Remnants of the past

I think that in every settlement in Bulgaria there is an abandoned building.
Abandoned during construction.
It is usually located in the center of the settlement. And it is very large. That is why it cannot go unnoticed.

It wall built well...its construction has started well. With scope and talent. With good materials. With a wonderful and beautiful design. Sometimes quite extravagant.

Large-scale projects for which was given a lot of money.
Then something happened.
I can imagine that what happened was during the change of political regimes in 1989 and shortly after.

The purpose and intent of some of these projects will forever be hidden and forgotten. For others, the only thing known will remain their original idea and purpose - what this building was designed for.

Like the building I'm showing you here - the unfinished cultural center in the town of Chirpan. A huge building, a huge cultural center in a relatively small town, now quite deserted.

Construction began in 1978.

In fact, these buildings were commissioned and designed by the state.

And, of course, after the change of political regime, the new governments had no reason to continue these large-scale projects. To give so much money. Imagine a huge building with a theater hall with six hundred seats and a revolving stage in a city with a little more than fifteen thousand people.
This grandiosity, rather called megalomania, is typical of the communist regime.

And yet this is a city.

And what about a village?

Because as a child I remember the huge building in the center of the village, where my grandparents lived and I spent the summers in my childhood. This huge building was not designed as a cultural center. In fact, I personally don't remember what it was designed for.

I only remember how we played on its huge playgrounds on the abandoned cement floors and its huge stairs.
Then for years the construction could not be completed due to huge problems with documents and property. Because the property belongs to the state. And I know that for years this was in the category of Paragraph 22.

And it stood in the center of the village like a dead monument, a relic, a memory of a bygone era, of the previous regime. On the one hand, reminding people of its monumental creatures. On the other - of its death.

Years later, many years after the political transition, the property was finally settled and a major investor completed the forgotten project.

But this did not happen in Chirpan. And the giant communist monster still stands abandoned and sad in the city center.

For 43 years now.

Can you imagine this huge waste of money? Of territory and building materials. Of ideas, of design, of time and means.

So much lost effort and hope, so much lost talent.

Today it serves as a refuge for stray dogs, which sleep comfortably in the summer on the otherwise well-maintained alley in front of it.

And the townspeople are still hoping that someone will one day complete the monumental construction and use it for some useful purposes.

And so for 43 years.

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Copyright: @soulsdetour

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	Soul's Detour is a project started by me years ago when I had a blog about historical and not so popular tourist destinations in Eastern Belgium, West Germany and Luxembourg. Nowadays, this blog no longer exists, but I'm still here - passionate about architecture, art and mysteries and eager to share my discoveries and point of view with you.