Museum of Art from the Socialist Period
Sculpture park and gallery of Bulgarian art made between 1944 and 1989, a branch of the National Gallery.
Opened on 19 September 2011 as a branch of the National Gallery, the museum gathers Bulgarian art produced under communist rule between 1944 and 1989. More than seventy monumental sculptures stand in a park of some 7,500 square metres, among them figures of Lenin, Georgi Dimitrov and partisan heroes that once occupied squares and public buildings across the country. The red five-pointed star that topped the former Party House in central Sofia lies near the entrance.
Indoors, a hall of about 550 square metres shows paintings, graphics and decorative work from the same decades, arranged in changing thematic displays drawn from the National Gallery's holdings. A video room screens archival newsreels and documentary films of the period. The museum presents the material as historical evidence rather than celebration, and it has become a standard stop for visitors interested in the visual culture of the Eastern Bloc.
Highlights
- Park of more than seventy monumental socialist-era sculptures
- Red star from the roof of the former Party House
- Indoor hall of paintings and graphics from 1944 to 1989
- Video room screening archival newsreels and documentaries
