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All Bulgaria Sofia Museum of Socialist Art

Museum of Socialist Art

A collection of art from Bulgaria's time as a communist state.

Sofia, Bulgaria

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Lenin’s head looks out over all.   Dylan / Atlas Obscura User
The snow falls on all.   Dylan / Atlas Obscura User
  historynerdxl / Atlas Obscura User
  historynerdxl / Atlas Obscura User
  historynerdxl / Atlas Obscura User
Earth from the War, Micho Minev, 1945. Now missing the earth previously held in the hands   lindybcn / Atlas Obscura User
Imposing busts stare out into the snow.   Dylan / Atlas Obscura User
Lenin’s sculpted cheekbones could cut glass.   Dylan / Atlas Obscura User
The face of an unknown girl.   Dylan / Atlas Obscura User
The intense gaze of a Soviet politician.   Dylan / Atlas Obscura User
  mordekia / Atlas Obscura User
  mordekia / Atlas Obscura User
Towering stack of monumental man rock.   Dylan / Atlas Obscura User
Marx glowers from under a hot light.   Dylan / Atlas Obscura User
Workers do their duties.   Dylan / Atlas Obscura User
A more hip and happening Soviet realism.   Dylan / Atlas Obscura User
  SRostad / Atlas Obscura User
The ‘out-take’ lot   lindybcn / Atlas Obscura User
  SRostad / Atlas Obscura User
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About

The nondescript, office park-looking building which houses the Museum of Socialist Art perfectly fits the subject matter of its collection. The building is drab, utilitarian, and situated in a shabby neighborhood. But these surroundings only add to the atmosphere of the museum, which exhibits art from Bulgaria's time as a communist state, from 1946 to 1989. 

The museum's collection features works of socialist painting, sculpture, and propaganda, many from eminent artists of the day. Subjects include native communist leaders such as Bulgaria's first communist leader Georgy Dimitrov and its long-ruling dictator Todor Zhivkov, as well as international communist figures like Vladimir Lenin.

Of course, smiling Bulgarian peasants and sweating steelworkers laboring for the state also make an appearance. The museum shop has a small theater which shows propaganda movies and television reels, with English subtitles.

The museum, which opened in 2011 and is a branch of the Bulgarian National Gallery, is somewhat small, but the exhibits are interesting. Undoubtedly the premier attraction is the collection of communist statuary arranged outside the museum in the front courtyard, culled from former communist buildings, cellars, and warehouses and saved from being melted down or destroyed, the fate that many such works met at the ousting of Zhivkov in 1989. Huge busts of Lenin glare lifelessly ahead and Bulgarian workers clutch rifles in stone-faced silence, ready to meet the evil forces of capitalism. It even has the gigantic red star which used to sit atop the Communist Party House in Sofia, now an administrative building for the Bulgarian National Assembly.    

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Museums Art Communism

Know Before You Go

The museum is somewhat hidden and hard to find; it is also slightly outside Sofia's city center. The closest metro station is G. M. Dimitrov on the blue line. After exiting walk north along the main road on which the station is situated, bul. Dragan Tsankov, and then take a right onto ul. Lachezar Stanchev. The museum is behind a set of large glass office buildings, which block it from view from the main road.

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SRostad

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Greg Jones, Molly McBride Jacobson, historynerdxl, anselmoportes...

  • Greg Jones
  • Molly McBride Jacobson
  • historynerdxl
  • anselmoportes
  • mordekia
  • lindybcn
  • mamperrin

Published

February 17, 2017

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  • https://vagabond.bg/fsi/en/all-books/item/111-a-guide-to-communist-bulgaria.html
Museum of Socialist Art
26 ul. "170-ta"
Sofia
Bulgaria
42.666024, 23.358037
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