The Monument House of the Bulgarian Communist Party is located on the Buzludzha peak in the central Balkan mountains in Bulgaria. It was built by the Bulgarian communist government to commemorate events that occurred in 1891 that led to the establishment of the Bulgarian Social Democratic Party, that later became the Bulgarian Communist Party.
Dimitar Blagoev
Blagoev was a Bulgarian political leader and philosopher. He was the founder of the first social democratic party in the Balkans. In 1891 Dimitar Blagoev led a group of socialists to a secret assembly in Buzludzha to form an organised socialist movement.
These events eventually led to the founding of the Bulgarian Social Democratic Party, a forerunner of the Bulgarian Communist Party.
Monument
The monument is one of the biggest communist monuments ever built.
It was built in the 1970’s, during the height of soviet influence in Bulgaria, to commemorate the site of the first congress of the Bulgarian communist party. It was built under architect Georgi Stoilov, former mayor of Sofia.
The monument is indicative of many state-constructed communist buildings. It was opened to the public in 1981 as a citizen funded tribute to the socialist movement in Bulgaria. In 1989, and the fall of the iron curtain, it was abandoned as the country moved towards democracy.
Buzludzha is known as one of the most beautiful abandoned places in the world and formally recognised in 2018 as one of the seven most endangered heritage sites in Europe.
The Buzludzha Project
The Buzludzha Project Foundation was created in 2015 by architect Dora Ivanova with the aim to preserve the Buzludzha Monument. There is a proposal by The Buzludha Project to architecturally preserve the monument and turn the building into a space for art, education, events and tourism, all of which are interpretive to Bulgarian history.
In 2020 they finally began conservation work known as the ‘Emergency Stabilization of Mosaics of the Buzludzha Monument’. Whilst they have support to get this far, they need all the support they can get to be able to continue the great work. Follow the link here to read more about how you can support.
