Party House, NOT a nightclub

A big red star used to be where now the Bulgarian flag is. Top of the Party House.

Much of what I am telling you here in this post is what I have learned during a pilot tour* to the Largo. The complex allegedly was designed by the best Bulgarian architects of the time, with the supervision by the soviets, and it drew inspiration from the Bulgarian medieval past (see the shapes of the lamps and the arches inside). It just so happened that the architects were trained during the pre-communist era.  

The Party House imitates classicist palaces (Roman/Italian, French) - note the columns; the round foyer & ceiling; the straight axis design. Simultaneously, the building includes decorative elements depicting the fruits and products of the Bulgarian countryside: clusters of grapes, roses, wheat ears, so it brings the palace closer to farmers & proletarians - the 'right' communist folks. Details are a very important element of this building.  

The House was constructed of local, Bulgarian, staples, with the exception of Bohemian glass chandelliers, the material for which was brough over from Czechoslovakia. (The only original chandeliers still in use nowadays can be found at the nearby Hotel Sheraton). 

 *If all goes well, the tour should be up and running from approximately November 2013 - check for the updates here. The tour is part of the Southeastern-Europe-wide ATRIUM project. 

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After the fail of socialism in the 1990s the Largo buildings remained more or less the same, apart from the fact that the hammers-and-sickles were dutifully removed from the decorative ornamentations, as well as the big red star from the top of the Party House. No more Lenins, Stalins and similar figures can be found at the Largo today - if you are feeling nostalgic you can go and see some of them (as well as the said red star) at the Museum of the Socialist Art. Plus, the Mausoleum of Georgi Dimitrov, the former socialist leader, dissapeared from the face of the earth.  

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Now time for some images:

Hammer and sickle removed.

The round ceiling & chandellier.

Decorative elements.

Columns.

Ceiling, the main hall.

Corridor (there are 3 kms of them in the building).

Balconies, with grape clusters & roses.

Hammer & sickle removed.

Text and photos (c) Agne Drumelyte, 2013.

Largo, the scary (not anymore) Triangle of power will open up to the public

The Largo at night. (c) Agne Drumelyte.

Right in the center of Sofia, above where the main street of the ancient city of Serdika was, looms the strict, monumental architectural complex The Largo - one of the more known socialist architecture examples in Eastern Europe.  

It was built in the early 1950s, in the lands freshly-flattened by the WW2 bombings (as much as 1/4 of the city was destroyed beyond repair then - especially the center).  

Rather oversized for the under 7.5 million Bulgarian population, the Largo consisted of functionnaire buildings: Ministries of Electrification & Heavy Industry; the Government; the Party House - that is, the house of the Communist Party, not a nightclub.

It also included attractions like the former leader's Georgi Dimitrov's mausoleum (1949; constructed in only six days as the great Bulgarian socialist leader died unexpectedly during his visit to Moscow); and the TZUM, at the time Bulgaria's most prestigious department store where the products of the socialist workers' achievements were on display for local and international visitors.

The important guests used to stay at the nearby Hotel Balkan, also part of the complex - the building nowadays is used by Hotel Sheraton.  

All of the said buildings, except for the mausoleum that was demolished in the 1999, still dominate the central Sofia today. Most of them, however (with the exceptions of the TZUM and the Hotel Sheraton) can be seen only from the outside. The former communist government buildings are used by the democratic Bulgarian government nowadays.     

There is, though, a hope that the great dinosaurs will open up to the public one day. I have just been on a trial tour to the complex, 'The [Un]Known Largo'*, and have witnessed some of the insides of the former communist Party House - see a post on it here.  

The tour is part of the EU-funded ATRIUM project that aims to create & promote a cultural tour route through the Southeastern Europe, one that is concerned with the totalitarian architecture of the 20th century. Most of the tour's venues are socialist buildings of the Balkans but a couple of right-wing totalitarian venues are on the list too. 

*If all goes well, the tour should be up and running from approximately November 2013 - check for the updates here. 


The facade of the Party House (centre), on the same night.

Text and photos (c) Agne Drumelyte, 2013.