Bulgaria

1944-1989

Preservation from Indifference

Peoples Republic of Bulgaria
1947-1989

Christopher Lauzon

Bulgaria
1947-1989

Projects

Bulgaria
1947-1989

Political Timeline

1949 Georgi Dimitrov Mausoleum Georgi Ovcharov

1944 The Third Bulgarian State falls to Soviet forces.

1951 Dimitrovgrad City Plan Peter Tachev

1954 Monument to the Soviet Army Milko Milkov
1955 The Largo Petso Zlatev
1957 Golden Sands Resort Milena Yordanova et al.

1947 Georgi Dimitrov, General Secretary of the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP),
becomes leader of the new Peoples Republic of Bulgaria.

1961 Master Plan for Sofia Lyuben Neikov

1965 Panelki (Panel Blocks) Various
1968 Albena Resort Nikolai Nenov
1968 Palace of Culture and Sports Stefan Kolchev

1950

1949 Vulko Chervenkov assumes leadership with the death of Dimitrov.

A policy of mass industrialization commences.

1954 Todor Zhivkov assumes leadership with the death of Chervenkov.

1972 Master Plan for Sofia Vladimir Romenski
1974 Boyana Residence Alexander Georgiev Barov
1974 Sofia Central Station Milko Bachev
1975 Arbanassi Palace Alexander Georgiev Barov
1978 Monument of the Bulgarian-Soviet Friendship Kamen Goranov
1979 Kempinski Hotel (Vitosha New Otani) Kisho Kurokawa

1960

1981 National Palace of Culture Alexander Georgiev Barov

1981 Monument of the Bulgarian Communist Party Georgi Stoilov
1981 Monument to 1300 Years of Bulgaria Georgi Gechev, Blagoi Atanasov
1985 Municipal Hall of Ruse Alexander Georgiev Barov

1963 Zhivkov proposes greater integration with the Soviet Republic. Such integration
may have included complete political unification.

1970

1980

1981 1300th anniversary of the First Bulgarian Empire.

1989 Amidst disintegration of the Eastern Bloc, the BCP oust Zhivkov.
Transition towards democracy commences.

1990

1990 First contested election since 1931. The Bulgarian Socialist Party (the reformed
BCP) win a majority.
1991 The Republic of Bulgaria is ratified with a new constitution.

Bulgaria
1947-1989

Introduction
Located in the eastern Balkan Peninsula along the Black Sea, Bulgaria is a country that spent most of
the twentieth century on the losing side of international conflicts. Having reluctantly joined the Axis Powers midway through the Second World War, the Third Bulgarian State fell to Soviet forces in 1944 and was subsequently
replaced by a transitional leftist government. Supported by the Red Army, the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP)
was quick to consolidate power through the elimination of dissidents, and declared the creation of the Peoples
Republic in 1947 with Georgi Dimitrov, General Secretary of the BCP, as its first leader.1
Wholly within the Soviet sphere, Bulgaria at the start of socialist rule was a poor and agrarian state
only 24 percent of the population residing in urban settlements and only 8 percent living in cities with more than
100,000 inhabitants.2 Elementary water, heating, and power networks were not available in most cities and town,
let alone villages.3 Given such an impoverished baseline, the centrally planned economy, while inefficient, was
able to significantly improve the nations standard of living. By the collapse of the East Bloc and the USSR in the
early 1990s, Bulgaria had undergone an unprecedented shift in urbanization and industrialization. This modest
prosperity, along with historically close ties to Russia4, dampened enmity (in comparison to other Eastern Europeans) toward curtailed freedoms and established Bulgaria as the most steadfast of Soviet satellite states during
the Cold War.5
The architecture of early socialist Bulgaria was a significant break from precedent. In the capital Sofia,
the architecture immediately prior to socialist rule was a fusion of Art Deco, Beaux Arts, and moderated Modernism.6 Bulgarian spatial planning often drew inspiration from monasteries, but its vernacular tradition is best
known for the National Revival period of the nineteenth century (Figure 1) a predominantly residential baroque
style that emphasized straight lines and vertices with plastic projections.7 Under the new government, design
and construction operated within a vertical hierarchy that left little aesthetic independence to domestic architects.
With aspirations of creating a new Moscow, Georgi Dimitrov instructed all new construction to follow Stalinist
principles. This directive shaped not only Lenin Square (since renamed the Largo) the most recognizable example of socialist architecture in the country but also town planning (as seen in the creation of Dimitrovgrad).
Georgi Dimitrovs own Mausoleum, constructed quickly after his death in 1949, was an apparent nod to Lenins
mausoleum in Moscow.
The death of Stalin in 1953 and a change in Bulgarian leadership to Todor Zhivkov a year later opened
architecture to new expression. The bureaucracy of the state began to coalesce into a stable hierarchy that
would remain in place for the remainder of the regime. Architecture became the responsibility of the Ministry
of Architecture and Construction (MAC) from 1959 onwards. As directed by the Central Committee, the MAC
relegated projects to various state planning offices according to specialization and building type. These regional
offices were the primary interface between the state and the Union of Architects in Bulgaria (UAB), a relatively
independent and self-sufficient professional society. Along with publishing work and holding design competitions,
the UAB would become an instrumental network for Bulgarian architects to communicate not only with each other, but with the state itself.8 The competitive mindset facilitated by UAB was realized when the state established
Technoexportstroy (TES) in 1964 to encourage the export of architectural and urban design abroad. Bulgarian
architects and construction firms found strong business in the post-colonial Third World and became a point of
pride in propagandist publications.9
With greater design freedom, architects employed new ideas for the first time in the multitude of seaside
resorts that began to appear along the Black Sea in the late 1950s. Encouraged by the success of Francoist
Spains tourism campaign, Bulgarian officials sought to develop holiday consumption as a new and needed revenue stream.10 The first portion of this consumption was internal the state pushed leisure vacation as a modern
luxury afforded by the success of socialism. The second was external. Up to 80 percent of the seaside visitors
were from within the Bloc, drawn not only to the golden sand but for the readily available cigarettes and chocolate
that were difficult to acquire back home. A smaller but arguably more valuable target of Bulgarian resorts were

Bulgaria
1947-1989

vacationers from outside the Bloc predominantly West Germans and Britons that were drawn by lows costs.
The Bulgarian regime used their resorts (in particular Albena, Sunny Beach, and Golden Sands) to impress
upon foreigners the progress of socialism, but it was their hard currencies that kept the national economy afloat.
Altogether, tourism (and cigarettes) throughout the 1960s and 1970s gave Bulgaria the highest per capita rate of
economic expansion in the Eastern Bloc.11
Employing precast concrete panel technology, the seaside resorts built by Bulgarian architects in the
1960s became prototypes for social housing in the 1970s.12 High rise panel blocks were ubiquitous across Eastern Europe, but the Bulgarian Panelki is particularly unique from its contemporaries. Unlike the Tsarist Russia
Lenin inherited, Bulgaria at the end of the Second World War had a history of private home ownership. The
young socialist regime, with neither the financial or political will to change this custom, shifted from an ideology
of state care to one of state control.13 In lieu of a massive social housing campaign, personal housing was encouraged but its access, financing, and construction were highly controlled. Using 1960 as a sample year, the
result is apparent 91.3 percent of housing construction was built with non-state investment.14 Largely low rise,
these dwellings lacked the scale required for the countrys rapid urbanization (see the Master Plans for Sofia),
and with greater financial means and new building technology, the Bulgarian government shifted towards state
construction of high rise apartments. Since individual units remained privately owned, Bulgarian panelki lack the
internal communal areas seen in other socialist countries. To maintain the communal spirit, at least in theory,
emphasis was placed on the exterior space between individual panel blocks. Bulgarian architects further regionalized the panelki by referencing the plastic volumes, tripartite elevations, and inscribed panels of traditional
National Revival housing.15
The 1970s were in many aspects the height of socialist architecture in Bulgaria. Rationalism transitioned
into representation, Brutalism was the aesthetic of choice, and projects regularly reached monumental proportions. General Secretary Zhivkov afforded himself two new residences during this period the Boyana Residence, his official state home in Sofia; and Arbanassi Palace, a personal retreat in the north-central hills. New
civic and infrastructural projects were heavily featured in publications to showcase the countrys new sense of
urbanism. Developments such as the Central Station in Sofia, or the Central Square in Botevgrad made little
consideration of pre-existing heritage, opting to either demolish the entire site or leave the odd historical feature
isolated in a sea of concrete. Modernity, not charm, interested the Central Planning Committee.
The 1300th anniversary of the First Bulgarian Empire in 1981 caused a feverous peak in design and construction. Such open nationalism was rare in the Eastern Bloc, but Moscow sanctioned the commemoration as
an opportunity to better incorporate socialism into the popular history of Bulgaria.16 The most prominent project
of this period was the National Palace of Culture, a monolithic multipurpose conference and convention centre
near the heart of Sofia. Overbuilt and vast, many sectors of the Centre continue to sit empty and unused.17 The
anniversary also drove a new generation of monuments that have since grown in notoriety. The largest of such
monuments, the Memorial of the Bulgarian Communist Party, sits atop the mountain peak of Buzludzha near
the 1868 location of Turkish defeat during the liberation of Bulgaria. Inside, the monument housed a central
chamber intended for BCP communes. While many early monuments were militaristic, optimistic, and traditional,
monuments in the late socialist era were decidedly modernist, sculptural, and often abstract.18
By the end socialism in Bulgaria, hundreds of monuments of various size, style, and purpose stood erect
across the country. In 1991 the newly democratic but cash-strapped Republic of Bulgaria divested the former
Communist Party of its property, which left many monuments ownerless and unprotected.19 After two decades of
abandonment, tourists and photojournalists have discovered the pornography of these forgotten ruins with heavy
documentation. However most socialist architecture remains relatively preserved and incorporated into common
society. Compared to other former Bloc countries, Bulgarians have reflected less deeply on their communist
legacy, and it is an indifference that maintains a rich catalogue of authoritarian architecture in Bulgaria.20

Bulgaria
1947-1989

Bulgaria
1947-1989

Notes
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]

[12]
[13]
[14]
[15]
[16]
[17]
[18]
[19]
[20]

R.J. Crampton, A Concise History of Bulgaria, 2nd ed. (New York: Cambridge University
Press, 2005), 177-87.
Dobrinka Parusheva and Iliyana Marcheva, Housing in Socialist Bulgaria: Appropriating
Tradition, Home Cultures 7, no. 2 (2010): 198.
Ibid., 205.
Russian troops aided in Bulgarias liberation from five centuries of Ottoman rule during the
Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78.
Michael Kelleher, Bulgaria's Communist-Era Landscape, The Public Historian 31 no. 3
(2009): 41.
GR Reporter, The Architects of Socialist Era Were All but Brainwashed, last modified May
28, 2014, https://goo.gl/H16C87.
Alexander Koller and Jess Koller Lumley, Strategies of the Bulgarian Vernacular: Continuity
in Bulgarian House Design from National Revival Times to the Present Day, The
Journal of Architecture 19 (2014): 761.
Parusheva and Marcheva, Housing in Socialist Bulgaria, 199.
Grigor Doytchinov, Pragmatism, Not Ideology: Bulgarian Architectural Exports to the Third
World, The Journal of Architecture 17 (2012): 454-55.
Owen Hatherley, Landscapes of Communism: A History Through Buildings (London:
Penguin, 2015), 183.
Mary Neuburger, Smoke and Beers: Touristic Escapes and Places to Party in Socialist
Bulgari, 1956-1976, in Socialist Escapes: Breaking Away from Ideology and Everyday
Routine in Eastern Europe, 1945-1989, ed. Cathleen M. Giustino, Catherine J. Plum,
and Alexander Vari (New York: Berghahn, 2013), 147-8.
Hatherley, Landscapes of Communism, 185-6.
Parusheva and Marcheva, Housing in Socialist Bulgaria, 199.
Ibid., 208.
Koller and Lumley, Strategies of the Bulgarian Vernacular, 767.
Kelleher, Bulgaria's Communist-Era Landscape, 56.
Failed Architecture, FA Workshop: Sofias National Palace of Culture, accessed December
14, 2016, https://www.failedarchitecture.com/fa-mobile-sofias-national-palace-of-culture.
Kelleher, Bulgaria's Communist-Era Landscape, 59.
Ibid., 61.
Ibid., 41.

Figure 1: The Lamartine House (1830) in Old Plovdiv

Source: Frans Sellies, goo.gl/at0MDl

Bulgaria
1947-1989

Bulgaria
1947-1989

Georgi Ovcharov, Georgi Dimitrov Mausoleum, Sofia, Bulgaria, 1949-99

Peter Tachev, Dimitrovgrad City Plan, Dimitrovgrad, Bulgaria, 1951

Client: Bulgarian Communist Party

Client: Bulgarian Communist Party

Built in just 6 days, the mausoleum displayed the body of Bulgarias first communist leader. Located in central Sofia, senior
party leaders would use the building as a platform to view state marches. Its strong association with the BCP made it one
of the few socialist structures dismantled after 1989. Poetically, it took 6 days to implode after repeated technical issues
with the explosives.

Built to supply new industrial factories nearby, Dimitrovgrad is a remarkable example of social realist town planning. With
monumental roads, axes of symmetry and micro-regions, Tachev adopted Soviet concepts for a Bulgarian setting. The
envisioned plan for a grand House of Soviets never came to fruition, with the site eventually filled with a modest town hall
in the 1960s.

Source: Gavin Stamp, 2015, goo.gl/f6Sa9b

Source: Open Buildings, goo.gl/mQe89W
Source: Slavey Kostadinov, 2010, goo.gl/jzhTMb

Source: Emilia Kaleva, 2015, p.80, goo.gl/BlC79u

Source: Atrium, video stills, 2013, goo.gl/Qi3meu

Bulgaria
1947-1989

Bulgaria
1947-1989

Ivan Funev, Monument to the Soviet Army, Sofia, Bulgaria, 1954

Petso Zlatev, Lenin Square (The Largo), Sofia, Bulgaria, 1955

Client: Bulgarian Communist Party

Client: Bulgarian Communist Party

Designed by a group of sculptors and architects as a memorial square to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the
second liberation of Bulgaria by the Soviets in 1944. Early monuments such as this were often militaristic, optimistic and
traditional. While the city of Sofia voted to remove the monument in the 1990s, action was never taken. Beginning in 2011,
graffiti artists have used the central sculpture for political critiques.

Built during the first phase of Sofias master plan, Lenin Square (since renamed the Largo) is one of the best known
examples of socialist architecture in Bulgaria. The House of the Communist Party is the centerpiece, flanked by the
Universal Department Store (L), and the Hotel Balkan (R). Zlatev envisioned the square as an enclosed room, but a fourth
building was never constructed. Engravings on the facades reference Bulgarias National Revival architecture.

Source: Archaeological Institute of America, goo.gl/D9hsRJ

Source: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images, goo.gl/R30qIY

Source: Getty Images, goo.gl/7NA7Y7

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Bulgaria
1947-1989

Bulgaria
1947-1989

G. Ganev et al., Golden Sands Resort, near Varna, Bulgaria, 1957-

Nikolai Nenov, Albena Resort, Albena, Bulgaria, 1968-

Client: Bulgarian Communist Party

Client: Bulgarian Communist Party

Golden Sands was a centrally planned Black Sea resort from the late 1950s onwards. The resort was parceled and sold
in the early 1990s as the government divested Communist Party property. Many of the hotels and casinos were bought by
Bulgarian organized crime, which re-clad and expanded upon much of the original heritage. Golden Sands is now a prime
example of Mafia Baroque architecture.

Albena developed toward the end of Bulgarian resort development, but is of particular interest for its Pop Brutalist
aesthetic and terraced prefabricated hotels. Resort worked purchased the complex in the 1990s and have maintained its
heritage. As a result, Albena did not fall victim to parcelization and over development.

Source: Lafayette College, goo.gl/MJQ6a8

Source: Todor Todorov, International Tourism in Bulgaria and the Problems with Our Architecture (1970)
Source: Hotel International, goo.gl/enV1pj

Source: BBC Arts, goo.gl/I5oAaS

Source: Todor Todorov, International Tourism in Bulgaria and the Problems with Our Architecture (1970)
Source: Wikipedia, goo.gl/0aCxDv

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Bulgaria
1947-1989

Bulgaria
1947-1989
1980

1980

2015

2015

Ivan Kassurov, Izgrev Housing Estate, Burgas, Bulgaria, c.1980

Vassil Siromahov, Housing Estate, Burgas, Bulgaria, c.1980

Client: Bulgarian Communist Party

Client: Bulgarian Communist Party

Most panelki were constructed within large housing estates along the fringes of urban development. This particular panel
tower still stands today.

A typical Bulgarian panelki. Since individual units were privately owned and building regulations lax after the fall of
communism, many residents undertook significant flat rehabilitations. This panelki complex exhibits these patchwork
renovations - chiefly enclosed balconies and EIFS panelling.

Source: Union of Bulgarian Architects, Bulgarian Architecture (1981)

Source: Google, goo.gl/4Jk6vl

Source: Union of Bulgarian Architects, Bulgarian Architecture (1981)

Source: Google, goo.gl/YnT3n8

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Bulgaria
1947-1989

Bulgaria
1947-1989

Lyuben Neikov, Master Plan for Sofia (Phase Two), Sofia, Bulgaria, 1961-72

Vladimir Romenski, Master Plan for Sofia (Phase Three), Sofia, Bulgaria, 1972-79

Client: City of Sofia, Bulgarian Communist Party

Client: City of Sofia, Bulgarian Communist Party

Neikovs plan focused on keeping Sofia a compact city. Uniquely socialist, all urban design was centred around the
kindergarten, which each one serving 3-5 thousand residents in a single housing estate. Multiple housing estates would
form a contained microdistrict of 15-20 thousand, which would let Sofia expand to 800,000 residents. The plan was
approved but never implemented - Sofias population outgrew the population target within 5 years.

Sofias third phase of planning expanded to the entire capital region, suggesting agglomeration with neighbouring districts.
The city structure would be polycentric with five complex macro-spatial units. Green belts were replaced with green
wedges that would penetrate from the exurbs. The master plan could accommodate a city of 1.6 million residents, but was
rejected for being too theoretical. However, Romenskis smaller plan (above) for the main city centre was approved.

Source: Sonia Hirt, The Compact vs. the Dispersed City, 2007, p. 28.
Source: City of Sofia, Master Plan of Sofia Municipality: Synthesis Report, 2009, goo.gl/FydbmX

Source: Union of Bulgarian Architects, Bulgarian Architecture (1981)

Source: City of Sofia, Master Plan of Sofia Municipality: Synthesis Report, 2009, goo.gl/FydbmX

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Bulgaria
1947-1989

Bulgaria
1947-1989

Alexander Georgiev Barov, Boyana Residence, Sofia, Bulgaria, 1974

Alexander Georgiev Barov, Arbanassi Palace, Arbanassi, Bulgaria, 1975

Client: Todor Zhivkov/Bulgarian Communist Party

Client: Todor Zhivkov/Bulgarian Communist Party

With its overhangs and entrance hall, the Boyana Residence is a monumental modern reinterpretation of Bulgarian
vernacular architecture. Its interior now houses the collection of the National Historical Museum.

Arbanassi Palace was built as a rural retreat for General Secretary Todor Zhivkov. It was converted to a hotel in 1991.

Source: Wikipedia, goo.gl/Bf9d2I

Source: Lyura, Flickr, goo.gl/0rSAZQ

Source: Bulgaria Hotels, goo.gl/hQogfX

Source: Booking.com, goo.gl/IimNKm

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1947-1989

Bulgaria
1947-1989

Stefan Kolchev, Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna, Bulgaria, 1968

Kisho Kurokawa, Kempinski Hotel (Vitosha New Otani), Sofia, Bulgaria, 1979

Client: Bulgarian Communist Party

Client: Tehnoeksportstroy

Palaces of Sport was an arena designation that originated in Soviet Russia and spread throughout the East Bloc. This
particular Palace contains a recreational centre, a fitness centre for training and competition, as well as a business
and shopping concourse. A near copy of this complex (also by Kolchev) can be found in Lagos, Nigeria as the National
Theatre.

The Kempinksi Hotel in Sofia by Kisho Kurokawa is a rare example in terms of both style (Metabolism), architect (a nonBloc citizen) and financing (partially funded by Mitsubishi). When completed, the hotel was the second tallest building in
Bulgaria.

Source: Postcard off eBay, goo.gl/MkGgmm

Source: Varna Eye, goo.gl/lmKbHu
Source: Union of Bulgarian Architects, Bulgarian Architecture (1981)

19

Source: Bulgarian Economic Forum, goo.gl/h6cBHO

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Bulgaria
1947-1989

Bulgaria
1947-1989

Milko Bachev, Sofia Central Station Sofia, Bulgaria, 1974

Hristo Genkov, Central Square, Botevgrad, Bulgaria, c.1970s

Client: Transproekt Company

Client: City of Botevgrad/Bulgarian Communist Party

Golden Sands was a centrally planned Black Sea resort from the late 1950s onwards. The resort was parceled and sold
in the early 1990s as the government divested Communist Party property. Many of the hotels and casinos were bought by
Bulgarian organized crime, which re-clad and expanded upon much of the original heritage. Golden Sands is now a prime
example of Mafia Baroque architecture.

The construction of Central Square and adjacent administrative building in Botevgard likely cleared much heritage from the
city core, leaving the 1866 clock tower naked in a sea of modernism.

Source: Union of Bulgarian Architects, Bulgarian Architecture (1981)

Source: Viewport Magazine goo.gl/C4Iz7g

21

Source: Union of Bulgarian Architects, Bulgarian Architecture (1981)

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Bulgaria
1947-1989

Bulgaria
1947-1989

Alexander Georgiev Barov, National Palace of Culture, Sofia, Bulgaria, 1981

Alexander Georgiev Barov, Municipal Hall, Ruse, Bulgaria, 1985

Client: Bulgarian Communist Party

Client: City of Ruse / Bulgarian Communist Party

The National Palace of Culture became the showpiece for celebrations surrounding the 1300th anniversary of Bulgaria
in 1981. Its international organization of halls is an exact copy of the Kremlin Palace of Congresses found in Moscow.
Overbuilt, much of the Palace remains empty at any single point of time.

After the frenzy of projects leading to 1981, construction slowed with a downturn in the national economy. The Municipal
Hall in Ruse is an less common example of socialist architecture completed near the end of the authoritarian regime.

Source: Flick River, goo.gl/OEuck

Source: Failed Architecture, goo.gl/5qFU5j

Source: The New Motive Power, Flickr, goo.gl/dPamW5

Source: Picssr, goo.gl/FGB8A1

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1947-1989

Bulgaria
1947-1989

Kamen Garanov, Monument of the Bulgarian-Soviet Friendship, Varna, Bulgaria, 1978

Georgi Stoilov, Monument of the BCP, Buzludzha, Bulgaria, 1981

Client: Bulgarian Communist Party

Client: Bulgarian Communist Party

This monument was based on a design first conceived in 1958, but did not enter construction until 1974. The 27,000
member workforce was comprised of volunteers, but how freely they contributed is not known. Located atop a hill on
the edge of Varna, the complex is deceptively large, once housing conference facilities, an information point, a Soviet
propaganda centre and bookshop, and a nuclear bunker. The monument is now sealed and abandoned.

Otherwise known as Buzludzha for the mountain is sits on, the Monument for the BCP opened as part of celebrations
during the 1300th anniversary of Bulgaria. Its central chamber was designed for party communes, but was rarely used
before the end of communist rule. Fine examples of mosaic murals line the chamber and peripheral halls. Today the
monument is one of the most infamous for ruin explorers.

Source: Balkan Heritage Field School, archive photo, goo.gl/woy0GM

Source: Wikipedia, goo.gl/cUjXyQ
Source: Nikolai Vukov and Luca Ponchiroli, Witnesses of Stone (2011), p. 114

Source: Will Munns and Becky Munns, Flickr, goo.gl/BjfUxB

Source: Abandoned Berlin. goo.gl/ouXrc3
Source: Nikolai Vukov and Luca Ponchiroli, Witnesses of Stone (2011), p. 114

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