Europe

[Visited: June 2020]

We have seen a glimpse of the monument from a distance, but when we drive up the hill on which it is located, we are surrounded by houses and trees. We are running short on time; otherwise, we would certainly have taken the more appropriate way to climb to the plateau high above Shumen: using its stairs. With 1300 steps, this is exactly the amount of years Bulgarian existed when the monument was unveiled. In fact, some people erroneously call it the monument to 1300 years of Bulgaria. We walk the last bit to the monument, with the advantage that we are coming from behind, and can only see the fairly even backside. We take our ticket, the woman at the counter is very happy with foreign visitors in Covid-19 times, and even more so when she hears my name, enthusiastically pointing out that there is, of course, a Boris in the monument.
We walk the last bit to the concrete monument that now looms high above us, and it is only when we get inside, that we start to see the artwork proper. In Cubist style, sculptors Krum Damyanov and Ivan Slavov have depicted figures important in the history of their country. They are all bigger than life size, have square faces, are made of nothing but concrete, are not at all realist, yet all have a character, and a very human look in their eyes. The artist have done an incredible job. We see Khan Asparuh, who founded the first Bulgarian Empire in 681CE. A determined look, standing firm with his sword in the ground, and a fierce horse galloping behind him. Behind and above are Khans Tervel, Krum and Omurtag, his successors. There are also soldiers hewn out in the concrete walls.
Between two massive slabs of concrete, Prince Boris I rises up, with a fierce expression on his face. He adopted Christianity and introduced the faith in Bulgaria in the early 9th century. There are more knights and warriors, there are priests, and they all look very convincing. On the other side of the monument are enormous mosaics, depicting more people and the development of the Cyrillic alphabet. There is a platform behind the monument, which gives views over Shumen, as well as a better appreciation of the size of the monument itself. We walk some of the stairs dow to get a better view of the enormous lion sculpted right on top of the monument, and walk a trail which brings us back to the platform and the monument again. Unlike so many other modern monuments in the country, this one is well tended, and even after four decades looks fresh. An icon for Bulgarian nationalism.

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Founders of the Bulgarian State monument > Bulgaria > Europe

[Visited: June 2020]

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