A building of a huge cost and abandoned after the fall of communism

The 'UFO of Bulgaria': the strange ruins of the Buzludja communist monument

Communist dictatorships were characterized by building large monuments with which they sought to express their aspiration to last forever.

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For the peoples that freed themselves from the communist yoke, fortunately that evil did not last as long as its supporters expected. A vestige of that dark past is the Buzludja Monument, in Bulgaria, built and inaugurated in 1981 by the communist dictatorship that was then in that country. Its strange appearance has led it to be known as the "UFO of Bulgaria".

Its construction was a huge waste of resources, since the choice of the place: the top of Mount Buzludja, 1,441 meters high. The monument was abandoned after the fall of communism and was looted over the years. Today its ruins remain, which still attract many onlookers. It's History has dedicated it an interesting report:

The monument is 70 meters high. Its construction began in 1974 and was completed in 18 months. In order to build it, the top of Mount Buzludja was flattened (photo by Dimitry Anikin).

The tower of the monument has the largest red star in the world. The plans of the Bulgarian communist dictatorship were for it to be visible from Romania, to the north, and Greece, to the south, for which it had a powerful lighting (photo by Jivko Iordanov).

After the fall of communism, the monument was looted, mainly to sell the large amount of copper that covered the roof (photo by Alexandr Bormotin).

Today the monument is covered in graffiti, and much of its mosaics and other architectural elements have disappeared, some of them reused to build houses (photo by Dimitry Anikin).

The letters that formed the texts on the facade are falling and are gradually being thrown away (photo by Tijs van Leur).

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Main photo: Valentín Martínez.

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