Buzludzha Monument: Why Bulgaria's communist UFO monument continues to polarize

A Bulgarian architect is fighting for the greatest monument of the communist era. Berlin's former state curator has also been infected by the "Buzludzha virus."

UFO with a star-shaped wafer: the impressive Buzludzha Monument in central Bulgaria. Buzludzha Project Foundation

A futuristic ruin sits atop Hadji Dimitar Mountain in Bulgaria : the Buzludzha Monument. Blown by the wind, the concrete structure rises into the sky like a stranded UFO—a relic of communism struggling to find its place in the present.