When construction of the National Palace of Culture in Sofia — which is the largest city in Bulgaria — was completed in 1981 in time for a celebration of approximately 23,000 events which lasted a year to commemorate the anniversary of 1,300 years of Bulgaria, so was a work of art which was called Monument to 1300 Years of Bulgaria…
Sunday Morning Photograph September 4 2022: Monument to 1300 Years of Bulgaria
…and when I passed by the work of art, it appeared to be falling apart. I could not tell if the state of disrepair was intentional as part of the art — but because a deadline required it to be completed in a hurry, the materials which were used to create it were apparently cheap and not intended to last a long time; and it started to already fall apart during the same year that it was completed.
Do not bother to look for this sculpture if you find yourself in the southern part of Sofia, as it was torn down in 2018 — but not before nefarious unknown individuals decided to ignite the crane that was used to destroy the unpopular sculpture. In its place is what was there before the sculpture was erected: a monument of a lion on the site which used to be occupied by military division barracks and a wall with the names of the men who died in the wars from that division.
Final Boarding Call
The Lion Monument is where the Monument to 1300 Years of Bulgaria sculpture once stood — but you can still visit the grounds of the National Palace of Culture in the capital city of Bulgaria.
You can read about the experience of my time in Sofia in this article and in this article — although then enough resolution of the photographs in both articles contribute to their low quality and need to be redone.
Please click here for a complete list of the Sunday Morning Photograph series of articles at The Gate, which include photographs taken of nature and sights of interest in many countries and territories around the world — including but not limited to:
- Andorra
- Argentina
- Bahamas
- Brazil
- Bulgaria
- Canada
- Colombia
- Czechia or Czech Republic
- Dominican Republic
- Estonia
- Finland
- Iceland
- Kenya
- Latvia
- Lebanon
- Lesotho
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Panama
- Poland
- Romania
- Slovenia
- South Korea
- Spain
- Swaziland or Eswatini
- Thailand
- United Arab Emirates
- United States
- Uruguay
All photographs ©2007 by Brian Cohen.
