Buzludzha The Monument House Of The Bulgarian Communist Party: Bulgaria October 2017

The Buzludzha Monument took over 6 years to construct with more than 6000 people contributing to the construction. Due to the remote location many workers lived on site in purpose built huts to maximise construction during the milder climates.

The glass mosaics on the wall of Solemn Hall, the main central hall show the history of the Bulgarian Communist Party and took a team of 60 artists 18 months to create. The mosaics around the observation deck are made of stone and tell a story about socialist ideal in Bulgaria. The Third mosaic is the hammer and sickle on the ceiling. The quote around it reads "Proletarians of all countries unite".

The total cost of construction including utilities for the site mounted up to 25 million lev. A large amount of this money was raised by selling commemorative stamps.

Finally in 1981 the building was opened, it was open to the public free of charge on certain days and gained a high number of visitors.

With a change in democracy in the late 1980's and becoming more open to western culture the monument was closed. With the ongoing economic struggle blame was passed on to the communist regime and a lot of the communist monuments were vandalised in frustration. Buzludzha was no exception. It now lays a ruin stripped and covered in graffiti.

We arrive at the Buzludzha Monument at dusk in thick fog, so thick we can hardly make out the building while standing underneath it at the entrance. We wander around to find a precarious access point and make our way inside. After navigating dark hallways we eventually find a large staircase. This leads us up in to the main hall. Even in here the fog is still thick and the wind is wild. The ceiling above rattles from the wind, it sounds like parts of it could fall at any time and the fog hits our faces like a wild storm. However these conditions give us some great photo opportunities.

It wasn't until the next morning that we got to marvel at the externals of the brutal concrete flying saucer looking building. Driving up the winding road we caught glimpses of it but not until we arrive do we really get a sense of scale. This really is a concrete behemoth.

We grab a few externals and head inside. Its far more peaceful with out the wild winds and we certainly feel more relaxed. Surrounded by mountains the views from here are truly stunning. We can finally see the mosaics which adorn the walls which are sadly covered in graffiti but you can still get a good idea of what they are of.

After a while we head out for a few more externals and a brief drone flight. By now there were a number of visitors arriving and this was our cue to leave back down the mountain for our next location.