2 Comment

1. 
   lomodesbro · 2015-12-02 02:31

   this is amazing, I remember this place filled with a 1000 guests. I arrived and left in the dark so never saw the exterior The hall interior, exterior & Fountain I remember in all its glory, shortly before it's official opening.

2. 
   ivaylo · 2015-12-02 08:45

   @lomodesbro - Unfortunately none of that glory remains today. It gets worst with each subsequent year. The monuments in front of the building are totally destroyed. With our last visit it appears that there is almost no roof left. The peak is quite windy and there were peaces of that roof flying around us. The interior is gone. Only some of the mosaics are left, but since the roof was decomposing over our heads I was not able to take pictures of the ones remaining. Usually we would also go to the top of the star, but there was absolutely no chance of doing so - 11 floors of tight iron stairway . We went to the undergrounds though - after level -4 they are flooded. Due to the complete absence of light we took no pictures and headed back. I am pretty sure though that there are a lot of tunnels and getaways to be explored - this was built for communist leaders from all around the world after all.

   With all of the above said I am literally amazed how bulgarian socialists (that's how commies call themselves nowadays here) are still gathering there in huge numbers (around 40 000 pepole) each year. They even lit the star once and I was lucky to be in the region and see it with my eyes - glowing from the top of the peak, red star, one that you can see from huge distance.

   We are actually considering to go there again soon, for another project of a friend of mine who is shooting short movies. I've been convincing him to postpone it for the winter, when it will be all icy and even better.