Jake Bolton

I had the pleasure of visiting friends in the town of Razgrad in Bulgaria last year. One of the highlights was getting to explore this huge socialist monument on the edge of town.

What fascinated me about this monument, as well a the whole town in general, was the scale of monuments like this. Before capitalist democracy and the EU, Bulgaria was socialist and although it wasn’t within the Soviet Union, it was a satellite state, so was heavily influenced by Soviet communism. This mean that the emphasis of architecture seems to to me to be utilitarian as well as political. Unlike in the west where commercial buildings tend to be the largest and most imposting structures, shopping centres and office buildings. In Bulgaria, at least in this town, the biggest project seemed to be a war memorial.

For years now the park and it’s huge socialist memorial were a hang out for local kids. It also wasn’t in the best shape as parts of it were falling apart, however the central towering monument was still standing strong. The eternal flame that once burnt there though had gone out, seemingly a long time ago.