Buzludzha

Built 1974 – 1981 under Architect Georgi Stoilov, architect and former mayor of the Bulgarian capital city of Sofia. Used as a communist monument and assembly hall until the fall of Bulgarian communism in 1989. 

This building is not only a superlative in futurist architecture, meeting brutalism on top of the Bulkan mountain range, it is also a symbol of a nation wanting to erase their past. The building was constructed over 6 years. The top of the mountain was blasted away with TNT, removing more than 15000 cubic tons of stone and then only used over a 8 year period.

Since 1989 the building received zero maintenance, since 2018 there are guards at the monument preventing access to the building as the decay takes its toll on the concrete structure. Currently there are no plans to revive or preserve this architectural exotic. Today the monument is recognised as one of the seven most endangered heritage sites in Europe by Europa Nosta who have put forward an action plan to preserve and develop the monument without any indication of action taking place to preserve the monument as of now. 

Babinsky is fascinated by the story and the architecture of the Buzludzha Monument and took images on more than 3 occasions visiting the monument using a DSLR and overlaying several images as HDR compositions, always without any further editing of the original images.

Prints at a width of 2m are available on request. Artists signature on the back of the print.