Website and blog of photographer Timothy Allen
Meanwhile… in Bulgaria
.. Over the years I’ve visited my fair share of abandoned buildings. They’ve always held a very strong attraction for me. Somehow, their silent decaying facades offer the perfect blank canvas for an introverted imagination like mine… literally allowing me to conjure up vivid images of the past in my present. Unfortunately, I fear that this may be the best opportunity I have to experience the reality of time travel in my life time, something that I’ve fantasised about incessantly since I was a small child.
It has to be said, that when I was younger there were a hell of a lot more interesting derelict buildings around. These days, in my country at least, it’s very unfashionable to let a significant building die gracefully. Aside from the money-making implications, we tend to feel that we are somehow disrespecting our heritage by allowing them to decay, and so, often we attempt to stop the march of time by tidying them up and imprisoning them behind a red rope, preserving them in a most awkward state of disrepair for future generations to line up and look at from a viewing platform. The ironic thing is that abandoned buildings feel alive to me. They are involved in a beautiful natural process that the act of preservation will, by its nature, halt and kill.
Of course my opinion is an unfairly idealised and overly romantic one. The argument for preserving old buildings is a very strong one that I wholeheartedly support myself. However. On the rare occasions that I get to visit a forgotten building as magnificent as this one, I can’t help day dreaming about some of the incredible monumental relics I know back home and quietly wishing that a few more of them had been left to grow old and perish naturally rather than being unceremoniously hooked up to the proverbial life support machine of modern tourism as is so often the case these days.
Our first view of Buzludzha in the snow storm
I first heard about the Buzludzha monument (pronounced Buz’ol’ja) last summer when I was attending a photo festival in Bulgaria. Alongside me judging a photography competition was Alexander Ivanov, a Bulgarian photographer who had gained national notoriety after spending the last 10 years shooting ‘Bulgaria from the Air’. Back then he showed me some pictures of what looked to me like a cross between a flying saucer and Doctor Evil’s hideout perched atop a glorious mountain range.
I knew instantly that I had to go there and see it for myself.
Sure enough, 6 months later amidst the worst winter weather the country had experienced for many years, I was back in Bulgaria, and with the help of my friend Kaloyan Petrov we drove the 250km from Sofia to the edge of the Balkan Mountain range in which this magnificent building is located.
Every day we had a gruelling trek through deep snow to reach the monument. Photo: Kaloyan Petrov
Buzludha is Bulgaria’s largest ideological monument to Communism. Designed by architect Guéorguy Stoilov, more than 6000 workers were involved in its 7 year construction including 20 leading Bulgarian artists who worked for 18 months on the interior decoration. A small, universally expected donation from every citizen in the country formed a large portion of the funds required to build this impressive structure that was finally unveiled in 1981 on what was the 1300th anniversary of the foundation of the Bulgarian state.
Buried in the monument’s concrete structure, is a time capsule containing a message for future generations explaining the significance of the building.
… The monument during its glory days
The decor was a sumptuous mixture of marble and glass including a magnificent main hall containing 500sq metres of mosaic fresco depicting Bulgarian and Soviet communist themes.
The impressive former main auditorium
Mosaic frescoes around the gallery area
In 1989, Bulgaria’s bloodless revolution ended with the disbandment of the Bulgarian Communist Party. Ownership of the monument was ceded to the state and consequently it was left to ruin.
Today, this incredible derelict building stands as an iconic monument to an abandoned ideology.
. . .
A terrible snow storm surrounded the monument for the first 4 days we spent on the mountain. During our daily visits to the site, I did not once get to see this fantastic structure from a distance. Striding towards it through deep powder, it would only emerge from the dense white fog just a matter of metres away.
Finally, on the 5th day of our stay the weather began to change.
As the weather started to clear up, the monument began to reveal itself
It was always my plan to try and fly a microlight over the Balkan mountains to try and get a shot of Buzludzha from the air. Unfortunately, after waiting all week for the storm to clear, it didn’t look promising for a flight especially since my pilot had to depart imminently in order to travel to the other side of the country where he was beginning a new 6 month contract doing geological surveys. However, on his last day before leaving we decided to risk it even though the weather was still unpredictable. He forecast a 50/50 chance of seeing anything.
Above the clouds at -25°C
On the first attempt, we were forced to ascend to 1500ft to avoid the cloud cover over the mountains. (Flying through clouds in a microlight is not a good idea). We were up in the air for a good hour but came back with nothing more than some pretty shots of the tops of the clouds. My focusing finger went completely numb after just 10 minutes of flying even with my gloves on.
On the ground, we waited another few hours but the cloud didn’t budge. I was gutted. Then, at the eleventh hour, I pleaded with the pilot to take me back up and this time we decided to fly in low under the cloud. Needless to say, it was a quick flight… there and back in half and hour with 2 dangerously windy circumnavigations of the monument… probably the scariest 30 minutes of my recent life. Between the frost bitten fingers and frozen eyelids, I just about managed to get some snaps.
Making our approach to the ridge under cloud level
The monument’s impressive dome was originally covered with thirty tones of copper.
… and the two 12m tall stars either side of the top of its 70m tower were adorned with ruby coloured glass. Fabricated in Russia, these stars were three times larger than their counterparts at the Kremlin.
. . .
All week, thus far this mountain top had been an eerie and mysterious place for me, but since the snow had started to clear from the air it had really begun to open up and reveal itself along with the true majesty of its location.
When the cloud finally cleared, the view was spectacular
By sunset I was back on the ground and for the first time since we arrived I got to appreciate the full magnificence of Mount Buzludzha. This is a site of deep historical importance for Bulgaria’s socialist movement for it was on this spot in 1891 that a secret assembly led to the formation of the movement who’s influence spanned nearly 100 year’s of the country’s modern history.
The next morning I got up promptly at first light and trekked up to the monument in the most glorious dawn weather possible. It was as if I had been transported to a completely different place. So calm and serene.
Either side of the entrance are Socialist slogans written in large concrete Cyrillic letters
Above the entrance the words ‘Forget your past’ have been daubed in red paint.
Once inside, the deep snow took a bit of navigating…
Looking up one of the staircases into the main auditorium..
Many of the original mosaics remain intact…
… others have disappeared with the souvenir hunters
The old gallery area still maintains its phenomenal views of the Balkan mountain range
… such a magnificent spot for this beautiful building…
Buzludzha… If Blofeld was a real person… he would definitely live here
. . .
In September 2011, the Bulgarian cabinet transferred ownership of the monument to the Bulgarian Socialist party.
Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borisov declared, “We shall let them take care of it because here it also holds true that a party which does not respect its past and its symbols has no future”.
They have still not come to an agreement about what to do with it.
To date, every year at the end of July, 30-40,000 Bulgarian Socialists still congregate at Buzludzha to mark the founding of the Bulgarian Social-Democratic Party.
. . .
Want to visit Buzludzha for yourself? HERE is the location on google earth.
Up for a discussion? Why not join me on Facebook
Alternatively, I’ve started a twitter account now… you can follow me HERE
Wow Timothy, this was really a time travel for me… The last time I entered this building was when it was still operational! You can imagine the effect it had on a teenager seeing it for the first time. My memories from this place are really vivid. The reason, for me being there, was an official function(probably one of the last ones…) – I was formally accepted in the Communist Youth League and handed my membership card. At that time (around 1988) that was a compulsory exercise… surreal times! I left Bulgaria in 1998, but still go back and enjoy the great nature when I have a chance. You gave me a great idea for my next trip – I think Buzludzha is a must see for my kids! Thank you very much for the great blog and the awesome pictures!
That’s a fantastic story! Thank you so much for sharing, and yes, I can totally imagine how much of an effect a place like that could have on you. I sat alone in the middle of the atrium for ages, totally mesmerised, thinking about it all, accompanied by just the sound of the wind making the roof creak. It’s a very surreal thought for me to imagine such a ceremony… traveling towards it up the mountain back then must have built up such an incredible sense of anticipation in a young mind. I hope your children manage to see it and get you’re unique commentary as well. I would have loved to have gone there with someone who had personal experiences. Thanks again.
Hey Andrey, i don’t think it is a good idea to bring the kids there. Buzludza has tons of azbest inside.
Only long-term exposure to asbestos is dangerous. The effects of a few hour visit would be pretty much non-existent. Also the current state of the building probably provides decent air ventilation of the interior (holes in roof, etc…) – so unless you live in this building you don’t have to worry about asbestos.
Not sure what kind of asbestos is in that building but with certain types you can develop asbestosis from a one time exposure.
I didn’t know this. I always thought any type of exposure to asbestos was harmful. Thanks for sharing!
I never would have thought such aspiring photos could be taken in Bulgaria. Sort of a forgotten land by many.
Actually, Bulgaria was visited by close to 7 million tourists in 2011 and that’s excluding over 2 million transiting. For a country with a population of just over 7 million, I’d say that’s pretty good.
Never seen the place in person, but these pictures are some of the most amazing I’ve ever seen! Awesome work!
Wow – I had no idea such a building (and in such good shape) was around, and I would love to see it for myself. I just so happen to have a husband who digs old socialist monuments!
Thanks for sharing this beautiful place with us.
Some stunning images of a place I never knew existed!
wow, awesome photos! I never heard about this place. Thank you for such an informative and nice post!
Greetings from Bulgaria! Amazing article and pictures. I’ve visited this mountains many times but your adventure is above anything I ever done (flying over it in the middle of the winter). I’m too young to see the building functional but I know it pretty well – my grandmother is born in a village near by.
Thanks for sharing your excellent work!
That is some snowstorm!
I had completely forgotten about this place but after reading the article and looking at the pictures I finally recalled going there for a grade school field trip in 1999 (or possibly 2000). We stayed at a very nearby inn and walked to the monument… well to the hands holding torches specifically. The teachers didn’t want us getting close to the UFO monument (as the students called it). The field trip was primarily about going to Shipka Pass and learning about its historical significance. We were also supposed to go skiing but there was almost no snow at all and we couldn’t do it. That was a huge letdown for all the students and we were all quite disappointed with the trip. No wonder I almost didn’t recognize the Buzludja UFO… if it wasn’t for the last few pictures I’d have never remembered it. For the students it was a stupid looking, abandoned building/monument in the middle of nowhere, but for the teachers it must have been surreal, considering the thing would’ve been open just 10 years prior.
Anyway good job, brought back some memories. My family left Bulgaria over a decade ago. The weather sure seems to have changed since. Looks like Hoth.
I was there couple days ago for first time. Crazy building in beautiful place…
this is such an awesome place, i’m planning a visit there this summer already. i really enjoyed your article about it, thanks.
i’m pretty new to the whole abandoned buildings thing, but i’m absolutely fascinated by stuff like this. you put it into words in your opening paragraph, that’s pretty much my outlook too. anyway, living in berlin means there is plenty of stuff to visit. my latest was on the ostsee coast, an abandoned soviet training camp. big place, it’s called halbinsel wustrow. there’s a few pics here http://pannonicauk.tumblr.com/post/19345821414/here-are-some-photos-and-a-short-video-of-me-and i really recommend a visit, it was amazing.
next on my list is the Beelitz-Heilstätten sanitorium. it’s not far from berlin and it looks amazing. maybe you know about these places, or have any other recommendations??
thanks again
Great work!!! Great reminder!!!For some years I have been initiating events around abandoned buildings for triggering social action via the arts- e.g turning them into art centers or the like; here is some samples of the main symbol of the festival the Water tower in Sofia : http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.191366934231125.42926.111065985594554&type=3
there are so many amazing buildings – completely abandoned and let only to time and weather’s mercy! Let alone what happens to the dwellers insides, if a building represents the body as a metaphor!
Wonderful pictutres! Great idea to go there during the winter! I’ve been there as a child while it still was operational, and twice since 2005. I felt the same magic as you did! Great work!
I never knew Bulgaria had so many wonders and amazing pictures.
Fantastic. What an amazing place.
A tip for you: http://www.jornmark.se he is an urban explorer and professor in economic history who has published tons of pictures of abandoned places, along with stories about why they are abandoned. Sadly, it is in swedish but the pictures are still great.
A Fantástic Work!!
What an outstanding blog post. Are there awards for “best blogging” somewhere? You are my vote.
Thanks!
Matthew Cibellis
Amazing place and awesome exploración!
I can see that place from my balcony on clear days, with binoculars! I always wondered, what this object is! It should be restored as a historical monument and the facilities used as a cultural place for any kind of ART: Music, festivals of cultural value (not chalga!) Seen without anticommie glasses, this architecture has some charme!
pozdravi jorge
This is amazing! I really enjoyed reading this and looking at the photos!
I too am originally from Bulgaria and grew up there. Buzludja was built in my childhood but I somehow never went. Your pictures make me want to go back and visit it though. You did an amazing job. I agree with some of the comments that Bulgarians have a weird relationship with their past. Some want to forget because it wasn’t pretty in a lot of ways but for those of us that grew up there it’s the only childhood we had, so we live with it. And I have to say it wasn’t all terrible. I don’t want to sound like I am making excuses for the communists. They did plenty of bad stuff and I am not a fan of theirs. But you are born where you are born and there’s not much you can do about that. I had loving parents (who were not members of the Communist Party) and they tried their best to make my life as nice as they could within the confines of a repressive regime. That’s why people who grew up there may have conflicted emotions. That’s something that’s difficult for others to understand. Thanks once again for the awesome pictures! Look forward to seeing more.
Quite extraordinary. I’ve alerted readers at The Interpreter to your wonderful photos
well done mate, the blizzard puts this in a whole different class!
As a point of interest, the “Socialist slogans written in large concrete Cyrillic letters” are the Bulgarian translation of the universal socialist hymn – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Internationale
I have been to Buzludzha (during the summer, though). Great pictures! Thanks so much for posting this.
Amazing photography, but I wish the images were just a teeeeeeeenie bit larger. My face is literally 8 inches from the screen. You can always watermark them and make them bigger. Just a suggestion.
Thank you for this awesome post and the kick-ass photos!
Never forget (or forgive) the past.
Those are amazing photographs of an incredible building I never knew existed. It’s like futuristic off-planet buildings of sci-fi or a long forgotten set piece from Independence Day the movie. Thanks for braving the elements regularly to obtain such beauteous images. Spectacular.
Magical, like some crazy seen from a James Bond movie. Hard to believe it even exists.
Amazing photos. I never knew this place existed.
Incredible photos! What an amazing place, almost like an alien relic.
Very inspiring photography and story….I am ready to grab my camera and go!
It makes me puke seeing all the people fawning over a monument to virtual slavery. The many who suffered to allow the power man and control freaks their penis extensions must be rolling over in their graves at the lessons not being learned.
it makes me puke when i read comments like yours. really. i threw up. the story of this thing is amazing. yes, it’s a lesson from our past to learn from. that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be amazed by it. stop being an idiot and get out of your house. sounds like you’ve been in front of your computer for too long. now i have to clean all this puke up off my desk. what did you use to clean your puke up? or were you just using a figure of speech? guess you’re a liar too.
And Matt, the people of USA are much more slaves now, than we were 23 years ago in Bulgaria, so, stop listening to the massmedia and get some critical thinking
Americans are wage slaves.
My wife works for an american company and regularly has to work two to three hours per day over her contract. In her company if you get a promotion you don’t get a wage rise.
Fortunately, because she lives in the UK, it’s harder to fire her, because of our (being eroded by our US sycophant government) labour laws, but her US boss was fired two weeks ago.
She arrived at work one day and at the end of the shift she was unemployed. They can do that in the US.
I know many people in Hungary, through Esperanto, and through my wife’s family in Slovakia, who tell us that life under the Soviets was good. There were some restrictions on freedom, but even in Russia it was never as bad as in the extremist East Germany. Otherwise, life was good.
How many Brits or Americans can say that?
@Hugh Reid:
don’t make the mistake to take things and extrapolate to all the Eastern European countries… I am a Romanian, and I clearly remember the life before 1990. It was a gloomy society, full of fear and wrath. It was really bad for Romania. The Comunism was a huge social experiment which failed, but leaved behind so many waisted lives and so much wasted time… You better bear this in mind.
Whatever Hugh. My uncles, aunts, and cousins were all slaughtered by the communists as they came down the road killing anybody with wealth, education or land. So go screw yourself. Your wife can find a better job – sounds like she should have been looking for something awhile ago. She has the freedom to do that you know.
Things are scary here in the U.S. When I was young (the 1970′s) things were OK but now I worry for my children’s future. We ARE wage slaves and they are always making us pay for more & more. I even worry that there will be trouble just for writing this truth.
“We don’t have to live like this.”
I totally agree with you. Most of the writers here, and the author as well cannot imagine how much monuments like this had cost to Bulgarian people. This is pure grain of communist frenzy and should be demolished as soon as possible.
Destroying the artefacts of the past makes it too easy to forget that past.
Better use it to explain the “cost to Bulgarian people” you say people cannot imagine.
If you don’t keep the history alive and the lessons of it in the common consciousness you are inviting all those mistakes and tragedies to happen again.
Mister “Cheap quality zombie..” – Bulgarians – under the communists had a higher quality and standards of life and civilization than any of the places you and your mates are poisoning by presence today…
THAT – is a piece of memory – of a COLLECTIVITY – that says “United We Stand”… So – you and others like you – decided to give them – a whole Nation – the “present..” of the Today’s MISERY… But GUESS WHAT – you and your alike – are f****d for GOOD… You forgot about the CHINESE… Ha.. ha.. ha…
speechless
A science fiction from the past.
The great photo quality emphases the mystery.
Incredible story.
Thanks for sharing.
Great pictures of Buzludzha. It is also the site of one of Bulgaria’s most tragic events, the shooting of voivod Hadzhi Dimitar by the Ottomans in 1868.
Bulgaria’s most celebrated poet, Hristo Botev, who died in identical circumstances in 1876 wrote a poem about Hadzhi Dimitar and Buzludzha, see translation:
http://www.slovo.bg/showwork.php3?AuID=2&WorkID=3166&Level=1
Wow! Congrats on the great article and pictures!
And thanks for not letting us forget our past, that’s really important.
Beautiful photographs of an amazing site. I travel to Bulgaria every year, but haven’t had the opportunity to visit Buzludzha. The country is filled with incredible sites from ancient Thracian ruins on down to communist structures that have been either re-purposed or (as in the case of this one) allowed to decay. Even the mid-sized city that I regularly visit, Dimitrovgrad, has its own little quirky “spaceship” of a building abandoned near the center of the city.
As others have noted here, Bulgarians have a conflicted relation with this element of their past (as do so many from the former East European block). Some structures are still in use and the communist murals have been cleaned up. Some destroyed. I love that some of the socialist art style sculpture in Sofia now gets regularly repainted by graffiti artists. Back in January, many of the statues had had their eyes covered, “blindfolded” in an incredibly creative statement on politics both then and now (formerly communist officials and informers keep resurfacing – most recently in the Bulgarian Church).
I also agree with the comments on Bulgaria – it’s an amazing place, too easily overlooked, with a rich history and fascinating people. In the seven or so years I’ve been visiting, it has changed dramatically with its integration in the European Union.
Mark’s absolutely right about Bulgarian relation with the communist past. There has been a recent example of the that with the monument he’s talking about and, since its transformation was really interesting, I thought I could you give a link to the picture of it, for those who might be interested:
http://www.streetartutopia.com/?attachment_id=6006
awesome story! i was there in june and it was one of the most unreal photographic moments of my life. thanks for sharing your photos and story. what an experience!
here are some photos i took while i was there, including a 360 view from the center of the room: http://hola.coreybyrnes.com/2011/06/25/el-dentro/
Timothy, thank you for these beautiful pictures and for braving the insane winter just to visit the summit and this monument. I won’t pass judgement as to what it all means, as you can tell it’s still a very sensitive topic to many of us.
Anyway, there are a number of these monuments throughout the region. Here’s a link describing more of them in Bulgaria:
http://dprbcn.wordpress.com/2010/03/22/communist-political-monuments-in-bulgaria/
I grew up and went to school right next to the one in Varna, and I’ve visited the one in Shumen several times, as well. They’re all haunting and beautiful, in their own ways.
This. Is. Beautiful.
Wow! that’s some building and great photos. Took a massive effort I’d say but worth it.
What an adventure! Thanks for bringing us this story. As an architect I can say you made me question my own views on the topic of preservation, abandonded buildings can indeed be a treasure and tell a whole new story out of their current situation and this example is clearly a supreme example.
We used to go there as kids , part of the school program , An awesome exiting place
These are AMAZING pictures! Stunning! I am Bulgarian and I have been to Buzludzha once, very long time ago. I can’t but feel sorry to see what this monument has become. We must not forget our past! Thank you for showing this to the world!
P.S. Love your reply to a comment above: “There are so many other amazing things to see in Bulgaria.”
hey Tim,
Best photographs of the monument I have seen, so perfectly dystopic! I’m glad that the motorglider was safe enough during the winter, the areal photos are a must.
Work on a very similar topic:
http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/photography/all/05744/facts.frederic_chaubin_cosmic_communist_constructions_photographed.htm
Too bad that very few people besides you do anything creative with the 80′s Bulgarian ruins.
Thanks for the photos,
Georgi
Noone who has suffered the craziness and injustice of 45 years of communism will be “amazed” by this monument. It makes me sick just thinking of the people who built it back then. A picture in the history books will be the closest I ever get to it.
NEVER forget. It’s YOUR and OUR history.
Absolutely stunning! Timothy, thank you for publishing these pictures and the story. Yes, there are many other beautiful monumental buildings from the 70ies and 80ies in Bulgaria, and it is very sad that they are abandoned and falling apart. Not to mentioned about tearing down the Mausoleum in the center of Sofia which was a bad decision. I am truly ashamed that destructive thinking has prevailed among my fellow Bulgarians during the years of transition. No matter how unpleasant the communist past has been for some people, it is part of history. We cannot and should not pretend that it never happened.
I had the chance to visit the fully operational Buzludzha monument when I was a third grader in 1989, just few months before the fall of the communism. The futuristic building had a profound effect on me and my classmates. I suppose we really believed it was a flying saucer
Just amazing! And so sad…Never forgive past. I believe – this building in its best days is message from our future.
Amazing images! I was there last summer and took some photos, still haunted by the place. But it looks even more surreal during the winter… It’s funny we both used the same old images for comparison. I guess there are not that many old photos of Buzludja on the internet. I definitely want to go back before it completly goes to peril.
Great, stunning photos, I am really glad that you’ve visited that place and made those photos! Great work!
I was actually in Bulgaria this past November, and had a chance to visit this monument but unfortunately passed due to a lack of time/bad weather (my girlfriend will never let me live down the fact that I ruined her one opportunity to go!)
The best thing I heard about it was an anecdote from one of the locals who worked in a hostel in nearby Veliko Tarnovo (Hostel Mostel, great place to stay!) You mention that the stars used to have ruby colored glass in them- apparently, there was a rumor going around that it was actually filled with rubies. People would go out there at night with their guns and try to shoot the star so that all the rubies would spill out and they would be rich! This goes a long way towards explaining why the stars aren’t red anymore.
What a weird, weird place… Never seen anything like it.
What a great post. The way you captured the different feelings in the various weather conditions. I am fascinated with abandoned buildings. I love these pictures!
Are you sure that it’s not a spaceship?
this is beautiful!
Amazing photography, but did anyone else think ‘Myst’?
“It’s” means “it is” (or sometimes, “it has”). “Its” means “its” as in: “The monument during its glory days” or “either side of the top of its 70m tower”.
Thanks. I never was any good at spelling.
No. Wrong.
Apostrophe to be used for contractions of it is/has – correct.
Apostrophe NOT to be used for possession = INCORRECT.
*****Apostrophe is correct in a contraction of it is/it has AND ALSO IS CORRECT to denote ownership/possession, for example, “the monument during it’s glory days’.*****
THE ONLY TIME when an apostrophe is NOT USED is in the case of plurals such as ‘my hands are cold’ (where the incorrect form would be ‘my hand’s are cold’).
No Lexi, *you* are wrong. “Its”, the possessive pronoun, does not have an apostrophe. “It’s”, a contraction of “it is”, does. End of story. Please refer to a copy of Strunk and White.
Amazing photographs and amazing building. Thanks for venturing out in the freezing and blizzard conditions to capture the desolate mood. I had no idea this existed.
Fantastic!
My superlatives drive has melted in awe, so I’ll just say thank you so much for this.
This pictures likes futuristic images. Great imperia fallen.. for time. It’s our past and its our future. For USSR 2.0 revised and enhanced. Thank you so mach TomothyAllen.
Vladimir from Belgorod town, Russia
I have just seen the post on Twitter and….surprise, that’s in the town where I was born! Great pics!
I agree with you about the wishing more buildings were left to acquire some history. I’m not an explorer myself, but I hate visiting castles open to the public who’s rooms have been made to look “as they would have” or have been restored. Castles are old buildings, why would I want them to look anything but old? I want them to be partially ruined.
There’s a quote by Ada Louise Huxtable that I love…
““Restoring it back” means re-creating the place as someone thinks it was, or would like it to have been, at the cut-off date.”
I’m russian. This is my past too. And I never forget it too. Our future is SU ver. 2.0.
Tell it to the God
Forget your past?! NO WAY! Red Spring is coming back! USSR 2.0 is on the way!:) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6Mw7ZaAqYM (http://eot.su/)
P.S. Great job, Timothy! Thanks!:)
USSR 2.0 will be worse than USSR 1.0 You guys never learn from history
About the communism:
I’ve been used. And you knew. All the time. God I’ll never ever know. Why you chose me for your crime. For your foul bloody crime. You have murdered me!
REMEMBER your PAST!
Memory of past is the culture making a civilization.
Only animals forget their past and bacause stay animals
It looks like a giant toilet. The star is where the flush handle attaches.
Izumitelno, kak takoye mozhno bilo brosit’??
Love this post. Any plans to visit other Bulgarian attractions? I would love to see more pictures of Bulgaria.
I may be back this summer to shoot a couple of things. Watch this space.
This is simply incredible. Who would have known such places exist and if they did, who would have thought to capture them like this. This is magisterial!
fucking awesome photos!
I’m russian. This is my past too. I never forget it.
As a Bulgarian I can only say I’m so pleased with the article and the pictures!There are so many other beautiful places like this in my country that remain “hidden” and even forgotten and it’s just so great that somebody reminds even US – the Bulgarians, about all those scenic places in our own country that we tend to ignore.
Many thanks for the big work done by you.
I love that ‘Forget your past’ part. People should never do that and yet they do it every time once one culture defeats another. Immediately after the victory the past is declared to be dark and cruel and all memories should be erased.
Pity.
Thanks for photos, amazing view.
transit gloria mundi…… ??? ???????? ????? ???????……
How awesome.
Everybody, lets just pray for communism to come back as soon as possible.
Johnny –
Pray to whom? (Religion is the opiate of the masses….)
yeah if only communism could come back and kill millions of innocent people right?
those who forget their past are condemned to repeat it.
Too late for that, capitalism is way ahead in killing. As weel as in repeating it’s past.
[...] a glorious mountain range.’ This winter Timothy went there, 250km from Sofia, and took ↑glorious pictures of the Buzludzha monument, a gigantic, now abandoned and decaying monument to socialism. The pictures show the building from [...]
Came here from a link @ ginandtacos.com.
Nice.
A beautiful, mystical and magical experience in viewing these photographs. Thank you for sharing them with so many and especially those of us who did not know this even existed.
http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/wisconsin/milwaukee/wrightgrkortho/wholedistant.jpg
Beautiful piece of art!
Here is an example how we spend tremendous efforts to eraze the memory of our past, trying to mimicre that we have changed. It is easier to destroy something instead of understanding and trying to improve. a great pity. The behaviour is the same as when the barbarians captured Rome.
OOO! Das ist PIZDECCCC ! Ohuitelno ! Zaebis.
Very interesting story ! amazing photos.
but why 360-photo technologies was not used ? and can we get more detailed photos ?
???????? ?????? ? ?????????? ??????! ???????!
A place of worship of sorts, dedicated to man, work and progress. As people say, everything good that still exists in this world and keeps it together is what was left here by Soviet Union. And this place is like a piece of that legacy. Seeing it like gives people hope that not all is lost and there’s still hope. It is great to see that people in Bulgaria still understand that.
It’s a monument to early Eighties design. It looks like something out of Buck Rogers. I’m glad it’s been given over to people who have an interest in taking care of it, but I agree, there is something alive about an abandoned building that is lost when it’s frozen in time during a restoration.
??…. ??? ????????? ??????????? ?????? !
Haha. I loved it all so much I downloaded all the photos you had here. I’ve even printed the pic you had of that awesome scene where the sky was rippling with the color of a sunset.
Damn. Now I want to go there and just stand in that room under that huge dome. I really want to know what it feels like for myself.
One of my favorite monuments. I want to point out that the offical name of the summit is Hadji Dimityr(bulgarian hero fought against turkish oppressors and died on this very summit). Buzludzha is the old name till 1942. It is a turkish name meaning – icy chunk (I think the author understood why the turkish have called it that way
Thank you, I didn’t know that. I prefer the name ‘icy chunk’. Much easier to remember too.
great job – you really did justice to that place – it looks as though you got every great picture you possible could.
i’d love to blog some if there are bigger versions?
I’d make the “Forget Your Past” one my wallpaper in a second if it was bigger
Today these meetings are held in a much nicer, more elegant place – with BIG security
This is a glorious building, and I’m so enchanted by abandoned structures, so this article tickles me right down to my toes. Thanks!
(Here via BoingBoing)
Awesomeness – thanks for posting these great photos and fascinating story! What a neat place and what a cool (lit. and fig.) trip you took to get there.
Am I the only one looking at this and thinking: Wow. This would make an excellent Call of Duty level? Or Hoth, too.
So strange how people are. Let’s build a huge piece of crap and have meetings in it about how to take over the world. Joe Rogan! Follow him. He’s the bomb.
Yeah, Pentagon is pretty ugly.
The pentagon is nothing more than an office building… it serves a direct purpose, and the whole thing is being used to capacity all the time, coordinating intelligence and whatnot. What a contrast to this shiny, ultimately useless monument to a (sadly) failed ideology. Maybe if the communist government spent more time actually being productive instead of constantly trying to keep everyone under their veil by building vast monuments to themselves, communism would still be around today.
In the end, the biggest problem with communist governments is that they spend more time policing their citizens than actually getting things done. They have to do this to survive, because without the motivation of money, the only way to get people to actually do anything is by force. Hence, they spend so much time forcing their people to work, while capitalist economies pretty much take care of themselves, so the government can actually get shit done instead of babysitting the citizenry.
It’s an interesting point you have about communism vs capitalism. I’ve never thought it that way. Anyway, I grew up in communism (it was called socialism, though) and was raised by communists but I had to go to the capitalist USA to see communism actually working.
P.S. @ Timothy, thank you for the Great job!
Awsome pictures!
I’ve always thought this ‘flying saucer’ as a spooky symbol and was intending to include it in a ScFi story I am writing. I haven’t seen so beautiful pictures of it by far: you’ve just captured the wasteland of a planet where communism has ended.
Congratulations!
Ozymandias
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desart. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
I’ll join you for that fat bowl in there! make it a blunt….
Great photos Mr. Allen! Very much enjoyed them and the story behind them. Thank you. Would love some wallpaper sized version for my desktop.
Id love to smoke a fat bowl in there.
Real cool, Heath
Very sad that this monument is rotting away because of the recent dark past. It should be maintained, maybe as a Unesco monument, for future generations. As a reminder to communism, or even the labor and engineering skills to build this giant building in the middle of nowhere.
Plz post bigger pictures, or makes some wallpapers, something plz
Very nice photos.
A monument to what communism does to a people. Rotting away under the care of the government leaders…
Let me guess, there has never been an abandoned structure under capitalism?
doesn’t matter if there was you point misser. the fact that it was a required donation from the people to the government to build this thing and now it’s an abandoned building is the important point to note.
Wonderful story & pictures. Thanks!
“In 1989, Bulgaria’s bloodless revolution ended with the disbandment of the Bulgarian Social Democratic Workers’ Party.”
That should be Bulgarian Communist Party.
Thank you. My mistake.
Amazing photos and yes, you need to read POLAR CITY RED a new sci fi book by Jim Laughter in USA about polar city life in Alaska in year 21oo AD or so. His polar cities look alot like these photos. GO GO GO. and see “pcillu101″ as a blog title to see my photos.
danny bloom, founder POLAR CITY RESEARCH PROJECT, Taiwan
1949-2032
This is all so amazing Tomothy, I am just thankful I bumped into this space and read the story. Loved every bit of it, and of course loved the pictures as well…
As for the building itself, well its just unbelievable! And they are just now known to the rest of the world…that seems so odd!
Lots of local photographers have shot Buzludzha.. it’s very well known to Bulgarians.
There are so many other amazing things to see in Bulgaria.
That is absolutely fantastic. Thank you for sharing.
Wow, what an extraordinary place and your photos really do it justice. I really felt I was looking at Armageddon in the first shot! I love all the different angles you got, great job man!
Love this! I am not usually a fan of architectural decay, but this is just lovely. Thank you.
Great pictures of one iconic place! Greetings from Bulgaria and I hope we’ll meet one day.
Great pictures and very good article!!!
Greetings from Bulgaria!
I really enjoyed reading this Tim. The pictures are great of course, that sort of goes without saying, but it is so evocatively written too. Perked up the day. Thanks, J
Amazing work Timothy! Well captured
Wow, great shots & nicely written Tim its amazing to see what iconography is hidden away from ‘general’ view, thanks for sharing this.
Interasting to see Bulgaria from your point
Great
Holy cow… that’s one of the most awesome blog posts I’ve ever seen. Just beautifully done and amazingly interesting. Excellent work!
Amazing photos, and very interesting history
Beautiful photos Timothy, thanks for sharing. Amazing to see a place like that in the middle of winter, overtaken by the elements.
WooW!
That’s amazing! Those mosaics are pretty awesome.