site.btaCourt Dismisses Sculptor's Appeal against Sofia City Hall Decision on Removal of Controversial Monument

Court Dismisses Sculptor's Appeal against Sofia City Hall Decision on Removal of Controversial Monument

Sofia, January 13 (BTA) - Bulgaria's Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) Wednesday dismissed an appeal by Prof. Valentin Starchev and several artist organizations against a decision of Sofia City Hall on the removal of the 1,300 Years Bulgaria Monument from its site opposite the National Palace of Culture (NDK) Congress Centre in the capital city.

The judgment, rendered by a three-judge panel of the court, is final. It paves the way to implementation of the Sofia Municipal Council resolution of December 18, 2014 on dismantling the monument and moving the sculptures to the Sofia History Museum.

The SAC denied Prof. Starchev's claim to hold the copyright to the entire monument.

The memorial, erected in 1981 to mark the 1,300th anniversary of the establishment of the Bulgarian State, has been the subject of a heated controversy ever since the advent of democracy in the late 1980s. Some people found it hideous, calling it "The Gallows," "Godzilla," "The Fallen Messerschmitt" and "The Dam Wall." Even Communist leader Todor Zhivkov, who personally inaugurated the monument, famously had his motorcade rerouted so as to avoid the offensive sight of "this gallows." But the monument also had its fans, including Austrian conductor Herbert von Karajan, Soviet writer Chingiz Aitmatov, and Greek film director Andreas Pandzis.

The towering 35 m high monument consisted of three upright reinforced concrete sections faced with polished granite tiles, graded in height and adorned with bronze sculptures and inscriptions, representing the Golden Age of Bulgarian culture, the struggles for national liberation and socialism, and the country's present and future. A bronze wing atop the tallest section made the monument vaguely reminiscent of Nike of Samothrace. The three angular sections emerged from a pit, representing the country's years of oppression under various foreign powers.

The structure has fallen into bad disrepair and was fenced off in mid-2002.

At a BTA-hosted news conference a year ago, culture figures and artists, including painter Svetlin Roussev and sculptor Vezhdi Rashidov (now Bulgaria's Culture Minister), declared support for Starchev's idea to preserve and modernize the monument.