The Monument House of the Bulgarian Communist Party (Bulgarian: Дом паметник на БКП, romanized: Dom pametnik na BKP), also known as the Buzludzha Monument , was built on Buzludzha Peak in central Bulgaria by the Bulgarian communist government and inaugurated in 1981. It commemorated 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 (itself a forerunner of the current Bulgarian Socialist Party).
Construction
Construction of the monument began on 23 January 1974 under architect Georgi Stoilov, a former mayor of Sofia and co-founder of the Union of Architects in Bulgaria.[1] The peak was leveled into a stable foundation using TNT, reducing the mountain’s height from 1,441 metres (4,728 feet) to 1,432 metres (4,698 feet).[1] Over 15,000 cubic metres of rock were removed in the process.[1] The monument was built at a cost of 14,186,000 leva, equivalent to US$35 million today.
The monument exemplifies the futurist architecture common to many state-constructed communist buildings. All maintenance ended with the fall of communism in 1989, and the building remains closed to the public due to the hazards of the weakened structure.[1] The Buzludzha Project has helped to begin work on the monument’s preservation, with the eventual aim of creating an interpretation center for Bulgarian history
Mosaics
Inside the building, mosaics commemorating the history of the Bulgarian Communist Party cover approximately 937 square meters; 35 tons of cobalt glass were used in their manufacture. One-fifth of the mosaics have already been destroyed due to age, weather-related deterioration and vandalism.
Mosaics on the outer ring of the monument were built with natural stones gathered from rivers across Bulgaria; these mosaics have mostly vanished due to natural wear.
The building’s main ceiling mosaic features the communist hammer and sickle encircled with a Communist Manifesto quote, “Proletarians of all countries, unite!”
Opening ceremony
The monument was opened on 23 August 1981.[4] At the opening ceremony, Bulgarian communist leader Todor Zhivkov announced:
I am honoured to be in the historical position to open the House-Monument of the Bulgarian Communist Party, built in honour of the accomplishments of Dimitar Blagoev and his associates, who 90 years ago laid the foundations for the revolutionary Marxist Party in Bulgaria. Let the pathways leading here – to the legendary Buzludzha Peak, here in the Stara Planina where the first Marxists came to continue the work of sacred and pure love that was started by Bulgaria’s socialist writers and philosophers – never fall into disrepair. Let generation after generation of socialist and communist Bulgaria come here, to bow down before the feats and the deeds of those who came before; those who lived on this land and gave everything they had to their nation. Let them feel that spirit that ennobles us and as we empathise with the ideas and dreams of our forefathers, so let us experience that same excitement today! Glory to Blagoev and his followers; those first disciples of Bulgarian socialism, who sowed the immortal seeds of today’s Bulgarian Communist Party in the public soul!
In popular culture
Finnishrock band Haloo Helsinki! shot the entirety of the music video for their 2014 single “Vihaan kyllästynyt” at the monument;[5] Dutch rock band Kensington‘s 2015 “Riddles” music video was likewise entirely filmed on location there. The closing sequence of Rita Ora‘s BangEP video was shot at the monument in early 2021.[6]
The site was used as a filming location for the 2016 action movie Mechanic: Resurrection; special effects were added to show the structure next to a shoreline, with a helipad added to the top of the saucer building. The award-winning British singer/songwriter and novelist, Jonathan R P Taylor, is believed to be the first to have used the derelict structure for his music video ‘Vseki den (2012)’. The writer would go on to create the epic literary work ‘Meat: Memoirs of A Psychopath’, a novel based on a killer cult that lives within secret bunkers below the structure, and which accounts for the urban legend of localized ‘French murders’. A spin-off Sci-Fi title: ‘Communists in Outer Space’ is written in the words of one of their captures, Isabella Davies. Both works
Buzludzha can be reached by two side roads from the Shipka Pass,[9] either a 16 km (10 mi) road from Kazanlak in the south or a 12 km (7 mi) road from Gabrovo on the north side of the mountain. The road in the south (Kazanlak) is in better condition than the other one as October 2023.
