Bulgaria isn’t renowned for the quality of its infrastructure. Since joining the EU in 2017 there are emerging promises from Brussels of further TEN-T funds for the re-enlivening the primary rail corridors, and there have been numerous pots of investment in many of the once pot-holed highways.
As these roads are travelled there are frequent spalling concrete frame reminders that the major industries, so quickly expanded in the late 60's and 70's on dubious Soviet-era data, and having even more quickly floundered after 1989, have a considerable way to go before they are back on their feet again.
But alongside these concrete remains remains an infrastructure of a different purpose, comprising a network of dynamic, monumental design and propaganda tools, overgrown but by no means cancelled, a robust culture of late Soviet-era art and architecture.
The second, post-Stalin period of the Union was about targets, expansion and opening up. Those who led the party and who had spent the first half of their career oppressing discontent and eliminating opposition, now sought to galvanise the people of Bulgaria and to imbue strength, opportunity and motivation to drive the industrial growth in the second half of the Soviet economic experiment. With a populace with such a lack of ambition that the birth rate had fallen below sustainable levels, the encouragement was to come from an infrastructure of cubist/brutalist/futurist art and architecture, recalling, emphasising and celebrating the struggle of the Bulgarian peoples of the past to deliver the economic strength of the future.
Not for the Bulgarians the occasional guilt-salving art-piece dotted about some otherwise bland new development, this was the government and local councils of the day employing public art as a social unifier, placing art at the edge and centre of town and village life to instil pride, memory and purpose.
As these roads are travelled there are frequent spalling concrete frame reminders that the major industries, so quickly expanded in the late 60's and 70's on dubious Soviet-era data, and having even more quickly floundered after 1989, have a considerable way to go before they are back on their feet again.
But alongside these concrete remains remains an infrastructure of a different purpose, comprising a network of dynamic, monumental design and propaganda tools, overgrown but by no means cancelled, a robust culture of late Soviet-era art and architecture.
The second, post-Stalin period of the Union was about targets, expansion and opening up. Those who led the party and who had spent the first half of their career oppressing discontent and eliminating opposition, now sought to galvanise the people of Bulgaria and to imbue strength, opportunity and motivation to drive the industrial growth in the second half of the Soviet economic experiment. With a populace with such a lack of ambition that the birth rate had fallen below sustainable levels, the encouragement was to come from an infrastructure of cubist/brutalist/futurist art and architecture, recalling, emphasising and celebrating the struggle of the Bulgarian peoples of the past to deliver the economic strength of the future.
Not for the Bulgarians the occasional guilt-salving art-piece dotted about some otherwise bland new development, this was the government and local councils of the day employing public art as a social unifier, placing art at the edge and centre of town and village life to instil pride, memory and purpose.
Monument : from monere ‘remind’
Shepherd – Zimnitsa village marker
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Monument to the Partisans – Balvan 1964
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Celebrating the Battle of Balvan between the Gabrovo- Sevlievo guerrilla band and the tsarist police
Strazhitsa Monument - Strazhitsa
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One of the best pieces but difficult to enter and without a Google reference.
Bratskata Moglia (Monument to Brotherhood)- Plovdiv 1974
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Dedicated to those who fell for the liberation of Bulgaria from Ottoman rule and during the Balkan, World War I and World War II.
Architects : Vladimir Rangelov and Lyubomir Shinkov
Sculptors prof. Lyubomir Dalchev, Ana Dalcheva and Petar Atanasov
Architects : Vladimir Rangelov and Lyubomir Shinkov
Sculptors prof. Lyubomir Dalchev, Ana Dalcheva and Petar Atanasov
Samara Flag Monument – Stara Zagora 1977
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Celebrating the National Liberation War against the Ottomans.
Pantheon of National Revival Heroes – Rousse 1978
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The "All Saints" church was demolished to build the Pantheon, which was again "Christianised" by placing a cross on top of its dome in 2001.
Chiprovtsi Monument - Chiprovtsi
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Another good piece with negligible information about its purpose or the author(s).
Monument House of the Bulgarian Communist Party - Buzludzha 1981
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Commemorating the events of 1891, when a group of socialists led by Dimitar Blagoev assembled secretly in the area to form an organized socialist movement that led to the founding of the Bulgarian Social Democratic Party, a forerunner of the Bulgarian Communist Party.
Architect : Georgi Stoilov
Architect : Georgi Stoilov
Founders of the Bulgarian State Monument – Shumen 1981
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Designed by architects Georgi Gechev and Blagoi Atanasov, concrete pillars rise around an enclosed courtyard to a height of some 50 metres. Cubist sculptures by Krum Damyanov and Ivan Slavov decorate these pillars, illustrating Bulgaria's early leaders.
“Muglizh was First” Monument of the September Uprising - Muglizh 1984
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Celebrating the September Uprising of 1923
Sculptor : Georgi Varlinkov Moulded Stainless Steel
Sculptor : Georgi Varlinkov Moulded Stainless Steel
Asen Dynasty Monument – Veliko Tarnovo 1985
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Celebrating a rebellion against Bulgaria’s Byzantine overlords in 1186
Sculptor : Krum Damianov
Sculptor : Krum Damianov