behind every Majestic Monument is a story or a cause sought to be immortalized but once
their catalysts are forgotten the once revered structures fall into ruin such as the fate of
many soviet-era buildings like the fascinating pozoleja Monument which sits on the peak it was
named after in central Bulgaria sometimes known as Bulgaria's UFO this Monument hides
in the Balkans and has become one of the most unusual spots in the country and today we will
discover its remarkable past I'm your host Ryan sokash and you're watching it's history
the original plan for the monument was derived in 1961 by architect Georgie stoiloff who attested
that the look of the monument was influenced by the brutalist style then popular throughout parts
of Europe in particular the artist notes personal influences but his idea was to create a monument
that could become Timeless by incorporating both ancient and futuristic motifs he lists
both the Roman Pantheon and the Sci-Fi films of the 1950s amongst his Inspirations for the
monument the circular form appealed to him as it seemed to symbolize infinity and thus echoed the
popular communist theme of building an eternal future eternal glory ultimately he revised his
designs to feature a saucer-shaped body with the star mounted in a conjoined Tower over subsequent
revisions he also separated these elements further positioning the tower outside the saucer to to
give it better stability against wind and the risk of earthquakes work on the monument began on the
23rd of January 1974. first the peak was leveled to create a stable platform for the monument using
TNT to bring the height down by 9 meters from 1441 meters to 1432 meters in laying the foundation for
the monument more than 15 000 cubic meters of rock were taken away from the peak and over 6
000 people contributed their work this included Engineers artists designers sculptors and 500
soldiers from the construction Corps the construction teams worked shifts from May
until September to make the most of the milder climates a village of workers Huts was established
near the construction site and would remain on the peak for the following seven years meanwhile new
roads were built to transport building materials up the mountain seventy thousand tons of concrete
three thousand tons of steel and forty thousand tons of glass were hauled up that road the
Interior Space of the monument was decorated with Richie detailed mosaics which Illustrated
an allegorical history of the Bulgarian Communist Party Royal scenes of collective farming the faces
of students scientists and cosmonauts appeared alongside depictions of wartime struggles in one
particularly striking panel communist workers were pictured driving pitchforks into a serpent
symbolic of foreign capitalism one side of the hall featured the faces of international
communist Heroes well the opposite side was dedicated to Bulgarian communist figures this
went back to the beginnings with the founder of Bulgarian socialism and the first communist leader
of Bulgaria who were positioned alongside other key communist leaders at that time there was a
debate about whether or not to show the faces of living communist leaders however as construction
does take time and those leaders were not spring chickens it was believed that the opening might
very well surpass their legacy which put the team in charge of building this monument in a bit of
an awkward little pinch because in the context of Communism it wasn't very popular to suggest that
your leader might die on the other hand leaving them out of an opportunity to be immortalized
in such a grand Monument would also be a bit of a foupal anyhow the mosaics were formed from 35
tons of cobalt glass imported from Ukraine the stones had 42 corners and were assembled by a
team of 60 artists who worked over a period of 18 months the outer ring of the monument the
observation deck inside the rim of the saucer also featured different mosaics here the designs were
created using natural stones collected from Rivers across Bulgaria a team of 14 artists created one
panel each to illustrate a broader history of the country due to their increased exposure to
the elements however only only around 50 percent of this outer Mosaic Remains the third Mosaic
piece was created at the center of The Monument's interior dome a hammer and sickle emblem which of
course was positioned above the ceremonial Hall decorated in glittery gold small and lit by
spotlights featuring a quote from The Communist Manifesto proletarians of all countries Unite
the tower's construction was treated as a separate project to the main body of the
monument surprisingly the tower alone took two years to build this Tower measured 70 meters
in height 9.1 meters across at the base and 15 meters across at its highest point the towers
Foundation descended 15 meters into the ground a lift inside went up to an observation deck
at the top of the monument offering panoramic views over the Balkan Mountains the glass stars
that flanked the North and South sides of the tower were believed to be the largest in the
world at 11.8 meters across they were produced in Kiev using synthetic Ruby glass and weighed
3.5 tons they would be lit inside the tower by a series of 32 spotlights powered by a generator
large enough to supply electricity to 500 homes it was said that the red stars could be seen from as
far away as the Romanian Border in the north and the Greek Border in the South the original plan
was to light the stars for The Monument's grand opening ceremony in 1981 however in 1977 a memo
came down suggesting that perhaps the Stars could shine a little earlier than planned with a one-off
light show to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Russia's socialist Revolution that October
so work plans were Advanced and the tower was briefly illuminated four years ahead of schedule
The Monuments architect suggested that the memorial house should not be paid for by the
state which he foresaw as putting andu strain on the national budget instead he saw this as
a monument of the people and believed that the people should be encouraged to donate willingly
towards its construction which cost roughly 14 million Bulgarian levs by today's rates that's
roughly 35 million dollars and with a population of 8.8 million bulgarians a total of 16.2 million
levs was raised much of this money was collected through donations and the sale of commemorative
postage stamps though anecdotally at least some bulgarians say they remember seeing a discreet
Monument tax docked from their pay slips too anyhow after the creation of the monument surplus
funds were said to have been spent to develop new kindergartens in the surrounding area in addition
to New Roads and infrastructure with the commander of the construction core noting the following
quote the additional construction challenges such as Provisions for water electricity and
the new road and so on amounted to roughly 9 million lives and was funded independently
by the relative Ministries during The Monument's eight years of use it was visited by more than 2
million people serving as a political Museum and a venue there was a strict schedule every day during
the opening hours of 9 to 12 and then one to four except Mondays and Tuesdays when the building was
closed no entrance fee was required but Advance written notice was in the building the groups had
to stay together and walked a fixed route with a tour guide The Soaring Tower was not open to
the public and was only accessible for technical reasons though Urban explorers have since invented
their own illegal visits in the modern day which is perhaps a good moment to explore the downfall
as we know it this once glorious Monument would fall into total disarray you see after
the political changes of 1989 the new democratic government had no interest in maintaining the most
significant symbol of a previous ideology and ultimately the monument was outright abandoned
you see in 1992 the monument was nationalized under the totalitarian organization's property
confiscation law and soon afterwards the last employees were released and the doors were locked
forever since then it's been administered by Regional governments from this moment on numerous
acts of theft and vandalism took place first of all loose parts of the inventory were stolen
then all metal elements from the building were cut off and sold for scrap including the 2 500
square meters of copper roof covering wherever it was possible marble and granite plates were
removed and reused in housing projects everything that could be reused or sold was taken out so that
today we mainly have unusable materials concretes and some remnants of mosaics this abandoned site
is stirring and doesn't go unnoticed to the Curious mind in fact it's attracted many rock
stars and musicians who found the monument to be quite helpful one Finnish rock band even shot
the entirety of their music video here in 2014 and then a Dutch band followed suit the closing
sequence to Rita Ora's bangy P video was also shot at the monument in early 2021 the site was used
as a filming location for the 2016 action movie Mechanic Resurrection special effects were added
to show the structure next to a shoreline with a helipad added at the top of the saucer building
likewise the monument is visited by the main protagonists in the early 2018 comedy I feel good
today the memorial house is a skeleton of its former self the glass is gone from its Windows
the red stars have been severely damaged and the intrical murals that decorated the interior
now exposed to the elements are gradually falling victim to Decay but I'd argue that it's the ruined
state that began to enchant new visitors the breathtaking location the melancholic atmosphere
of Decay combined with the complicated political significance of the monument has captured the
attention and recognition of the world's media images have traveled across the globe while
people from around that same Globe have traveled back to see the monument in real life which is now
often described as the world's most beautiful modern ruin and widely recognized for its
remarkable architectural design and Engineering achievements which I suppose now brings us down
to a matter of opinion and if you have one feel free to share it in the comment section section
below make sure you hit that subscribe button to catch new videos every Thursday and Saturday
don't miss our video about the Lost Shanghai Tunnels of Portland and feel free to send me
your episode ideas on Instagram until next time guys this is Ryan silkash signing off