January 28 gave Bulgaria’s history two founding moments separated by half a century — one in the arts, one beneath the streets — both of which changed how the country thought about public life.
January 28, 1948 — Bulgaria’s State Higher Theatre School Is Established
The State Higher Theatre School was founded on January 28, 1948, providing Bulgarian theatre with an academic institution for the first time. Theatre had long occupied a central place in Bulgarian cultural life — from National Revival performances through national drama companies and modern repertory stages — but training had never been formalized into a higher-education framework. The new school changed that, creating a professional pipeline for actors, directors, and stage specialists that would shape generations of performers.
Over time the institution evolved into the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts, extending its reach into cinema and television. It remains one of Bulgaria’s most important creative schools, and its founding on this date marks the moment the performing arts were recognized as a discipline serious enough to require a university of their own.
January 28, 1998 — Sofia Metro Opens Its First Line
The first operational section of Sofia’s underground railway opened on January 28, 1998, completing a project that had been planned for decades. For a growing capital struggling with traffic, pollution, and expanding suburbs, an underground system promised something surface transport had long failed to deliver: reliable, predictable movement across the city regardless of what was happening on the streets above.
The opening was a practical milestone and a symbolic one — post-communist Sofia, still navigating economic hardship, had finished something large, complex, and permanent. The metro went on to reshape how residents understood distance within the capital, connecting districts that had previously felt far apart. January 28, 1998 belongs to the longer story of how Sofia became a modern European city.
See what else happened on January 27 and January 29 in Bulgaria. Discover the country from a different angle through our Bulgaria From Above photography series and destination guides.
