Archinect - News 2024-12-25T15:01:42-05:00 https://archinect.com/news/article/150310926/i-knew-i-had-to-do-something-a-bulgarian-architect-on-preserving-a-monument-to-her-country-s-ugly-past 'I knew I had to do something': A Bulgarian architect on preserving a monument to her country's ugly past Josh Niland 2022-05-24T12:00:00-04:00 >2024-10-25T04:07:38-04:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/0b/0b5c628e58ca741ad4a50a7e3a15a3f0.jpeg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><em><p>What do you do with a building that was built to glorify an oppressive Communist system but, ravaged by rain and snow and stripped bare by thieves, is now a wreck? Should it be torn down in the spirit of reckoning with history &mdash; just as the statues of Confederate generals have been toppled in the United States and monuments to Soviet hegemony have been demolished across Ukraine, particularly since Russia invaded in February?</p></em><br /><br /><p>After receiving two rounds of funding totaling $245,000 from the <a href="https://archinect.com/news/article/150207280/modern-structures-in-kuwait-nigeria-senegal-chile-and-more-selected-for-conservation-grants-by-getty-foundation" target="_blank">Getty Foundation</a> in back-to-back years, the ever-popular <a href="https://archinect.com/news/article/61243294/timothy-allen-s-photographic-exploration-of-a-bulgarian-ruin" target="_blank">photographer&rsquo;s subject</a> is struggling to raise the millions needed to restore it to the former 'glory' seen in what its designer Georgi Stoilov called &ldquo;morally and materially superior times.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p> <figure><p><a href="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/0d/0d840db98d8f4440a8f320c7f8f2cf7d.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&amp;enlarge=true&amp;w=1028" target="_blank"><img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/0d/0d840db98d8f4440a8f320c7f8f2cf7d.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&amp;enlarge=true&amp;w=514"></a></p><figcaption>Related on Archinect: <a href="https://archinect.com/news/article/150149468/the-nonument-group-digitally-preserving-architectural-treasures-before-they-re-lost" target="_blank">The Nonument Group: digitally preserving architectural treasures before they're lost</a></figcaption></figure><p>Bulgarian Architect Dora Ivanova, who is leading a new <a href="http://www.buzludzha-project.com/support" target="_blank">push to conserve</a> the <a href="https://archinect.com/news/tag/2000103/buzludzha" target="_blank">Buzludzha Monument</a>, says she &ldquo;does not want to glorify the past&rdquo; but rather intends to use its grimy edifice as an educational tool that fills a void in her native country&rsquo;s national conversation about its less-than-sterling communist history.</p> <p>&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want a museum freezing everything as it was,&rdquo; she told the <em>New York Times</em>, &ldquo;but a place for discussion about the past. The idea is to overcome this silence &mdash; the shame of talking about what happened.&rdquo;</p>... https://archinect.com/news/article/150149468/the-nonument-group-digitally-preserving-architectural-treasures-before-they-re-lost The Nonument Group: digitally preserving architectural treasures before they're lost Alexander Walter 2019-08-01T16:25:00-04:00 >2024-10-25T04:07:38-04:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/1a/1a1dafc7a3fbc665f1dcbdd6c9be3ad8.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><em><p>Working with an international team of researchers and artists, Tom&scaron;i&#269; and Bricelj Baraga study, map and archive fading sites and Brutalist-style structures. They&rsquo;re building a database of about 120 case studies across Europe and in former Soviet states and will be releasing a book this year.</p></em><br /><br /><p>"Using a surveying and data-collection process known as photogrammetry and a series of high-powered computer workstations, a team led by Georgios Artopoulos will create a digital model of the monument for use with virtual reality headsets or smartphones," writes the <em>Guardian</em>'s Nate Berg about the efforts of the <a href="https://nonument.org/" target="_blank">Nonument Group</a> to map and document the rapidly deteriorating and severely vandalized Monument House of the Bulgarian Communist Party (also known as the Buzludzha Monument) &mdash; one of many "hidden, abandoned, unwanted or otherwise forgotten" contemporary heritage sites the group aims to digitally preserve before they're gone forever.<br></p> <figure><p><a href="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/ae/ae0c1acb1b88236badcec3184c2614e5.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&amp;enlarge=true&amp;w=1028" target="_blank"><img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/ae/ae0c1acb1b88236badcec3184c2614e5.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&amp;enlarge=true&amp;w=514"></a></p><figcaption>The badly damaged interior of the Buzludzha Monument Auditorium. Photo: Stanislav Traykov/Wikimedia Commons</figcaption></figure> https://archinect.com/news/article/150065970/bulgaria-s-buzludzha-monument-opens-its-doors-for-the-first-time-in-eight-years-with-restoration-plans-underway Bulgaria's Buzludzha Monument opens its doors for the first time in eight years, with restoration plans underway Justine Testado 2018-05-23T15:00:00-04:00 >2018-05-23T15:00:38-04:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/c1/c1nnm8vctj7orgn3.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><em><p>Officially called the &ldquo;House-Monument of the Bulgarian Communist Party&rdquo;, the building fell into disrepair following the collapse of the country's socialist government in 1989, but remains a popular landmark and tourist attraction. The trip comes before an expected visit by European and Bulgarian experts at the end of 2018, who will report on the building&rsquo;s structural integrity with the view of opening it officially to tourists.</p></em><br /><br /><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><head><meta></head></html> https://archinect.com/news/article/61243294/timothy-allen-s-photographic-exploration-of-a-bulgarian-ruin Timothy Allen's photographic exploration of a Bulgarian ruin Archinect 2012-11-12T11:54:00-05:00 >2022-05-24T11:57:54-04:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/on/onvtlqyulqnoj8so.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><em><p>The argument for preserving old buildings is a very strong one that I wholeheartedly support myself. However. On the rare occasions that I get to visit a forgotten building as magnificent as this one, I can&rsquo;t help day dreaming about some of the incredible monumental relics I know back home and quietly wishing that a few more of them had been left to grow old and perish naturally rather than being unceremoniously hooked up to the proverbial life support machine of modern tourism...</p></em><br /><br /><p> Photographer, Timothy Allen, explores the ruins at the Buzludzha monument in Bulgaria.</p>