Galeriya Dimitâr Dobrovich is signposted from the centre as ‘Sirak Skirnik’. This art gallery in the park displays paintings by 19th- and 20th-century Bulgarian artists, including many by its namesake, Sliven-born painter Dimitâr Dobrovich. Among the works, which display French and Italian influences, are portraits of local luminaries and ordinary people, plus impressionistic landscapes (including an evocative portrayal of Veliko Târnovo).
The gallery’s most intriguing section, however, belongs to the Museum of Christian Art on the lower floor, which has many 18th- and 19th- century icons, some from the Tryavna school of icon painting. Works range from monumental wall icons to unique small pieces, the most unusual being an almost Oriental icon of the Virgin Mary surrounded by roses (1836).
