The building was designed by the Viennese architects Fellner and Helmer, famous for theatres across Central Europe, and opened in 1906. It was badly damaged by fire in 1923 and rebuilt, and again restored after bombing in the Second World War. It is named after Ivan Vazov, Bulgaria's national poet and the author of the novel Under the Yoke.
The theatre stages classic and modern plays in Bulgarian, and the fountain and gardens in front of it are lively on summer evenings.
Rest on a bench in the City Garden, where locals gather to play chess, before continuing your walk.
