High in the Balkan mountains, Buzludzha monument is deteriorating. Designed to emphasize the power and modernity of the Bulgarian Communist Party (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7I65bs_HH4), Buzludzha is now at the center of a debate over how Bulgaria remembers its past (http://www.buzludzha-monument.com/archives/).
Architect Brian Muthaliff (http://cargocollective.com/bmuthaliff) wants the building to evolve along with Bulgaria. His master’s thesis on Buzludzha describes a re-adaption of the site to subvert the original intention of the architecture, including installing a winery and a theater.
Unlike architect Dora Ivanova’s Buzludzha Project (http://www.buzludzha-monument.com/project), which we discussed at length in episode 47 (https://www.museumarchipelago.com/47), Muthaliff’s plan (http://cargocollective.com/bmuthaliff) only calls for a single, museum-like space. In this episode, we use Muthaliff’s thesis as a guide (http://cargocollective.com/bmuthaliff/R-E-D-Reconstruction-in-an-Era-of-Dilapidation) as we go in-depth on what a museum means and discuss the best path forward for this building and for Bulgaria.
Image: Rendering from R.E.D | Reconstruction in an Era of Dilapidation: A Proposal for the Revitalization of the Former House of the Communist Party by Brian Muthaliff
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Topics and Links
00:00: Intro
00:15: Buzludzha Monument
00:45: Brief History
01:45: Brian Muthaliff
02:30: The Buzludzha Project
03:18: "Buildings Turned Into Artifacts"
03:50: Reconstruction in an Era of Dilapidation
05:16: Museum of Socialist Art in Sofia
05:33: Participatory Architecture
05:50: Buzludzha as Winery
06:45: Buzludzha as Democratic Platform
08:11: Bulgarian Horo
08:50: Museum or no museum?
11:32: Muthaliff's Thesis Defense
12:14: The Future
13:10: Read Muthaliff's Thesis


Transcript
Below is a transcript of Museum Archipelago episode 54. Museum Archipelago is produced for the ear and the only the audio of the episode is canonical. For more information on the people and ideas in the episode, refer to the links above.



View Transcript



[Intro]

Ever since I visited earlier this year, I can't stop thinking about Buzludzha.

Buzludzha, an enormous disk of concrete perched on a mountaintop in the middle of Bulgaria, celebrates the grandeur of the Bulgarian Communist Party.

Rising out of the back of the disk is a tower, 70 meters high, and flanked by two red stars. The building was designed to look like a giant wreath and flag. During its construction, the top of the peak was blown away with dynamite to make way for the building. Today, it's hard not to see a giant UFO. Bulgarian architect Dora Ivanova says that the building's daring design was, of course, intentional.

Dora Ivanova: It was built to impress. It was built as part of the political propaganda and education as they called it during this time. Its shape looks like a UFO, actually. This is also on purpose because it had to show how the socialist idea is contemporary, it’s the future.

The building is deteriorating, making its futuristic design all the more striking. Buzludzha was completed in 1981, but just 10 years later, the Communist party collapsed. As the regime changed and Bulgaria headed towards a democratic form of government, Buzludzha just sat there. Parts of the structure became exposed to the elements. On th