TOUR Ex COMMUNISM

Sofia is the capital and the largest city of Bulgaria and the only one with a population of more then 1 million people in the country It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula. As one of the oldest cities not only in Bulgaria and the entire Balkan Peninsula, Sofia offer a number of notable culture and historical monuments.

The Museum of Communism is a museum in Sofia, a branch of the National Art Gallery. This is the first museum institution in Bulgaria, designed to collect, preserve and present examples of Bulgarian art, created in the period 1944-1989, thematically related to the period of socialism. The museum was opened on September 19, 2011 with a solemn ceremony.
We will look at the most vivid paintings and sculptures of the stream of “socialist realism”, a canon in art throughout the Eastern camp. The pentagram is also kept here, which until 1990 rose to the most representative building in the country – the Partisan House.
The park has an area of 7,500 square meters. It exhibits 77 works of monumental sculpture, mostly statues and busts of famous Bulgarian and Soviet communists – Georgi Dimitrov, Dimitar Blagoev, Vasil Kolarov, Vladimir Lenin, Tsviatko Radoynov and other socialist figures. There is also a bust-monument of Todor Zhivkov. The remaining statues are typical examples of socialist realism – partisans, Red Army men, workers and cooperators.
The exhibition hall has an area of 550 square meters.  It presents 60 paintings and 25 works of easel sculpture. Documentary films from the era of socialism in Bulgaria are shown in the video hall.

Peace Bells – where bells from 68 different countries ring. The installation was created in 1979 by the daughter of the head of the communists Todor Zhivkova – Lyudmila, at the “Flag of Peace” assembly.

The Bulgarian town of Plovdiv is situated along the two banks of the river Maritza with its slow water, and also on a number of picturesque hills (called ‘tepe’ by the local people) that are part of the town’s charm and beauty.
Plovdiv is located in the Southern/Central part of Bulgaria. Being the second largest city in the country, it has a population of 350’000. There is a kind of magic in Plovdiv in all seasons. Remains of ancient, mediaeval, revival and modern culture coexist and are interwoven into the unobtrusive, irresistible and eternal beauty of this city. They do not stand in each other’s way; they complement and enrich each other to make Plovdiv a synonym of Bulgarian history and a genuine world city.

The monument to the Soviet Army (known as Alyosha) is a 10.5 m high granite statue rising on top of Bunardzhik Hill in Plovdiv. The prototype of the statue is the Russian soldier of the Third Ukrainian Front Aleksey Ivanovich Skurlatov.

Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak – It is one of the most valuable monument of Thracian architecture and art from the end of the 4 and the beginning of the 3 BC. It was found in 1944 in a mould near the town of Kazanluk. It has a richly painted rectangular entrance hall, a narrow gallery and a brick burial chamber with a dome. Two techniques were used in the decoration – wet fresco and distemper technique. On the frieze in the gallery a combat scene with a lot of figures is depicted. The wall paintings from the main frieze are between two bands of ornaments. They represent a unique scene, in which the deified deceased and his wife are having a funeral feast and a lot of servants, musicians, guards, coachmen are serving them. Such images are a very important resource of information for the way of life, clothes, appearance and imagination of the Thracian people. This is the best preserved monument of Thracian art in Bulgaria and one of the few masterpieces of antique painting we have today. It is announced for a UNESCO monument in 1979.

The Buzludzha Monument (officially the BKP Monument House) is the popular name of the largest ideological monument of the communist regime in Bulgaria. The site is included in Shipka-Buzludzha National Park-Museum, which has been declared a historical and architectural reserve /1978/.
It was build in 1981 on Mount Hadji Dimitar, better known by its old name Mount Buzludzha (until 1942), in honor of the Buzludzhan Congress, held at the same place in 1891. The Bulgarian Labor Social Democratic Party was founded at the congress. This happened in August 1891 at a conspiratorial meeting led by Dimitar Blagoev. Later BKP and its successor BSP are considered successors. Buzludzha Peak and the Monument were shrines for the Bulgarian communists until 1989.
The architecture of the monument is described as a sacrificial tray and column symbolizing an unfurled flag and a wreath in honor of the Bulgarian Communist Party.
The monument house consists of a domed building and a 70-meter double pylon. On the top of the pylon, on its wide sides, 2 irregular pentagons (looking like a common pentagon) with dimensions of 6.5 x 12 m are mounted. The ceremonial hall in the building has a diameter of 42 m and a height of 14.5 m and is decorated with mosaics with total area of 550 m². The mosaics recreate the struggles of the BKP and the construction of a socialist society. The hall is surrounded by a corridor along which there are 14 compositions reflecting peaceful labor.
After the political changes in Bulgaria on November 10, 1989, the state of the monument deteriorated drastically. In 1992, the monument was nationalized under the Law on the Nationalization of the Property of the BKP and was sealed.

Veliko Tarnovo – the city is often referred to as the „City of the Tsars“, Veliko Tarnovo is located on the Yantra River and is famous as the historical capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire, attracting many tourists with its unique architecture. Contemporaries have described it as “God’s preserved town”, “The Great Tarnov”, “The queen of the towns”.

Visiting the Mother Bulgaria monument. It is located in the center of the city of Veliko Tarnovo, it is dedicated to those who died in the Russo-Turkish, Serbian-Bulgarian, Balkan and First World Wars. It was opened on May 6, 1935. It is a tall sculpture built on a structure in a small park. The sculpture is in the shape of a woman, personifying Mother Bulgaria, kneeling and holding a flag in her hand.

The panorama “The Pleven Epic 1877” was built in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Liberation of Pleven from the Ottoman yoke. In the first 3 years after its opening, it was visited by 2.5 million people. It is among the nearly 200 monuments built by the people of Pleven in memory of the fallen Russians, Romanians and Bulgarians. It is included in the Hundred National Tourist Sites.
It was built in the area of ​​the Skobelev Park, right next to the “Kovanluk” redoubt, where during the 3rd attack of the siege of Pleven, some of the heaviest battles were fought.
The architectural body of the Panorama is made to appear raised on 4 bayonets that represent the power of the weapon that brought freedom. The bayonets bear 4 horizontally arranged rings, 3 of which symbolize the 3 attacks on Pleven, and the 4th ring is a decorative plastic frieze symbolizing the siege of Pleven.
The solemn opening of the Panorama was on December 10, 1977, on the day of the centenary of the Liberation of Pleven.

Park-museum „Gen.Skobelev”
Cultural monument of national importance. Created in the period 1904 – 1907 at the initiative of the “Tsar Liberator Alexander II” committee with chairman Stoyan Zaimov.
Memorial Park-Museum, located in the southwestern part of Pleven, at the place where the detachment of Gen. M.D. Skobelev and where the fiercest battles took place during the third assault on Pleven on September 11-12, 1877. About 6,500 people from the 13,000-strong detachment of Gen. M.D. Skobelev.
In the center of the park there is a Bratska mogila-ossuary. On it, in specially made niches made of tallow, 4 and 9-pounder guns from the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878 are placed
The monument “Bratska Mogila” is located in the center of the city of Pleven. It was built in 1970. in memory of the fallen fighters against fascism and capitalism. Today, it also glorifies the Bulgarian soldiers who fell in the Russo-Turkish War, and for this purpose the pentacle at its upper end is covered with a large metal medal for bravery. Thus, the monument “Bratska Mogila”, dedicated to the heroes who gave their lives for the freedom of the fatherland 1924-1940. and 1941-1944. is saved. In the past, students from Pleven schools have given a guard of honor in front of the monument.

Monument “Mother Bulgaria” (also known as “Monument of the Century”) is a monument in Pleven, erected on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Liberation of Bulgaria. The monument was inaugurated on 10 December 1978. It has the status of an immovable cultural value and is a historical place related to the Russo-Turkish War of Liberation 1877 – 1878.The statue is the work of sculptor Dimitar Boykov and arch. Atanas Atanasov.
It is located in front of the entrance to the Skobelev park-museum. The monument consists of a female figure breaking slave chains, against the background of a stylized “centenary tree” of concrete 27 m high. The grieving woman symbolizes the mothers and wives of the fallen.

The Freedom Monument in Ruse was designed at the beginning of the 20th century by the Italian sculptor Arnoldo Dzoki, and was made by Georgi Kiselinchev. Over time, it has gained importance as one of the symbols of the city and is part of its coat of arms.
The composition is pyramidal. The statue at the top is a female figure holding a sword in her left hand, pointing in the right direction from where the liberators came. One of the two bronze lions at the base breaks the chains of slavery with its mouth, and the other guards the Sword and Shield of Liberty. On the pedestal there are relief images of militia scenes. The text of the main inscription reads: “To the defenders and militiamen who took part in the Liberation of Bulgaria in 1876 – 1877.” In the back part of the base, 2 cannons are placed

Bucharest is known as the “city of contrasts”, especially for the strangely combined different architectural styles. You are going to visit the Old Center.
In the first years of communism, starting with the 1950s,the Old Center of Bucharest survived, and the party did not want to change it. Later, architecture was used as a propaganda weapon for Romania to identify itself with other communist countries, such as North Korea or China.

We will visit /outside/Calea Victoriei where we can admire some impressive buildings such as the National History Museum, the CEC Palace, the National Military Circle and Casa Capsa.
The architecture of Bucharest began to change, especially during the reign of Nicolae Ceausescu,
after he and his wife, Elena, visited North Korea and China in the early 1970s. The dictator, passionate about architecture, but without any talent, mutilated capital city. In order to build the Palace of the Parliament, Bucharest lost historical buildings the size of Venice.

We will go to visit the Museum of the Horrors of Communism in Romania – which commemorates the crimes and atrocities that took place between 1945 and 1989 in Romania.The museum analyzes the communist regime stage by stage and shows the experiences of the victims of the communist regime.

The Palace of the Parliament – the second largest and heaviest administrative building in the world. Named, initially, the House of the Republic, this is Ceausescu’s most spectacular project. The architect who designed and built the palace was only 28 years old at the time, and some say that the main reason why she won the competition is that her project was the grandest.

Arc de Triomphe – a symbol of victory.
The Arc de Triomphe is a special type of monument, the meaning of which is the highest form of commemoration of historical events and personalities. Its gate-shaped specificity allows the triumphant passage of the personalities thus honored under the monument’s arch.

Casa Presei Libere, also known as Casa Scânteii, is one of the most representative buildings in Bucharest, Romania. It was built between 1952-1957 and initially served as the headquarters of the

Romanian Communist Party and the media controlled by it.

The Casa Scânteii building is distinguished by its modernist architecture and its impressive dimensions. It has a height of 91 meters and an area of approximately 32,000 square meters. Its design was inspired by Soviet architecture, especially Berlin’s Stalinallee (today Karl-Marx-Allee).
The construction is a reduced-scale copy of the “Lomonosov” University building (built between 1949-1953) and the “Leningrad” Hotel, both in Moscow.

Știrbey-Florescu Castle, the oldest holiday residence in Sinaia, houses the Sinaia City Museum, a place where local stories and historical data meet in a unique and modern design concept.
Știrbey Castle is under the signature of the Dutch architect Josef Jacob Schieffleers, and is made up of 13 thematic rooms that invite you to discover the secrets of the city.

Dimitrie Ghica Park in Sinaia, was established in 1881 and is a place of recreation that offers visitors several attractions.
On the side of the alleys that cross the park, there are busts of personalities who lived or just visited the city of Sinaia, such as, for example: Mihai Eminescu and lon Creangă, Nicolae Bălcescu as well as Dimitrie Ghica.

The Sinaia Casino is located in the “Dimitrie Ghica” park and was built at the initiative of Carol I.
It has become a tourist attraction of the city of Sinaia, and its strong point is the over 500 works of art in the art gallery and in the character exhibitions temporary.
The donations of the painters Augustin Costinescu, Mihail Gavril, Bogdan Mihai Radu are remarkable, but even the temporary exhibitions do not bear the signatures to be neglected: Cornel Vana, Calin-Raul Anton, Rares Kerekes.

The heart of the Sighișoara fortress is represented by the Cetății Square. In the past, it was a place full of activity and hustle and bustle, because, here, lawsuits were judged, the inhabitants traded and the most important announcements for the community were made. The citadel was included in the UNESCO World Heritage and has 9 towers, which were included in the tour of the fortifications in Transylvania.
Also in Piața Cetății we will find the “Deer House”, perhaps the most interesting building from an architectural point of view. The name and uniqueness is provided by the exterior mural, which represents a life-size deer. The stag has its head and trophy mounted directly on the wall.
Low and towering, the Clock Tower is the most important monument for the Citadel of Sighisoara.
The tower, 64 meters high, dominates the two squares of the Upper Town and the Lower Town. It is the only tower of the Citadel, which did not belong to any guild. Being the headquarters of the City Council, it was in the custody of the public authorities.
In the medieval period, Sighișoara Citadel was a city with many rights granted by the king. Among them was the “jus gladii” right, that is, the city administration had the right to judge and sentence criminals to death in the name of the king.

In Cluj we will do the 1989 Revolution Tour is a free educational project that presents the story of those who faced the tanks and bullets with their bare hands to overthrow the communist dictatorship. The route includes the important points of the era: the conspiratorial house of the Security, the Communist Party County Hall, the Victoria Hotel, Mihai Viteazul Square and the city center.

The Church of the Transfiguration in Cluj-Napoca was built at the end of the 18th century and was done wrong. Her tower is collapsing. After a period of several years under the sponsorship of the empress Maria Tereza and with the help of a great architect, the church tower is a restaurant and in the sea it looks like it does now. It was a Roman Catholic church until 1924 when the Pope of Rome offered it to the Greek Catholic cult. There was a big scandal, but in the end, the administrative center of the Greek-Catholic church from Gherla is moving here. In 1948, when the Greek-Catholic cult was outlawed, the church passed to the Orthodox. Until 1998 it belonged to the Orthodox cult and by a court decision it belongs to the Greek-Catholic cult. Here is a crypt where imperial officers of the empire and rich Armenian merchants are buried. The Armenian population here in the city in its great majority became Hungarian. The Armenians being very rich were buried in the crypt in this church.

Palace of Culture – Probably the most emblematic building in Timișoara. It was built between 1872 and 1875, in the Neo-Renaissance style, according to the project of the Viennese architects Helmer and Fellner. The building was damaged by fires in the 1890s and 1920s. During the second restoration, the hall was decorated in a non-Ormanian style. In the 1930s, the Bucharest architect Duiliu Marcu restored the main facade in the form of a triumphal arch.
In 2003, the main facade was restored to its current form. After the Revolution of 1989, the balcony of the building has a strong historical significance, being the place from where Timișoara declared itself the first city in Romania free of communism. The building now houses four cultural institutions: the National Theatre, the Romanian Opera, the German Theater and the Hungarian Theatre.

The Museum of the Communist Consumer in Timișoara is a private initiative of Ovidiu Mihăiță and was established in 2015. The museum has no political or ideological character, but aims to preserve memories and a fragment of history. Arranged inside an apartment in an old building in Timișoara, the museum exhibits all kinds of defining objects for the communist period, which Romanians had at home (furniture, electrical appliances, trinkets, toys, records, books, objects specific to that period).

On the way visit of Stratishte Memorial Complex.
Northeast from the Belgrade long, plain road that connects a series of a rural farming communities, a bronze and concrete monument sits abandoned. The memorial complex commemorates the estimated 10,000 Serbs, Roma and Jews who were executed here by fascists between 1941 and 1945, an event sometimes remembered as the “Pančevo Holocaust.”
When it was opened in 1981 under the newly united Yugoslavia, the site originally featured a small museum complex, as well as an amphitheater for educational events. Today though, it has gone to ruin. The buildings have fallen to dereliction, while weeds rise in and around the bare amphitheater.
The original lighting system, which would have illuminated the monument by night, has long since been removed, while various incidents of vandalism and theft have robbed the memorial complex of plaques and other features.
The monument itself remains, however. It is formed from two concrete waves topped with three-ton bronze elements. The design was intended to represent a ploughed field, a deep furrow cut through the earth. It was designed by Nebojša Delja, who had intended to create something that would gain more significance with age; as the bronze rusted, the reddening of the metal would more closely resemble the colour of the earth.

City tour of Belgrad.
Outside – The main street “Kniaz Mahaylova”, Belgrade fortrеss, Skadarska street with cafeterias, St.Sava church, National Assembly, the old Palace, National Theater.
Visit of emblemathic monuments from communism.
Museum of Yugoslavia. It chronicles the period of Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Socialist Yugoslavia as well as the life of Josip Broz Tito. Museum was opened on 25 May 1962. It was built by the City of Belgrade as a present to Josip Broz Tito, the president of Yugoslavia, for his 70th birthday. This museum was used to display presents that Tito have received up until 1962. A special collection of Relay of Youth batons were on display in this museum. On 16 November 1982, the “Josip Broz Tito” Memorial Centre was founded and the 25 May Museum became part of the centre.

The Sajmište concentration camp was a Nazi German concentration and extermination camp during World War II. It was located at the former Belgrade fairground site near the town of Zemun, in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH). The camp was organized and operated by SS Einsatzgruppen units stationed in occupied Serbia.
The derelict complex was declared a cultural monument on 9 July 1987. The National Assembly of Serbia adopted the law establishing the Memorial Center “Staro Sajmište” on 24 February 2020. Reconstruction of the central tower, as the first step in the adaptation of the remains into the memorial center and museum began on 27 July 2022.

The Kosmaj monument is made of several freestanding concrete structures, each roughly 40 meters high, that taken together look a bit like a spaceship sent through time from a future envisioned in the 1970s.
Built in 1970 by sculptor Vojin Stojic and architect Gradimir Medakovic, the brutalist monument celebrates a group of partisan fighters in World War II who battled against the German occupation in the south of Belgrade. During the fighting, the battalions lost over 5,000 soldiers but their “guns of freedom kept shooting.”
The monument itself sits atop the highest peak in the region like some sort of Christmas star crowning a mountain-sized tree. According to modern visitors, the monument is in some disrepair and unfortunately, the locals do not seem to have any interest in restoring it.

Niška Fortress – It was built in the 18th century and is located on the right bank of the Nišava River, in the center of Niš. The fortress has four large gates – Stamboul, Belgrade, Vidin and the Great Gate.
Mediana – the birthplace of Constantine the Great. It is the most famous suburb in Niš, birthplace of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great. It is located in the eastern part of the city, near thermal springs. Mediana was built in the 4th century as a summer residence that the emperor visited in his hometown. On the spot you will see original mosaics.
The Skull Tower – The Skull Tower was built in 1809 and is located two kilometers from the city center. It was built from the skulls of 952 Serbian insurgents who died in the Battle of Cegar. They were beheaded by order of the Turkish commander-in-chief Khurshid Pasha.
Red Cross concentration camp – bottom of the best-preserved Nazi facilities on the Balkan Peninsula. Jews, communists, partisans, and Serbs lay inside during the Nazi occupation of Serbia in World War II. You will be able to walk through the common areas, learn the stories of those who lie inside and peek into the cells, the floors of which were covered with barbed wire.

The National History Museum is the largest museum in Bulgaria. The National History Museum was founded in 1973 and is actually one of the largest and richest museums in the Balkans. It preserves more than 700,000 cultural monuments, tracing the history of the people who lived on the territory of Bulgaria from 8,000 years ago until today. In 1984, the first exposition dedicated to 1300 years of Bulgaria was arranged. It is located in the Courthouse. In 1998, House No. 1 from the Boyana residence was provided as a building for the museum. In 2000, a new exhibition was opened at the new location. The main exhibition of the museum is arranged in five halls: Prehistory, Ancient Thrace, Middle Ages – First (VII-XI century) and Second Bulgarian Kingdom (XII-XIV century), Bulgarian lands in the XV-XIX century and the Third Bulgarian State (1878 – until today).

The church “St. Nicholas and St. Panteleimon” in the district of Boyana, Sofia, or Boyana Church for short, is known for its remarkable medieval frescoes. The Boyan church was declared a national antiquities protected by the state in 1927 and remained an active parish church until 1954. In 1979 it was included in the list of world cultural heritage under the protection of UNESCO.