www.cjo.info
20161015-0253
The House-Monument of the Bulgarian Communist Party (usually referred to as the Buzludzha Monument) is located on the top of the 1400m Buzludzha Mountain in Bulgaria.
It is a stunning, world class, piece of architecture in a quite breath-taking location. But because it is so closely associated with Bulgaria's now despised communist regime, it is being left gently rot away.
This is at once both deeply sad, because the Buzludzha Monument truly is one of the modern wonders of the world, and understandably given the pain and anguish many people can't help but link with the organisation it was built to celebrate.
The architect was Georgi Stoilov, and more than 60 artists worked on the mosaics, statues and other art works. The monument opened in 1981, and closed just 8 years later when the Bulgarian communist regime collapsed in 1989.
Getting inside the monument was easy enough, at least it was with our guides to show us the way, and the inside is just as stunning as the outside. We even climbed the 18 story tower to the viewing platform at the top. It was exhausting, occasionally painful (I managed to crack my head twice on the way up!), but well worth the effort.
At the top of the tower are two red glass stars, one facing north and one facing south. They're almost 3 stories high (bigger than the stars installed on the Kremlin in Moscow) and in times long gone they were lit from within. It is said that the north facing star could be seen from Romania and the south facing star could be seen from Turkey.
Exploring Buzludzha was a truly unforgettable experience, particularly in the beautiful evening light.
20161015-0253
The House-Monument of the Bulgarian Communist Party (usually referred to as the Buzludzha Monument) is located on the top of the 1400m Buzludzha Mountain in Bulgaria.
It is a stunning, world class, piece of architecture in a quite breath-taking location. But because it is so closely associated with Bulgaria's now despised communist regime, it is being left gently rot away.
This is at once both deeply sad, because the Buzludzha Monument truly is one of the modern wonders of the world, and understandably given the pain and anguish many people can't help but link with the organisation it was built to celebrate.
The architect was Georgi Stoilov, and more than 60 artists worked on the mosaics, statues and other art works. The monument opened in 1981, and closed just 8 years later when the Bulgarian communist regime collapsed in 1989.
Getting inside the monument was easy enough, at least it was with our guides to show us the way, and the inside is just as stunning as the outside. We even climbed the 18 story tower to the viewing platform at the top. It was exhausting, occasionally painful (I managed to crack my head twice on the way up!), but well worth the effort.
At the top of the tower are two red glass stars, one facing north and one facing south. They're almost 3 stories high (bigger than the stars installed on the Kremlin in Moscow) and in times long gone they were lit from within. It is said that the north facing star could be seen from Romania and the south facing star could be seen from Turkey.
Exploring Buzludzha was a truly unforgettable experience, particularly in the beautiful evening light.