It is among the symbols of the city. It has been declared a work of park art. To the north, the Sea Garden borders the park of the state-government residence Euksinograd. These 2 parks have a relatively uniform area of about 820 decas. The difference between them is that the Sea Garden is visited by about half a million people, and the park of Euksinograd is for use only by the presidency and the government and is maintained much better.
History
By the middle of the 19th century, the area of the Sea Garden was a nude field, outside the fortified outlines of the city, with several trees. Only in the area of the Naval Museum (then Ani cullabia) there are vineyards and a small garden called the Blood Garden (Kanli bahcha) for a gardener killed in the area. Nearby were the town’s slaughterhouses. Under the Pantheon, there were French cemeteries, where the dead of cholera in 1854 French soldiers were buried, next door to the old city cemeteries. The dump from the city was dumped on the seashore.
In the spring of 1862, Hafiz Eyoub, chairman of the local trade council, with the support of the city’s Muslim (mayor) Khalil Efendi and the Turkish commandant of the city Said Pasha, ordered the construction of a hedge of shrubs on a dozen acres for a municipal garden (Belidie bahcha). It was a vegetable garden in the area of the current entrance-colonnade and was later expanded by another 4 decares, where ish trees and new orchards, sour-cherries and chestnuts were planted.
Soon after the Liberation, in 1881, the Mayor of Varna Mikhail Colony proposed to create an urban garden around the theater and a seaside park. His idea was embraced with ridicule and distrust by the local parliament, which allocated a negligible amount for the venture. However, the insistence of the mayor and some of his surroundings is gradually being crowned with success. There are 26 acres of parkland and 130 trees have been planted. The famous archaeologist Karel Shkorpil, who lives in Varna, invited at the insistence of the municipality the Czech park builder Anton Novak, who was famous for the construction of the Shonbrunn and Belvedere palaces in Vienna. The architect took to heart the task assigned to him and the place was quickly cleaned, mapped and the first rare plants were planted.
On March 7, 1897, the municipal council decided to make a water jump behind the buffet (on the site of the current “Sea Casino”). Gradually the sea garden grew and Varna developed as a resort and spa center. In 1912 – 1913 several washes and lighting were built on the alleys. In 1908 it was decided to create an alley of the Renaissance. Monuments of the greatest Bulgarians have been erected – Hristo Botev, Vasil Levski, St. Constantine and Helena. Paisii Hilendarski, Georgi Rakovski, Lyuben Karavelov, Stefan Karadzha, Georgi Benkovski, Panayot Volov, Sofroniy Vrachanski, Neofit Bozveli, Antim I, Petar Beron, Konstantin Fotinov, Vasil Aprilov, Petko Slaveykov, Miladinovi brothers, Gavril Krastevich and Todor Ikonomov.
In the highest part of the Renaissance alley through socialism was built a party monument called the Pantheon, and created an alley for the fallen anti-fascists. Unique is the tradition of planting coniferous plants by Russian cosmonauts who have visited Varna. And today the tree planted by the first Bulgarian cosmonaut Georgi Ivanov grows near the Pantheon. The first tree was planted by the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.
In 1906, the construction of one of the most famous attractions of the city began – the Aquarium (Marine Biological Station), today the Institute of Fishery Resources of the SA. In 1928, a tennis court and a playground were already operating in the Sea Garden. In the 1950s in the Sea Garden, he found his contemporary home the Navy Museum. Today, with the name Naval Museum, it is among the 100 national tourist sites.
On April 30, 1961, a zoo was opened. Its first occupant was the Bear Maxim, gifted by the sailors from the squadron mortar “Georgi Dimitrov”. The Natural History Museum of Varna is located in a converted army building. In 1968 the Astronomical Observatory was also built. At the entrance to the Sea Garden after the colonnade, a sundial was built, stylized depicting a swan taking off.
