Monument

I found a headless monument in the park on the corner of Pirotska and Opalchenska Street and thought it would be a good space to honor regular folks in. An older couple told me that on top of it used to be a bust of Georgi Dimitrov – the Bulgarian Communist Dictator. After Dimitrov’s death a mausoleum was erected in the center of Sofia where he lay embalmed like Lenin on Red Square. Post communist political changes saw the mausoleum demolished.
I was later told by a policeman who was half-heartedly trying to stop us from completing our project that the bust was of the Russian writer-philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev who’s writings were based in Christian Spirituality. He was a Marxist and a revolutionary who gradually walked away from the radical Marxism of the Bolsheviks and found himself on the “Philosophers’ ship” of the exiles the Bolsheviks sent out of the country.
Both contenders for the monument were tied to Marxism, a philosophy promoting the equal rights among people.
So a temporal monument to the people at this spot seemed appropriate. I asked some friends to work on it with me. We created a set of stairs for easy access, cleaned graffiti from the monument, laid flowers and made a plaque to the Bulgarian people. You can see the video of the project and some photos I posted below. If you are in Sofia you can go to the site and take a picture of yourself on the base. Send it to me if you do. Here is a map of the location.