Top Bulgarian Right-Winger Turns Department Store into Museum

The Central Department Store building is the first one on the left. Photo by Sofia Photo Agency

The leader of the right-wing Democrats for Strong Bulgaria Party (DSB), Ivan Kostov, voiced Wednesday the idea to turn the building of the Central Department Store in downtown Sofia into a museum.

Kostov motivated his somewhat surprising idea to purchase from the current owners the emblematic building and make it the National History Museum with the fact the building, as a shopping center, can no longer compete with the number of modern malls popping all over the city.

“If I thought of it earlier – this would already be a museum. The building does not have the infrastructure to be a shopping center, but all Sofa visitors pass by it,” Kostov, who is also a former Prime Minister said, admitting the idea belongs to a construction businessman, brother of a fellow DSB party member.

The DSB experts have estimated the purchase cost at EUR 15 M. Kostov's partner in the right-wing Blue Coalition, and leader of the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), Martin Dimitrov, was quick to point out, the idea belongs to DSB only, saying it is extravagant and not feasible in times of crisis.

The building in question is owned by Georgi Gergov, a wealthy Plovdiv businessman, who is close to the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), and is managed by Gergov's son Todor.

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