Ivaylo Nachev is an assistant professor at IBCT-BAS. He holds a MA degree in Modern Balkan History from the Sofia University and MA in European Studies from the University of Amsterdam. His scientific interests in urban history were shaped during his doctoral studies on modernization processes in Southeast Europe in the early 20th century. He is a co-author of the book Sofia and the Balkan Modernity (2016, in Bulgarian) and has published articles and studies on the economic, social and urban history of Bulgaria and the Balkans. His participation is motivated by his research, showing that there are still many lacunas in our knowledge of the urban past, and this project provides an opportunity to fill some of them. Motivating as well are the excellent team and the good idea that crystallized quite organically during the meetings of the participants in recent years. Also motivating are the huge and still underutilized opportunities of contemporary digital technologies for the development and dissemination of research results.

 Dr. Arch. Miglena Raykovska is an assistant professor at IICT-BAS and has extensive experience in the field of modern digital documentation of architectural and archaeological cultural heritage. Her main interests as well as her dissertation thesis are in the field of developing contemporary methods and techniques for graphic restoration of immovable archaeological heritage. As an architect and archaeologist, Dr. Raykovska works actively on problems related to the study of cultural heritage monuments and has carried out a number of projects in Bulgaria and abroad. Her participation in the project is motivated by the opportunity to create an environment in which we can freely walk along one of the most famous streets of the Bulgarian capital city in the past.

Yura Konstantinova graduated in History and Greek Philology at the Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. She is currently a professor at IBCT-BAS. In the project, she is responsible for searching for documents and materials related to missing and/or destroyed buildings and streets in Sofia. Prof. Konstantinova’s participation in the research project is motivated by her desire to discover things - forgotten stories, missing buildings, hidden alleys, secret corners, new friendships.

Petya Osenova is a professor of morphology, syntax and corpus linguistics at the Department of Bulgarian Language, Faculty of Slavic Philology at the Sofia University, and as well a long-time associate in language resources and technologies at the Section of Artificial Intelligence and Language Technologies at IICT-BAS. Her interests are in the field of formal grammars, the interaction between grammar and vocabulary, and natural language processing. In the project, Petya Osenova is responsible for training the participating teams in the linguistic and semantic technologies of the national research infrastructure CLaDA-BG, as well as for the resources that will be created through them. She is motivated by the interdisciplinary nature of the project, which will show the beauty of old Sofia through words, photos, and 3D reconstructions. She has lived near the Romanian Church and the historical Market Hall (Halite), which is an area affected by the bombing of Sofia at the end of World War II, and one of the intriguing things to her is how this part of Sofia looked like before that event.  

Yordana Nikolova has been part of the team of the Regional History Museum - Sofia since 2015. She graduated from the Sofia University, majoring in Archaeology. Her MA thesis is related with the necropolises of ancient Serdika in the period 2nd-6th centuries. She specialized as an expert evaluator at UniBIT, and is currently a junior researcher in the same institution. She is also studying a doctoral programme at the Department of Ancient History at the Sofia University. She has participated in various projects and conferences over the years, and since 2024 she is heading the initiative “Stories Told by Buildings”, a video broadcast dedicated to the stories of old Sofia.

One of the things that motivates her is that among her favorite moments in her work is the discovery of new stories, which are often forgotten ones. As part of the team of the museum of our city - the preservation of the city’s memory and memories of old Sofia - are among her priorities.

One of her favorite stories about Old Sofia is related to the house on Budapest Street No. 5, built by engineer Georgi Savov. He was the father of three daughters, one of whom was the wife of the famous Bulgarian painter Ivan Nenov, the painter Ekaterina Savova-Nenova. The name of her father, engineer Savov, is associated with many buildings in the center of Sofia, among which is the unfinished building of the National Library with a museum, in today’s Garden Kristal in downtown Sofia.

I graduated from the Varna Free University Chernorizets Hrabar majoring in Architecture in 2011. There I also defended my PhD dissertation in 2019. Since 2014, I have been teaching the Semiotics course for students majoring in “Design” at the same university. In 2020, I completed the Ecol de Chaillot course on the preservation of architectural heritage organized in the city of Plovdiv. In the same year, I started working in the administration of the Oborishte district in Sofia. A year later, I won a competition for an assistant professor at the University of Architecture, Civil Eng. and Geodesy, Department of Technology of Architecture. I subsequently became an assistant professor and had the opportunity to develop the course Semiotics in Architecture, which I teach to students majoring in Architecture. In the period 2022 - 2023, I was part of the team of the Architecture and Urban Planning Department of the Sofia Municipality, responsible for the immovable cultural heritage of the capital city. Since 2024, I have been the chief architect of the Oborishte district in Sofia. For me, the Secession era is one of the most beautiful and symbolically significant periods in Bulgarian (and not only) architecture. I encountered by chance old photos from the now nonexistent Targovska Street which inspired me to explore in more detail the messages that the ornaments of buildings from the period carry and convey.

I am an architect by education, and for 15 years I have been mainly involved in 3D visualizations of all types. For two years, I have been part of the team of the 3D digitization and microstructural analysis laboratory at IICT-BAS, where my main task is the graphic representation of cultural heritage sites or reconstructions of such sites - from historical buildings and monuments to fragments of thousands of years old archaeological artefacts.

My main activity on the project includes 3D modeling, texturing and visualization of the buildings for which our team manages to collect enough data, as well as the creation of a virtual walk through the streets of the city and in particular the disappeared Targovska Street.

I am motivated to participate in this project by both the desire to make the vision of Old Sofia accessible to a wider audience, and by the opportunity to learn new interesting facts about my hometown.

Doctoral degree in Archaeology - Museology at the Faculty of History, Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski". Working in Regional History Museum - Sofia, Chief Expert in the Department of Immovable Cultural Values. Specialist in the field of research and implementation in the field of exhibition and socialization of immovable cultural heritage with an archaeological and architectural profile and studies on the various forms and methods of exhibition and socialization of immovable cultural values. Search for historical sources of information (material, written, photographic) about the history of Sofia, as well as their research and analysis. Study of the biographies of historical figures (political figures, public figures, architects, etc.) related to the history of the capital and the immovable cultural heritage. Research in the field of Bulgarian military history.

Angel Zlatkov is working as a researcher at IBCT-BAS. He graduated from the Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski with a MA degree in “Past and Present of Southeast Europe” and specialized in the field of modern Bulgarian history (1878 - 1944). His scientific interests are related to the history of the Eastern Question, the cultural and historical heritage of the Balkans and the development of Bulgarian statehood in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the project, he is responsible for researching documents and materials related to missing and/or destroyed buildings and streets in Sofia. He was motivated to participate in the project by the opportunity to be part of an excellent multidisciplinary team with which to rediscover, preserve and present the past of our city in an exciting and interactive way. He loves stories about holiday walks and encounters by chance in Sofia’s gardens and parks.

Works at the IICT-BAS, Department of “Scientific Computations with Laboratory on 3D Digitization and Microstructure Analysis”. She specialises in processing and analysis of data from 3D recordings, 3D Modeling, create  virtual tours from captured 360-degree images. She has MA degree in Multimedia and Virtual Reality, at the Academy of Music, Dance and Visual Arts “Prof. Asen Diamandiev”, Plovdiv. She is motivated by the opportunity to contribute to the research of Sofia’s past. The study of architectural evolution and historical landmarks can deepen our understanding of urban development and societal changes over time. Furthermore, participating in such a project allows to contribute to the preservation and sharing of the stories of the city. One of Hristina’s favorite stories about Old Sofia is the legend of Serdica, the ancient city that once stood where Sofia is now. Another fascinating story is connected with the church of Hagia Sophia, which is a symbol of resilience over the centuries, surviving invasions and earthquakes. This is also the case with the story of the Roman ruins hidden beneath the modern city.

My name is Georgi Vassilev. I graduated in English Philology (BA) at the Plovdiv University "Paisiy Hilendarski". My interest in video and audio production, 3D digitization technologies and virtual reality was my main motivation to defend my master's degree in "Multimedia and Virtual Reality" at the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts "Prof. Asen Diamandiev" in the city of Plovdiv. I am currently an assistant professor at the Institute of Information and Communication Technologies at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. My main motivation for participating in the project "Growing, but not aging: semantic and 3D technologies for the history of streets and buildings in Sofia" is the opportunity to contribute to the development of augmented and virtual reality applications that will preserve and present the streets of Sofia for future generations in an attractive way, as well as the opportunity to work in a team of people with different, but also similar interests and fields of work.