Most, if not all, of Bulgaria’s abandoned infrastructures are the remains of the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1989. The memory of communist ideologies, now in forms of buildings, villages, and forgotten monuments left to rust and crumble, wasting away and overtaken by the elements, as the Bulgarian state opts for more market-oriented practices.
Bulgarian photographer Hristo Uzunov traveled to over 20 of the country’s deserted locations to capture their existence, perhaps reminding the country of its past, as knowledge of these abandoned historical places slowly recedes from the nation’s memory.
Uzunov’s series of photographs titled “The Abandoned Bulgaria” will take you on a rather eerie tour of Bulgaria’s forgotten places.
Industrial skeletons strewn across the Bulgarian landscape remind us that no ideology is immune from time.
Hristo Uzunov
A sign on the gate of a former dairy farm reads “No Entry!”
Hristo Uzunov
Buzludzha Monument, constructed on site by the Bulgarian communist regime.
Hristo Uzunov
At 4,728 ft. tall, the historical peak of Buzludzha is located in the Central Balkan Mountains.
Hristo Uzunov
It was opened in 1981 and was abandoned in 1990 with the fall of the USSR.
Hristo Uzunov
Its inner dome has fallen into a state of disrepair.
Hristo Uzunov
The city of Varna is the home of this monument to the former Bulgarian-Soviet alliance.
Hristo Uzunov
The Rhodope Mountains are home to many small villages, most of which have been abandoned and overtaken by the elements.
Hristo Uzunov
Hristo Uzunov
Hristo Uzunov
An impressive smoke stack from a lime producing factory that last operated in the 1950s.
Hristo Uzunov
An abandoned walkway tunnel is adorned with the Soviet Star. A crumbling yet still an eerie reminder of the communism that once ruled the Soviet Repulic.
Hristo Uzunov
This train plant in Sofia has been abandoned since 2003. The first Bulgarian locomotive was manufactured in this site in 1948.
Hristo Uzunov
The train plant was built in 1888.
Hristo Uzunov
Buildings at the plant show signs of trespassers and vandals.
Hristo Uzunov
Abandoned buildings in the town of Kardzhali
Hristo Uzunov
This train car sits rusted at the Kardzhali train station.
Hristo Uzunov
A rusting KrAZ 256 hopper that was once used in the marble quarry in the town of Ardino
Hristo Uzunov
This old T-130 bulldozer was also used in the marble quarry.
Hristo Uzunov
An Antov An-2 at the Museum of Aviation in the village of Krumovo.
Hristo Uzunov
H/t ATI