Photo source: video screen.
Bulgarian architect Dora Ivanova told The New York Times that she learned about the existence of a huge Soviet monument similar to a UFO while studying in Germany. When she saw his photos for the first time, she realized that it was love at first sight.
She realized that the concrete structure must be saved. Ivanova gave up her career and has been fighting for 10 years to save from the destruction of a masterpiece of brutal architecture, which struck her imagination with its scale.
The Buzludzha project is located in the mountains of Bulgaria and looks like a landed flying saucer. Nearby is a 230-foot tower, which previously boasted the world’s largest and tallest red star.
The restorer of the Bulgarian National Academy of Arts Nikifor Kharlampiev, who works with Ivanova, called this building “the Sistine Chapel of Socialism.”
Ivanova had to fight for a long time for the allocation of money to carry out repairs. However, she does not plan to return the original appearance of the monument. The 91-year-old creator of the Buzludzha memorial, Georgy Stoilov, insisted on this. He considers the building a memory of good times.
Dora Ivanova noted that the return of the original appearance of the monument would be too expensive for a country that is considered the poorest member of the European Union. It will take millions of dollars.
The Getty Foundation in Los Angeles, calling the building a “masterpiece of architectural engineering,” in 2019 allocated 185 thousand dollars for its conservation. Later, the project received another 600 thousand dollars from him to preserve the collapsing mosaics.
Dora Ivanova stated that she intends to preserve, not restore, the monument in order to use it for concerts and as a tourist attraction. Moreover, most of the mosaic was lost many years ago. Apparently stolen.
The complex, which took more than seven years to build and 6,000 workers, worked for only eight years until 1992.
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