Buzludzha – Forgotten Communist Monument

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Formally known as the House-Monument of the Bulgarian Communist Party, the monument at Buzludzha is like something out of a 1950s sci-fi movie. The saucer-shaped monument rises to a height of 107m, and was designed by the architect Georgi Stoilov. More than 60 Bulgarian artists collaborated on the design of murals for the site, and thousands of ‘volunteers’ were involved in the construction process, which took almost seven years to complete. In the 15 meter-high main hall of the memorial a 500 sq.m. fresco present portraits of Marx, Engels, Lenin and the Bulgarian communist leader Todor Zhivkov. The dome of the structure was covered with thirty tones of cooper. Two 12m stars of ruby glass was built-in on the top of the 70m high pylon of the monument that symbolizes a waving communist flag. The Soviet star which adorns the tower of Buzludzha was three times larger than that at the Kremlin. Built by the Bulgarian Communist regime in 1981, the 14,186,000 leva (£5.3million) Buzludzha Monument eventually became the headquarters for the Party. After the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, the building fell into a state disrepair and the Bulgarian government has neither the funds to renovate or destroy the structure. It sits atop a 1441 metre peak in the Balkan mountains, surrounded by open space, hilly terrain and miles and miles of nothingness. Now the monument lies abandoned and ruined, its doors closed to the public.

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credit: KamrenB Photography



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Aurora – Ship That Changed The World

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The cruiser Aurora was built between 1897 and 1900 in St. Petersburg and joined Russia’s Baltic fleet in 1903. The ship measures 126.8 meters in length, 16.8 meters in width and weighs a staggering 7,600 tons. Maintaining a speed of 20 knots it can travel independently for up to 1,440 sea miles. It took an active part in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 and participated in the Tsusima battle, in which most of Russia’s Pacific fleet was destroyed. After the war the ship was used for personnel training and during the October revolution of 1917 gave the signal by firing a blank shot to storm of the Winter Palace, which was being used as a residence by the democratic, but largely ineffective Provisional Government. That moment triggered a dramatic episode in Russia’s history and was the start of over 70 years of Communist leadership.

aurora Aurora   Ship That Changed The World

credit: Dennis Jarvis

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