – Raymond Schaack
18. Malta – Sofia City Hall, Vazrazhdane Disctrict, 62 Alexander Stamboliyski Blvd – Dun Karm Psaila
19. Netherlands – Natural History Museum, corner of Moskovska and Benkovski Str – Jan Hanlo
20. Poland – Bratya Miladinovi 30th School, 125A Alexander Stamboliyski Blvd – Czesław Miłosz
21. Portugal – Sofia City Hall, 33 Moskovska Str – Fernando Pessoa
22. Romania – 199 Theatre, 129 G.S. Rakovski Str – Mihai Eminescu
23. Slovakia – Slovak Embassy, 9 Yanko Sakazov Blvd – Ján Smrek
24. Slovenia – G.S. Rakovski 22nd School, 134 Vitosha Blvd – France Prešeren
25. Spain – Miguel de Cervantes Spanish High School, 1 Sultan Tepe Str – Félix Lope de Vega
26. Sweden – National Art Academy, 1 Shipka Str – Tomas Tranströmer
27. Turkey – Alphonse de Lamartine French High School, 35 Patriarh Evtimiy Blvd – Nâzım Hikmet
28. UK – Serdica Metro Station – Liz Lochhead