Bulgaria’s UFO-shaped Buzludzha Monument is set for a full restoration, after winning a Getty Foundation grant that could wipe away decades of neglect.
The concrete structure welcomed more than two million people through its doors in the 1980s but closed less than a decade later, eventually falling into decay.
Reminiscent of a flying saucer that’s touched down in the mountains, the Brutalist structure has attracted a global fan base online with urban explorers sneaking inside to capture snapshots of its mouldering interiors – including the mosaics that cover the walls, and hammer and sickle stamped on the domed ceiling.
The Communist monument is in desperate need of a refurb, and in 2018 was named one of the seven most endangered heritage sites in Europe, by heritage organisation Europa Nostra.
The Getty Foundation has pledged $185,000 towards its conservation, which includes evaluation of the building’s structural condition, how it can be re-used, and the development of a new business model for the site. The monument’s original architect, Georgi Stoilov, will also play a role in the project. There’s no word on when the building could re-open, but a public report is expected next year.
See what other modernist monuments that will also be preserved.
Torino Esposizioni, Turin, Italy
Architect: Pier Luigi Nervi
Year built: 1954
Built to house an annual Turin auto show, it also hosted the 2006 Winter Olympics. Testing will explore its seismic strength to enable the building’s conversion.
Courtesy Fabio Oggero and PLN Project
Uganda National Museum, Kampala
Architect: Ernst May
Year built: 1954
This cast-concrete museum is one of the earliest buildings of its kind in Uganda. Its architect (an exile from Nazi Germany) conjured an African iteration of the International Modern Style for the project, which features partitions for cooling airflow and angled walls to diffuse light across the structure’s interiors. It’s set to undergo a thorough structural investigation to enable its preservation.
Photography: Eppich, 2018
Paraninfo at the Universidad Laboral de Cheste, Spain
Architect: Fernando Moreno Barberá
Year built: 1969
Built as an educational complex for workers’ children under Francisco Franco’s rule, Paranifo is a vacant auditorium. It once represented cutting edge Spanish modernism but its experimental materials have degraded over time.
Photography: From the private archive of Carmen Jordá
North Christian Church, Columbus, Indiana, USA
Architect: Eero Saarinen
Year built: 1964
Columbus is a modernist playground, and the North Christian Church, with its distinct hexagonal shape and needle-like spire, is the centrepiece of this architectural community.
Photography: Hadley Fruits
Villa E-1027, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France
Architect: Eileen Gray
Year built: 1929
Pioneering architect and furniture designer Eileen Gray designed Villa E-1027 as her own vacation home, and the 90-year-old modernist villa has succumbed to some coastal erosion. Funding will shore up the concrete structure and build on conservation plans developed by the 2016 Keeping It Modern grant.
Photography: Manuel Bougot
Escuela Superior de Comercio Manuel Belgrano, Córdoba, Argentina
Architects: Osvaldo Bidinost, José Gassó, Mabel Lapacó, and Martín Meyer
Year built: 1968
Exposed concrete is a common building material in Argentina and Escuela is one of the most prominent examples of Brutalism in the country with its distinctive ‘floating’ roof.
Photo: Fabio Grementieri
Laboratory for Faculty of Chemical Technology at Kaunas University of Technology, Kaunas, Lithuania
Architect: Vytautas Landsbergis-Žemkalnis
Year built: 1935
Kaunas University’ laboratory was built as part of a flurry of Modernist buildings erected following Lithuania’s declaration of independence in 1918.
Photography: Lukas Mykolaitis
Miller House and Garden, Columbus, Indiana, USA
Architect: Eero Saarinen
Year built: 1953
The Indiana midcentury home features an open layout, skylights, and glass and steel walls. It was donated to the Indianapolis Museum of Art (Newfields) in 2009 but has suffered water leaks and surface damage over the decades that needs addressing. A conservation plan will be drawn up for the archetypal Saarinen home.
Courtesy of Newfields
Beira Railway Station, Beira, Mozambique
Architects: Paulo de Melo Sampaio, João A. Garizo do Carmo, and Francisco José de Castro
Year built: 1965
Central Mozambique’s railway station features concrete stilts, sunshades and glass mosaic panels. Following a drop in footfall through its doors, it will undergo planning for adaptive reuse.
Photo: Elisiário Miranda
