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Technical University of Munich

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Project at the Buzludzha Monument

Prof. Dr. Thomas Danzl and the Chair of Conservation-Restoration, Art Technology and Conservation Science and Dora Ivanova, founder of the Buzludzha Project Foundation, are the organizers of a project on the Buzludzha Monument in central Bulgaria. The assistant professorship of Recent Building Heritage Conservation of the Technical University of Munich is also involved. Other cooperation partners include the Bulgarian and German National Committees of ICOMOS, the University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy in Sofia, the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden and the Hochschule der Künste Bern. • Abandoned for two decades, the Buzludzha Monument has become a viral sensation online and attracts many visitors from around the world. • Now, the Getty Foundation in LA has pledged $185,000 to the monument’s conservation, as part of its 2019 “Keeping It Modern” programme.
Photo: Mariyan Tashev

Bulgaria’s Buzludzha Monument Awarded $185,000 Grant in Conservation Bid

The grant will fund the creation of a Conservation and Management Plan for the Buzludzha Monument, beginning with a full evaluation of the building’s structural condition. It will explore the future (re)use of the monument, and aim to establish a viable business model for operating Buzludzha as a reinvigorated heritage site. This phase will conclude with the release of a public report in September 2020, forming a basis for further decision-making.

The project will be undertaken by a multidisciplinary team of Bulgarian and international experts, including: the German and Bulgarian committees of ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites); the Technical University of Munich; the University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy in Sofia; as well as the Buzludzha Project Foundation, a Bulgarian organisation which has been campaigning since 2015 for the monument’s preservation. The original architect of the Buzludzha Monument, Georgi Stoilov, will also have a key role in the project.

Since 2014 “Keeping It Modern” has supported 64 international model conservation projects, including the Sydney Opera House, Boston Town Hall, the Bauhaus building in Dessau and many other iconic sites of 20th-century architecture. A statement from the foundation described Buzludzha as: “a masterpiece of architectural engineering,” and “an integral part of Bulgarian history.”

 

About the Buzludzha Monument

Located on a mountain peak in central Bulgaria, the saucer-shaped Buzludzha Monument was opened in 1981. The building’s main hall took the form of an amphitheatre, decorated with colourful mosaics that detailed the history of the socialist movement in Bulgaria. The funds for the monument’s construction were sourced from the Bulgarian people themselves, and during the 1980s more than 2 million visitors came through its doors. The Buzludzha Monument was closed in 1989 however, following the dissolution of Bulgaria’s communist government. It was later abandoned to the elements, decaying fast in the harsh mountain climate to become one of the world’s most recognisable modern ruins.

In February 2018 the monument was recognised by heritage organisation Europa Nostra as one of the “7 Most Endangered” heritage sites in Europe. Thousands of visitors already travel to the monument each year, and a new study shows that as many as 94% of foreign visitors would be happy to pay an entry fee if the monument was restored.

 

 

Further Information
www.buzludzha-monument.com

Press Contact
Richard F. Morten, Buzludzha Project Foundation: RFMorten@uclan.ac.uk

Getty Foundation “Keeping it Modern” Press Release

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