A new book delves into the mysterious history of Vrana Palace, home to Bulgaria's Third Kingdom rulers, from its naming to hosting world leaders.

History whispers in the halls of Vrana Palace near Sofia, a place that has witnessed the triumphant glory and the tragic fatalism of Bulgaria. This palace, built by Tsar Ferdinand at the beginning of the 20th century, has become a repository of the nation's rise and fall.

This week, the book "Vrana in the Crown: The Unseen History of the Royal Palace" by Professor Ivaylo Shalafov, director of the Fund "Tsar Boris and Tsarina Joanna," was presented in the palace's salons. The book offers a comprehensive historical investigation, assembling nearly all the lost facts from the palace's construction to its abandonment and recent restoration.

The book begins with the palace's naming: Tsar Ferdinand, a figure rich in contradictions and varied interests from mysticism to ornithology, decided the name would be based on the first bird to land on the roof. As a Wagner enthusiast and scholar of Norse mythology and knightly legends, Ferdinand knew the powerful Odin was accompanied by two ravens—Hugin and Munin (Thought and Memory)—who would travel to earth daily to gather information.

Professor Shalafov does not idealize the history of the Third Bulgarian Kingdom. He depicts it as a story of both triumph and tragedy, fragility and futility. The palace has hosted emperors, dictators, future popes, and exiled kings, leaving behind stories that read like scenes from a novel.

The book "Vrana in the Crown" is more than a description of a palace; it tells a new chapter of Bulgarian history through a place that has seen it all.

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Starting in 1907, the palace began hosting its first foreign dignitaries. That year, the son of Tsar Liberator, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, along with his wife Maria Pavlovna, visited Sofia for the unveiling of the monument to Tsar Liberator.