SHUMEN CENTRAL CITY SQUARE [BG]

Exploration #283 Shumen central city square. Conceived in the late 1980s, the Central City Square of Shumen was an ambitious urban megastructure designed to redefine the city center. Interrupted by the political collapse of 1989, the project was never completed and remains one of Bulgaria’s largest unfinished socialist-era constructions.

Designed as a revolutionary civic complex, the project aimed to integrate commercial, administrative, and social functions into a single architectural system. Plans included shops, a hotel, restaurants, cafés, municipal offices, and ceremonial halls, all connected through a vast, multi-level concrete structure extending across an entire city block. At its core stands an imposing 18-storey tower, rising from a six-storey base embedded into the terrain. The complex was conceived with underground levels, tunnel-like passages, and direct connections to nearby buildings such as the Hotel Madara, reflecting a highly modernist vision of urban continuity and functionality.

The redevelopment of the surrounding city center was carried out in parallel, incorporating symbolic elements linked to Bulgarian history. Sculptural motifs and architectural details echoed the nearby Monument to the Founders of the Bulgarian State, creating a cohesive ideological and visual narrative rooted in national identity rather than explicit political symbolism.

However, the fall of the Bulgarian Communist Party in 1989 led to economic instability and the abrupt abandonment of large-scale state projects. The Central City Square became one of many unfinished constructions left behind, though none matched its scale or ambition. Today, the structure stands as a striking example of failed utopian planning—an unfinished vision of a self-contained urban center that reflects both the aspirations and the sudden collapse of late socialist architecture.

BULGARIAN FORGOTTEN SCHOOLS [BG]

Exploration #282 Bulgarian forgotten schools. Across Bulgaria, hundreds of villages have been gradually abandoned, leaving behind a landscape marked by silence and decay. Nearly 200 settlements are now completely uninhabited, while around 500 count fewer than ten residents. Among the most visible remnants of this demographic collapse are rural schools, once central to community life.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Bulgaria was predominantly agricultural, with about 80% of its population living in small villages. Even the smallest settlements typically had a church and a primary school, where children of different ages often shared the same classroom. Larger villages also hosted vocational schools, preparing older students for technical professions.

The decline of these institutions began after World War II, when the communist regime promoted rapid urbanization and industrialization. However, the most dramatic population loss occurred after the fall of communism in the late 20th century, when land privatization and economic instability accelerated migration toward cities and abroad. Today, rural population levels have dropped by approximately 60%. As villages emptied, schools lost their purpose. Many were closed due to the lack of children, leaving behind classrooms, laboratories, and educational materials. In some cases, interiors remain partially preserved: science rooms with equipment, books, and even biological specimens stored in formaldehyde, untouched but slowly deteriorating.

These abandoned schools represent more than neglected buildings. They are tangible records of a profound social transformation, reflecting the decline of rural life and the shifting economic realities that reshaped Bulgaria over the past century.

URANIUM MINE OFFICE [BG]

Exploration #281. This article shows the former headquarters of a state company that managed uranium mining across Bulgaria from 1945 to 1992. The abandoned offices, built in the 1960s, once coordinated a strategic industry central to Cold War geopolitics, before being deserted after the sector’s collapse.

Following the discovery of uranium deposits near Sofia before World War II, mining activity expanded rapidly under Soviet influence. After the war, a joint Soviet-Bulgarian mining structure was established, supported by hundreds of Soviet engineers. Uranium extracted from local mines was transported to the USSR and became a key resource for early nuclear research, including reactors and possibly atomic weapons. The headquarters later became part of the “Redki Metali” (Rare Metals) organization, which employed around 13,000 workers at its peak and oversaw uranium extraction nationwide. Mining operations were intensive and continuous, often carried out manually and under hazardous conditions, with little protection for workers exposed to radiation.

The industry declined after the fall of communism. In 1991, the centralized system fragmented into smaller entities, and by 1992 the Bulgarian government officially ended uranium mining. Administrative buildings, including this headquarters, were abandoned as the entire sector shut down. Beyond its industrial role, the site is tied to long-term environmental consequences. Decades of extraction and processing contaminated soil and water, with restrictions on agriculture already imposed in the 1980s. Even after closure and rehabilitation efforts, radioactive dust and pollution remain persistent issues in the surrounding region.

CHURCH DOMENICA SANTA [BG]

Exploration #256 Church Domenica Santa. During the period of the Ottoman Empire, many churches were built in Bulgaria. Today, many of them are in a poor state of repair or completely abandoned.

This church is located in a small, semi-abandoned village in Bulgaria. Inside, there are beautiful paintings still adorning all the walls and the ceiling. Especially the latter is striking for the beautiful blue colour still present. However, the roof structure is failing, allowing weathering to penetrate inside and erode the structure. We do not know the history of this little church, but from some documents we find scattered around we note that they bear the date 1915 and that its name is supposedly connected to Domenica Santa.

CHEREPISH MONASTERY [BG]

Exploration #179 Cherepish Monastery. We are in Bulgaria, near the banks of the river Iskăr, in a section where the river winds its way between inaccessible rocks in a gorge. It is a cold spring day and the landscape is made magical by an unexpected overnight snowfall. In this picturesque place, the Cherepish Monastery was built in the 14th century and is still a place of worship today. A few metres away are several other religious buildings, now abandoned.

It all began in 1902, when the Sofia Theological School was founded, an institute that became very prestigious over the years. During the Second World War, the School’s buildings were damaged by aerial bombs, forcing the students to be evacuated to various places in the country, including Cherepish, where until 1947 some classes were temporarily transferred to buildings constructed next to the railway. At the end of the war classes returned to the seminary building in Sofia, but in September 1950 the new communist government decided to use the building for the Ministry of Education and exiled the Theological School to the old buildings in Cherepish Monastery. There the life of the seminarians lasted until 1990, when after the fall of the communist regime, the Theological Academy regained its property in Sofia. Since that year the Cherepish Monastery buildings have been abandoned. A guard was initially posted to watch over the place, but over the years everything has been left to decay.

What we are about to visit is the church built by the seminarians removed from Sofia, dedicated to St. Clement of Ohrid (Св. Климент Охридски). The interior of the church was adorned with many frescoes, while the exterior was enriched by a narthex, decorated with columns, from which the bell tower rises. Since liturgical singing was also studied in the Seminary, a large balcony called ‘emporium’ was reserved for the choristers. The garden around the temple was also very well cared for. In the centre of the garden, a stone spring can still be seen, from which water gushed out to quench the thirst of visitors.

Unfortunately, humidity and water infiltration are slowly destroying the frescoes, and uneven ground is creating dangerous cracks by tilting the main walls. Visiting the abandoned church evokes mixed feelings. On the one hand, the quiet and peaceful silence accompanied only by birdsong. On the other hand, the empty church and the probing glances of the many forgotten saints show that everything is perishable, even the buildings that were meant to serve God.

BUZLUDŽA [BG]

Exploration #181. The official name of the Buzludža monument is “Monument House of the Bulgarian Communist Party”. It was built on the Hadzhi Dimitar Peak (until 1942 known as Buzludža Peak), which is close to the geographical centre of Bulgaria. It is the largest ideological monument to the communist regime in Bulgaria. After the political changes in Bulgaria in November 1989, the new government had no interest in this symbol of communism and it was abandoned.

The monument commemorates a secret assembly of socialists from different Bulgarian areas, on 2 August 1891, to form an organized socialist movement, the Bulgarian Social Democratic Party. This assembly was an initiative of the socialist leader Dimitar Blagoev and this new party (from 1894 the Bulgarian Social Democratic Workers’ Party) was in fact a forerunner of the Bulgarian Communist Party, founded in 1919. But there are two more reasons why this spot is important for Bulgarian history. On 18 July 1868, the famous revolutionary Hadzhi Dimitar led his rebels in a final battle against the Ottomans, fought at Buzludža Peak. And on 25 January 1944, Bulgarian partisans ambushed here fascist forces engaged in training exercises, ending up in a fierce fire fight, during which several partisans lost their lives.
The decision to build this monument was taken by the Bulgarian Communist Party on 11 March 1971. Its construction began in January 1974 and was financed with donations and the sale of stamps, in total worth more than 14 million Bulgarian Leva (nowadays about 35 million USD). The monument, a round domed building with a 70m high double pylon, was designed by a team led by the architect Georgi Stoilov. The structures were designed by professor engineer Dobromir Kolarov. The Monument House of the Bulgarian Communist Party was unveiled on 23 August 1981 by party and state leader Todor Zhivkov.

To build a stable foundation for the monument, about 9m of the peak had to be levelled; 15,000m³ of rock was dug out, reducing the height of Hadzhi Dimitar Peak from 1441 to 1432m. A total of 70,000 tons of concrete, 3,000 tons of reinforced steel and 40 tons of gilded glass were used for the construction, involving more than 6,000 builders and workers. At the top of the double pylon, on its wide sides, are two irregular 5-pointed stars, made of red glass and measuring 6.5 x 12m (the largest in the world). The stars had lighting fixtures; at darkness, they could be seen from far away.

The round domed building consists mainly of the ceremonial hall with a corridor around it, covered with a copper roof of about 2500m². The round ceremonial hall is decorated with mosaics with a total area of 510m². The hall is surrounded by a corridor with large glass windows, and 14 mosaics covering the walls. More than 60 artists needed about 18 months to create the interior artistic design. All mosaics together cover a surface of about 920m². In the ceiling of the hall, one can still see the mosaic ‘Proletarians from all countries, unite!’, with the communist symbol hammer and sickle.

After the political changes in Bulgaria in November 1989, the new government had no interest in this symbol of communism and it was abandoned. Soon afterwards, the last employees left and the doors were locked. In the following years, the monument deteriorated. It became subject to theft, vandalism and weather influences. The building began to crumble, glass was broken, mosaics, ornaments and other elements of the monument’s structure were torn down. Everything in the building worth stealing, was stolen, including the copper covering the roof.
Several initiatives to preserve the monument had been undertaken throughout the years, not with much success. The latest initiative started in 2019 and after investigation, a Conservation Management Plan was made and it was indicated that the monument could be saved. In 2020, works started to stabilize the surviving mosaic panels. These conservation and preservation efforts are still ongoing.

These photo are from my visit in March 2017 (fog and snow) and March 2018. Nowadays the monument is being renovated.  

MINA PETRILA [RO]

Exploration #146. Petrila Coal Mine was an underground mining exploitation, one of the largest in Romania located in Petrila, one of six cities in the Jiu Valley region of Hunedoara County. It was also the oldest mine in Romania and until now the deepest in Europe, with shafts going down as far as 940 metres.

The mine opened in 1859 when the country was still part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. In 1867 the excavation works of the Deak Petrila and Petrosani East wells began, and in 1868 it is mentioned for the first time the realization of an industrial production of 853 tons of coal. In 1938 the excavation of the central well begins, which ends in 1945, and the coal production in 1943 was 764300 tons. It hit peak production in 1983 when workers extracted 1.2 million tonnes. The mine closed in 2016 and many soon the demolitions works began.

Currently the demolitions works are stopped anf the former workers are trying to convert the site to a mining museum.

CUG – COMBINATULUI DE UTILAJ GREU [RO]

Exploration #145. This building is part of a huge plant created in 1970, during the most prolific years of the communist regime in Romania. Energy oriented equipment were here produced, like household boilers or industrial boilers. From 1976 the plant was expanded to metal and steel sector, production of oxygen, laboratories for mechanical and chemical tests, mechanical presses for car parts casting, hydraulics engineering. In 1985 around 8000 employees were working in this factory. After the fall of the communist regime, the needs of heavy machinery felt down dramatically and the factory got split in many different companies. In 2002, only 617 employees were still working there, leaving a big part of the site totally empty.

Today some companies are still running their business in some buildings, while other are empty. This is the vastest abandoned building and probably one of the vastest building of the former plant. Even if it has been abandoned quite a long time ago, and despite the obvious traces of decay, the building has been kept quite clean and now it is like a modern cathedral

(source: Combinatul de Utilaj Greu CUG).

SKRUNDA-1 [LV]

Exploration #71 Skrunda-1. Skrunda-1 is a special ghost town: during the period of activity it was a closed city and Soviet military base in Latvia. Skrunda-1 housed almost 5000 military, technicians and scientists (with related families) on duty at a radar station called in NATO slang “Hen House” (name deriving from the fact that it resembled a large chicken coop). It was one of the six radars built at the beginning of the Cold War in the peripheral areas of the then Soviet Union, capable of monitoring possible ballistic missile launches to Russia. The city was built in 1963 and had around 75 buildings spread over an area of more than 100 acres. The city was self-sufficient and inside there were schools, residences, a small hotel, a prison, places for leisure and bunkers.

The Russians left Latvia in 1994 but Skrunda-1 remained operational for a few more years. The city was finally emptied of all its valuable material and then abandoned by the Russians in 1998. The Latvians demolished the radar towers on the occasion of the exit of the Soviets, but the rest of the city was left abandoned in the middle of the forest.

In my urbex adventures I explored several ghost towns, but Skrunda-1 was a different experience. First of all, the vastness: we are not talking about a village but a real town with main roads and secondary avenues. Then the buildings: multi-storey apartment buildings, all the same in classic Soviet style that follow one after the other. Walking in these avenues was like experiencing the post-apocalyptic film scene. Inside, everything was devastated, but some small memories of the inhabitants remain, the ones that most impressed me, some small posters of some Russian teenagers who spent their childhood in Skrunda-1.

This exploration dates back to 2014. From 2016 it became an almost official tourist attraction and local authorities asked for an entrance ticket. Since 2018, however, the city has been under army control and is used for training and therefore unfortunately it can no longer be visited.

LIEPAJA NORTHERN FORTS [LV]

Exploration #68. The Northern Forts were part of Liepaja’s fortress. The fortress was built at the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of 20th century to provide shelter to Liepaja’s naval base in case of enemy attack. The line of the outer fortification system surrounded the whole city. However, in November of 1908 after less than ten years of construction, Tsar Nicholas II approved a decision to shut down the sea fortress in Liepaja since the whole fortress was considered a strategic misstep.

Some of the cannons were dismounted and brought to the Kaunas fortress in Lithuania, others were melted. There was an attempt to blow up the gun batteries, the underground structures and the gunpowder depots but this did not prove effective. Nowdays the sea has started to take its toll and part of the Northern Forts complex has collapsed to the waterline.