Communist-Era Monuments In Bulgaria 🇧🇬
Ten landmarks caught on film camera.
Over the last few years, I was fortunate enough to travel around Bulgaria. I find the country to be relaxed and beautiful. It has mountains and sea. It is exciting to observe how the modern culture and lifestyle have been catching up recently, too. But one thing that strikes me is how the spirit of the past eras has been able to withstand the change of times, almost intangibly, independently of life itself. It has been fading away slowly, but it is still there. It is a rare privilege to witness such things before they are gone forever.
Communism played a huge yet controversial role in Bulgaria’s history. While it has been gone for over 30 years, its architectural legacy is still abundant all over the country. Some might find it oppressive. But despite its political context, it tells the story of the country in an undeniably monumental manner. It has this utopian feeling to it that is almost out of this world. It makes me think of life that could have existed in some kind of parallel universe. I wouldn’t want to live there, but I can’t help but wonder.
In this article, I rounded up ten communist-era monuments I caught up on film camera while traveling around Bulgaria. Tap the headlines for the exact locations on Google Maps.
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The now-crumbling monument house of the Bulgarian Communist Party, completed towards the end of the regime, is the country’s #1 brutalist landmark. You can see why just by looking at it. I have already gone there three times and wrote a whole article about it:
One of the beautiful things about Buzludzha is the number of gems you get to see on the way to it. The closest (and probably part of the bigger complex) are the two giant torches made of some kind of steel. At roughly 12 meters tall, I can’t even imagine how heavy they must be, not to mention how they were transported to the mountain. Besides, look at that backdrop.
At the foot of the Shipka mountain pass where Buzludzha is located, you will find a monument to Dimitar Blagoev, a Marxist philosopher who founded the Bulgarian Social-Democratic Party, the predecessor of the Bulgarian Communist Party.
I found this one randomly on the way from Kalofer to Buzludzha. It is not even on Google Maps. Considering the fact that historically Bulgarian resistance used to hide in the mountains from the oppressing regimes of the Ottoman Empire and then the Nazi forces, the monument’s composition suggests that these might be partisans making their way through the Shipka pass.
Hristo Botev was one of the leaders of Bulgarian resistance against the Ottoman Empire. The central part of his hometown of Kalofer is now devoted to the figure with the eponymous memorial complex and museum. Again, note the scale and the picturesque backdrop of this architecture.
Two centuries before Hristo Botev, Kalifer Voyvoda had been hijacking Ottoman caravans in the area until he was allowed to found a town that is now known by the name of Kalofer.
The name Samara comes from the Russian city whose nuns woven a flag for Bulgarian resistance at the beginning of the Russo-Turkish War. Its significance comes from the battle of Stara Zagora, where many Bulgarian soldiers sacrificed their lives to save the flag from capture by Ottoman forces. The monument is a giant concrete replica of the flag.
Along the central boulevard Bulgaria of the mountain city of Smolyan, there is a whole architectural complex in the style of Soviet modernism that includes a town hall, a post office, a regional museum, a theater, and other facilities, all interconnected by multi-level pedestrian passages. The centerpiece is the fountain, designed to resemble a waterfall or cascades, seen through a brutalist lens.
Again, missing on Google Maps, this is a rare example of optimism expressed through architecture. Just a five-minute drive away, there is an old-school mussel farm of Dalboka. Still prosperous.
Partisans Outside the Bulgarian Socialist Party
Sorry for the lighting situation here. This monument to partisans is located right in front of the active Bulgarian Socialist Party building. But unlike the natural backdrops of the previous monuments in this article, here is a bodega-type store selling alcohol and cigarettes.
What are your favorite examples of brutalist architecture? Please, share them in the comments section of this article. Hopefully, I will be able to visit them one day.
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truly beautiful! What film did you use?