Buzludzha in 2016 - A decaying blast from the communist past

The clouds were pretty ominous!

The Bulgarian border lies only about a hundred kilometers south of Bucharest so it was quite natural and easy for us to pay a visit to our southern neighbor. I didn't know much about travelling in Bulgaria but as soon as I read about Buzludzha I knew that it was a place I wanted to visit before it's gone.

Buzludzha is a huge communist monument built in the '70s, and it has been abandoned since the early '90s. For a long time no one really cared who went in and out, but recently the place has been closed from the public and the government even installed a security system with cameras and speakers to keep people out in 2016. Apparently the building is in such bad shape that they don't want to take any risks. I was bummed to read about not being able to get inside the building, but just before heading off I found very recent posts telling that some vandals had created a new entry to the building and destroyed some of the surveillance system. 'This could be one of the last chances to see the interiors of the monument' I thought as we started driving towards Bulgaria.

Buzludzha bathing in the sun

The surveillance system wasn't our only problem though. The autumn was slowly turning into winter in the end of November and especially so in the mountains. Buzludzha sits on top of a mountain at about 1400m in the middle of Bulgaria and we didn't have winter tires in our car. Things didn't look very promising as we approached the mountains because even quite close to the sea level the temperatures were getting dangerously close to freezing. A huge layer of fog surrounded us as we drove higher and higher. The further we drove the worse the road got. Just as the temperature was about to drop below zero we broke through the clouds into beautiful sunshine and saw the huge monument standing on top of the mountain next to us. What a view!

We quickly found a place for parking and started climbing up the hill. We still didn't know if we could get in or not. About half way up the hill we saw someone standing in one of the huge windows of the building and we realized that there indeed was a way! The way wasn't very easy though: a relatively small hole in the ground that you have to go down to, after which there's a very flimsy bridge that takes you on top of rusty remains of a shelf or a cupboard. Climbing down the rusty frame takes you to one of the lower floors of the building. Don't forget to take a lamp with you!

The man in the picture is standing next to the entrance hole.

The 'bridge' and the rusty frame of a shelf

There was quite a bit of water on the floors as the roof of the building is full of holes. The lower floors are very dark and the rooms mostly empty. One of the rooms in the lower floors was an interesting exception though with old electrical equipment and perhaps a motor of a huge ventilation system. But things really get interesting when one makes his way to the main hall of the building. The hall is like an amphitheater with mosaics depicting old communist leaders surrounding it and the holes in the roof let in more than enough light for the visitors to be able to appreciate it all.

The main hall

There weren't many people inside but one of them warned us about a motion detector on the huge balcony that encircles the whole building. I saw the detector and the solar panel supplying power to it but I'm not very convinced that it was working. I think some people walked in front of it and at least nothing visible happened.

Communism is still alive and well in Buzludzha.

The building has fallen far from its glory days.

The balcony offered nice views in every direction!

One of the ladders on the way to the top

We didn't want to risk getting caught and wanted to be relatively fast going in and out, but there was one more thing to do before leaving. We wanted to climb up to the top of the tower! Getting to the entrance to the tower wasn't very difficult as long as you knew the direction, but getting up was quite slow with the steep ladders.

The picture doesn't really do justice to the beauty of this scenery...

A good twenty minutes later we made it to the top of the 70-meter tower and had a great view on the setting sun. The clouds moved fast and looked like a huge river flowing along the mountains. I still don't know which was more magnificent, the amazing show the clouds and mountains gave us or the fact that we were able to visit such a building before it was too late.

The way down was almost as slow as the way up and driving down the road in darkness, surrounded by the thick clouds, was even slower. On the way back to civilization we were lucky to find a small restaurant that was still open. We were starving and very happy to find some food before driving to a remote parking lot where we slept in the car like so many times before :)

The following day we visited some monasteries and towns elsewhere in Bulgaria but nothing could be compared to the day before. Go and visit Buzludzha as soon as possible if you have the chance. It probably won't be there for long!