Art Gallery (old school)

The Art Gallery of Sozopol, also known as the Picture Gallery, is one of the most scenic and culturally significant art institutions on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, established in 1991 and housed in the building of the Old School of Saints Cyril and Methodius — an architectural monument of culture — located at 78B Cyril and Methodius Street, in the northern part of the Old Town of Sozopol, in Sozopol Municipality, Burgas Region. The building is positioned dramatically at the edge of the rocky coastline above the Central Beach, offering panoramic views of the sea, the Sozopol Bay, and the islands of St Ivan and St Peter from its eastern terrace — views that are considered among the most beautiful in the Old Town and make the gallery a destination in its own right even beyond the art it houses.The permanent exhibition is spread over two floors and includes more than 300 works — 287 paintings and graphic works, and about 40 sculptures in marble, granite, bronze, and wood carving — by prominent Bulgarian and international artists. The permanent collection includes works by Yani Hrisopoulos, Alexander Mutafov (one of the first Bulgarian marine painters, who spent much of his life in Sozopol), Georgi Bozhilov-Slona, Nikolai Shmirgela, Georgi Gyonev, V. Simeonov, and P. Petrov, among others. The gallery is a regular venue for exhibitions, events, and cultural programmes organised during the annual Apollonia Arts Festival, as well as for other contemporary Bulgarian and international exhibitions throughout the season. The Art Gallery is part of the Municipal Cultural Institute Museum Centre — Sozopol, alongside the Archaeological Museum, the Ethnographic Museum, and the Exposition "Old Sozopol."Sozopol's art scene extends beyond the main gallery: also notable is the Alexander Mutafov House-Museum, whose studio — built in 1937 — was converted into a museum after the artist's death and opened to the public in 1981, housing about 60 of his works; and the privately held Laskaridi Gallery, located in a house from the late 18th or early 19th century on 19 Cyril and Methodius Street, immediately adjacent to the excavations of the medieval church complex and to the Church of St George the Victorious.