site.btaOpen Buzludzha Festival Aims to Bolster Public Support for Preservation of Buzludzha Monument

The Open Buzludzha Festival's fourth edition is from August 8 to 11 2024 at the Buzluzdha Monument in Central Bulgaria. Dora Ivanova, Founder and Manager of the Project Buzludzha Foundation, which is the organizer of the music festival, told BTA that the purpose of the festival is to support the preservation of the Buzludzha Мonument and to grow public support and understanding of the need for its preservation.

Open Buzludzha 2024 began on Thursday with a performance by the band Jupiter 7, which opened the music programme on the main stage, followed by Cool Den and Wikeda. “The programme is vibrant and will be on three music stages, while the highlight will be the monument itself, which will be illuminated with a light show”, Ivanova said.

She noted that the Buzluzdha Monument, also known as the Monument House of the Bulgarian Communist Party, is a controversial building from the recent past which has worldwide fame and huge potential for development. The building has the status of a cultural monument of national importance and the festival emphasizes the monument's potential and creates new experiences, Ivanova pointed out. The goal of the Project Buzludzha Foundation is for events to happen there all year round, and not just within the three festival days.

"We have drawn up a plan for the preservation and management of the building, having studied what its condition is and how to act in the future with sustainable steps, so that it can be preserved and restored," Ivanova said. Her team has already managed to carry out a series of activities to stabilize the building's mosaics and clean it so that it can be opened for visitors. However, the mosaics are still in danger due to the lack of access to the building.  "Currently the building is not maintained and the work of so many restorers from different countries, donors and volunteers, is in jeopardy because of the lack of access," Ivanova said. 

The building is state property, so these are decisions that depend on the state, she stressed, adding that one possible scenario that would untangle this knot is for the building to be under the jurisdiction of the Kazanlak Municipality. For Ivanova, the history of both the place and the monument itself is an important starting point in the formation of the future concept. “We need to know the history, criticise it and use it for democratic purposes”, she pointed out, adding that the building itself is a unique creation that attracts about 50,000 tourists every year, according to the Project Buzludzha Foundation.