Also known as the ”Monument to 1300 Years of Bulgaria” and ”Founders of the Bulgarian State”, the Bulgarian State Monument is located in Shumen and is claimed to be the heaviest Communist monument on Earth. It was constructed with 50,000 cubic meters of concrete and 2500 tonnes of steel. The granite lion at the top alone is estimated to weigh 1000 tonnes. At 450 meters above sea level, the concrete monument hovers over the city and can be seen from 30 km away. There are 1300 steps from the bottom of the hill to the monument.
Krum Damyanov and Ivan Slavov built the cubist-style concrete monument in 1981 to commemorate the 1300th anniversary of the First Bulgarian Empire. The whole monument combines futuristic techniques with traditional Bulgarian stone-carving craft. 21 sculptures tell the story of Bulgaria’s formation between the 7th and 10th centuries. They represent the founders, kings, and heroes of Bulgarian history. The statues are often likened to Ispolini, a race of giants in Bulgarian mythology who inhabited the earth before mankind. Unlike other Soviet-era monuments in Bulgaria, the Bulgarian State Monument is mostly untouched and beautifully maintained.
The brutalist monument consists of two groups of concrete blocks separated from each other by small spaces. Also, the biggest outdoor mosaic triptych in Europe is engraved here as well.
Khan Asparuh, who is considered to be the founder of Bulgaria, is depicted first. His sculpture is followed by the 18-meter-tall cultures of Tervel, Krum, and Omurtag, all of whom were Bulgarian khans who reigned in the 8th and 9th centuries. They are surrounded by fragments of old Byzantine chronicles.
The biggest outdoor mosaic triptych in Europe
The monument is very famous, in fact, even couples often come here for their wedding photoshoots.
