Plovdiv once-bright greens and blues. Torah scrolls are kept in the gilded Aron-ha-Kodesh. The Plovdiv Drama Theatre is a successor of the first professional theatre group in Bulgaria founded in 1881. The Plovdiv Puppet Theatre, founded in 1948, remains one of the leading institutions in this genre. The Plovdiv Opera was established in 1953. Another pillar of Plovdiv's culture is the Philharmonic, founded in 1945. Soloists such as Dmitri Shostakovich, Sviatoslav Richter, Mstislav Rostropovich, Yuri Boukov, and Mincho Minchev have worked with the Plovdiv Philharmonic. The orchestra has toured in almost all of the European countries. The Trakiya Folklore Ensemble, founded
PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv Another merger follows in 1945 with the "Catholic" club "Parchevich". After this wave of mergers, like many others in the country, the club is renamed to an abbreviation of the biggest clubs merged - the new name is "S.P.-45", meaning "Sportclub Parchevich - 1945". However, because of the "Western" phrasing ("sport" and "club" are non-Slavic words) the team is renamed again before the start of the season - the name of the club becomes ""Slavia" Plovdiv". In 1947 a new wave of consolidations of the sport organisations in the country sees Slavia Plovdiv merge with the team of the cooperative