site.bta Young Architect Initiates Revival of Bizarre Communist-Era Monument

Young Architect Initiates Revival of Bizarre Communist-Era Monument

Kazanlak, November 20 (BTA) - Architect Dora Ivanova, 25, chose an original subject for her graduation thesis at the Berlin Technical University: a project to breathe new life into Bulgaria's largest communist-era monument, turning it from an ugly ruin into a major tourist attraction. Ivanova presented her initiative, entitled "Buzludzha: the Memory of Time," in Kazanlak. It has won the special prize of the Chamber of Architects in Bulgaria.

The monument went under construction in 1974 and was unveiled in 1981. It commemorates the constituent congress that the forerunner of the then dominant Bulgarian Communist Party held nearby in 1891. The concrete structure, resembling a flying saucer sitting atop the 1,441 m Buzludzha Peak in the Central Balkan Range, consists of a rotunda (42 m across and 14.5 m high) and a 70 m high double pylon surmounted by two five-pointed stars, sized 6.50 by 12 m. The monument was lavishly decorated with 550 sq m of mosaics, bronze sculptures and crystal glass, done by more than 60 artists, glorifying the party and its struggles and achievements and peaceful labour under socialism. After the fall of the communist regime in 1989, the memorial was abandoned, vandalized, and left to crumble.

Ivanova's idea is to redesign the existing building with the least sufficient architectural and functional intervention. The project envisages a 400-seat concert hall, a dark passageway symbolizing foreign domination and devastation, 16 columns portraying Bulgarian rulers, and a panorama lift leading to an open-air terrace with a view of present-day Bulgaria. A horizontal and vertical tour of the site will enable visitors to take a trip back in time.

The project will cost an estimated 2.5 million leva to implement. The architect has set up a Project Buzludzha Foundation to raise funds for the purpose. Financing can be provided under a EU-funded operational programme, she added.