Museum of Socialism in Bulgaria

I do not know if there is such a thing in Russia, but the Bulgarians took and collected monuments of socialist art in one place. In 2011, in Sofia, the Museum for Socialist Work was opened. It is located in the Izgrev quarter in the territory belonging to the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Bulgaria, in the branch of the National Art Gallery. This is the first organization in the country designed to collect and exhibit samples of Bulgarian art created in the period 1944-1989, thematically related to the era of socialism.

The museum complex consists of a park, exhibition hall and video hall.

In the park, with an area of 7,500 square meters, 77 monumental sculptures are exhibited, mainly statues and busts of famous Bulgarian and Soviet communists - Georgi Dimitrov, Dimitri Blagoev, Vasil Kolarov, Vladimir Lenin, Tsvyatko Radoinov, Todor Zhivkov and so on.

The rest of the sculptures are typical examples of socialist realism - guerrillas, Red Army men, working women and peasants. There is also a five-meter sculpture of Georgi Dimitrov, who stood in Sopot.

Lenin and cooperative

The exhibition hall, an area of 550 square meters, presents 60 paintings on the relevant topic. Including the famous "Shooting" by Ilia Petrov. In the video hall on the big screen documentaries of the socialist era in Bulgaria are spinning. There is also a souvenir shop where you can buy authentic items from that period.

Immediately at the entrance to the sculptural park is a "ruby star" - a symbol of socialism and communism in Bulgaria, which was located on the steeple of the Party house in the center of Sofia.

The star was shot from there on October 4, 1990. According to the memoirs of the BSP head of business, Assen Panayotov, the star was made of red glass, not a ruby one, it was dismantled in three minutes and hid in the garage of Todor Zhivkov.

Many of the presented sculptures are made of copper, bronze and other valuable metals. Contrary to this, they were not melted, but were carefully kept for more than 20 years, until the opening of the museum.

Right-wing political parties in Bulgaria reacted sharply to the creation of this museum.

The museum is open every day from 10.00 to 17.30. An entrance ticket for an adult costs BGN 6 (€ 3), for children - BGN 3 (€ 1.5).

All the photos were taken by me personally in one Sofia autumn.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Follow me for more content to come!

[//]:# (!steemitworldmap 42.666289 lat 23.357991 long d3scr)

With love from Bulgaria @varya-davydova