Forgotten Monuments
May 31, 2017 9:23 AM Subscribe
True to the original vision of Georgi Stoilov, the renovated Buzludzha monument will memorialise all periods of Bulgarian history – from the ancient khans and founders of the First Bulgarian State, to the revolutionaries and reformers of the 19th and 20th centuries – but it will do so without judgement, and without political bias. (Buzludzha previously)
In its original design, the Buzludzha Monument celebrated the story of the Bulgarian Communist Party. The Buzludzha Project intends to add new installations dedicated to the period of antiquity, the Middle Ages, and Bulgaria's more recent transition to democracy.As part of his series dealing with forgotten monuments from the communist era in Bulgaria, Nikola Mihov, and his project "Forget Your Past" trace the fate of the most important communist-era monuments in Bulgaria, from their construction to this day.
In its presentation of the past, the project will seek to encourage interaction on the part of the visitor – building an experience that invites participation, and emotional subjectivity.
I drove past Buzludzha in 2010 while on tour with a group of Bulgarian musicologists. Because it was high up on the Shipka Pass, and we were snaking through the valley far below, I couldn't convince them to detour all the way up the mountain. I stared dolefully out the window until it curved out of view.
Last year, I was invited to Germany to participate in a radio art conference. Excited at the prospect of being so (relatively) close to Bulgaria again, I contacted a small tour company which specialized in illicit tours inside Buzludzha. I booked a flight to Sofia and contacted some friends there, who were equally excited about accompanying me to the monument.
Mere weeks before my departure, it was announced that a set of closed circuit security cameras had been installed all around the perimeter, and people were being arrested / actively chased away by security forces for trying to break into the monument. My tour contacts promised to keep an eye on the situation, but my trip came and went, and Buzludzha, once again, remained out of my grasp. Now it looks like I've lost my chance for good.
I consoled myself by climbing the radomes at Teufelsberg, which had similarly been colonized by a group of artists who were tightly controlling access to the grounds and had taken over entire levels and buildings of the structure for their private living quarters, which were naturally now off-limits. Interesting though it was, the place felt more like a Burning Man camp than a proper piece of history.
It's a difficult time to be an enthusiast of Cold War ruins.
posted by mykescipark at 12:30 PM on May 31, 2017
Last year, I was invited to Germany to participate in a radio art conference. Excited at the prospect of being so (relatively) close to Bulgaria again, I contacted a small tour company which specialized in illicit tours inside Buzludzha. I booked a flight to Sofia and contacted some friends there, who were equally excited about accompanying me to the monument.
Mere weeks before my departure, it was announced that a set of closed circuit security cameras had been installed all around the perimeter, and people were being arrested / actively chased away by security forces for trying to break into the monument. My tour contacts promised to keep an eye on the situation, but my trip came and went, and Buzludzha, once again, remained out of my grasp. Now it looks like I've lost my chance for good.
I consoled myself by climbing the radomes at Teufelsberg, which had similarly been colonized by a group of artists who were tightly controlling access to the grounds and had taken over entire levels and buildings of the structure for their private living quarters, which were naturally now off-limits. Interesting though it was, the place felt more like a Burning Man camp than a proper piece of history.
It's a difficult time to be an enthusiast of Cold War ruins.
posted by mykescipark at 12:30 PM on May 31, 2017
> Now it looks like I've lost my chance for good.
Not to be overly cynical (though there's really no such thing as too much cynicism where these things are concerned), but "for good" is a long time. In its first incarnation, "for good" lasted less than a decade, and frankly I give the impetus for this grand reconstruction even less time. It would cost a shitload of money and Bulgaria is a poor country, and frankly there's not much point. The ideology of "great Bulgarians" is no more compelling than the ideology of the Communist Party. It's still a huge, essentially useless piece of concrete in the middle of nowhere. I think you'll be able to go visit it in its ruined state before you get too old and feeble.
All that said, it's fascinating to watch the videos and experience the hubris and extravagance from afar. Thanks for the post!
posted by languagehat at 2:39 PM on May 31, 2017
Not to be overly cynical (though there's really no such thing as too much cynicism where these things are concerned), but "for good" is a long time. In its first incarnation, "for good" lasted less than a decade, and frankly I give the impetus for this grand reconstruction even less time. It would cost a shitload of money and Bulgaria is a poor country, and frankly there's not much point. The ideology of "great Bulgarians" is no more compelling than the ideology of the Communist Party. It's still a huge, essentially useless piece of concrete in the middle of nowhere. I think you'll be able to go visit it in its ruined state before you get too old and feeble.
All that said, it's fascinating to watch the videos and experience the hubris and extravagance from afar. Thanks for the post!
posted by languagehat at 2:39 PM on May 31, 2017
I think you'll be able to go visit it in its ruined state before you get too old and feeble.
I accept (if not embrace) my melodrama. The wound is still fresh!
posted by mykescipark at 3:07 PM on May 31, 2017
I accept (if not embrace) my melodrama. The wound is still fresh!
posted by mykescipark at 3:07 PM on May 31, 2017
They could/should have just put googly eyes on them.
posted by elsietheeel at 3:22 PM on May 31, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by elsietheeel at 3:22 PM on May 31, 2017 [2 favorites]
I went to Buzludzha in 2015. I was attending a wedding with a Bulgarian friend and two other Americans, planning some general mountainous sightseeing on the way from the coast to Plovdiv (Tsarevets, Etara). I showed them Buzludzha on Atlas Obscura and everyone was enchanted. We drove up up up Shipka Pass, dodging potholes and a few other drivers. There were about 20 other people at the monument, cameras flashing. We walked a slow loop around the base, looking for a way in, and found it to the right of the main chained door. "Way in" is a euphemism: it's a hole in the exterior wall, reached by standing on your tippy-toes on a 2-3' pile concrete rubble. Then haul yourself in over a significant drop and under contorted rebar to a staircase. I didn't go in, lacking the muscle and fortitude. Instead I took everyone's extra stuff and wandered around the mountaintop, cataloging the wind and bird sounds. My friends came back dusty and with delightful pictures, and didn't quite believe my claim about five distinct types of wind on the mountain. Going down we took a wrong turn at Shipka and didn't realize it until we were nearly back at Etara, so we got to enjoy the pass twice. (I still haven't quite lived down that navigation fail.) We didn't stop at any other monuments, alas.
posted by esoterrica at 5:16 PM on May 31, 2017
posted by esoterrica at 5:16 PM on May 31, 2017
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Rehabilitating it, even ;)
posted by Kabanos at 10:29 AM on May 31, 2017 [1 favorite]