Bulgaria will have its first skyscraper erected by the architect to be pronounced winner in this year's European Architectural Awards VIZAR'2005. The start of the forum, whose first edition was held in 2003, was given by Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov on Wednesday evening at the Miror Hall of the National Arts Gallery. More than a hundred projects are competing for the top award and the right to build up Sofia's first skyscraper. The winner will be officially disclosed on Saturday, organisers announced.

The event runs under the aegis of the Culture Ministry, Sofia Municipality, the International Academy of Architecture, the Bulgarian Architectures' Union, and the Architecture University based in the capital city. On the sidelines of the competition, participating architects will confer on the architecture and its role in modern society, the "lower city" and "vertical city", about cultural identity and state-of-the-art technologies.

There are two locations that might host the construction site of Sofia's first skyscraper, organisers said. The one is next to the centre-located building of Bulbank and the other one near the old station of Serdika in the city.