SOFIA -- As the dismantling of the Monument to the Soviet Army in central Sofia continues, many Bulgarians are wondering if they will ever see it again.
Authorities claim the monument, which began to be cut down on December 12, will be restored and put on public display. But there is no word on who will rebuild it or how, nor is it clear where the landmark could be exhibited.
A portion of Sofia's Monument to the Soviet Army being removed from its column on December 18.
Decades of debate over the Red Army monument continue unabated, even after workers began cutting its topmost statues into pieces. Images of workers slicing into the monument with angle grinders surprised many, who questioned the technical need for such “amputations,” which risked inflaming political tensions in Bulgaria.
A survey taken in October 2023 found 30.7 percent of respondents preferred to see the communist-era complex remain in place, while 22 percent wanted it destroyed and 27.8 percent of respondents felt the monument should be displayed in a museum.
Scaffolding around the Red Army monument on December 12, shortly before demolition began.
Marin Markov, a sculptor who is involved in the removal of the Sofia landmark, told RFE/RL’s Bulgarian Service that the dissection of the central statues was a technical necessity. The three figures at the top of the complex’s column, he says, were filled to the waists with concrete and weighed at least 30 tons in total, placing the trio beyond the lifting capacity of most cranes.
“So the figures were removed in two to three pieces, each weighing less than the 4 to 5 ton maximum weight that the crane can bear,” Markov says.
Cracks seen on the legs of the Sofia monument's upper statues in early December.
In October, Markov was commissioned by the Sofia regional government to prepare a report on the condition of the Red Army monument’s topmost statues. The sculptor found deep cracks in some of the figures that reportedly made it a hazard.
On the evening of December 12, workers cut through and removed the arm of the central statue of the column. Shortly afterwards, the head of the monument’s Soviet soldier and the woman with a child in her arms came down. That was followed the next day by a statue of a worker being removed.
Plans released by the Sofia regional authorities showing the sections the monument's statues would be cut into.
Vira Todeva, the governor of the Sofia region, says the sequence of dismantling followed a plan overseen by her administration.
On December 15, the official publicly released the text of the plan itself following requests from pro-Russian Bulgarian political parties who had opposed the removal of the monument.
The plan detailed the specific sequence in which the monument should be removed, including the individual pieces the topmost statues should be cut into. The blueprint also called for removal of the statues to be completed by December 19.
Bulgaria’s Ministry of Culture had earlier ordered the dismantling be paused while removal work was under way. The ministry claims the work had not been cleared with it first.
Figures from the column of the Red Army monument after their removal
Specialists have differing views on the best way to take down this type of landmark.
Sculptor and former minister Velislav Minekov from Bulgaria’s Academy of Arts agreed the monument needed to be cut into pieces for safe removal but says the way it was done -- with handheld angle grinders -- would make any later restoration difficult and expensive.
“The technical process bothers me a lot,” he said, calling the work a “last-minute job done with ignorance.”
Sculptor Marin Markov defended the use of angle grinders, saying there are no better alternatives.
“The blade is 1 millimeter thick, which on a statue like this is nothing,” he said.
More powerful metal-cutting tools have blades that Markov says would leave a cut as wide as 8 millimeters.
Petya Penkova, chief assistant at the National Archaeological Institute, who specializes in metal restoration, says bronze monuments have been dismantled before in Bulgaria but never on such a large scale or with the intention of later being restored.
The Monument to the Soviet Army in Sofia as seen in August 2023
When the demolition work is finally completed, the future appears uncertain for the Red Army monument. In the scheme released by the city administration, it was revealed that the landmark’s pieces will be taken to a site near Lozen, a village to the southeast of Sofia.
Officially, the plan is then to restore the monument and display it at a site where it will serve an “educational” -- rather than propaganda -- role.
But some fear the monument may simply gather dust somewhere in perpetual storage. Initially, it was believed that the monument would be exhibited in Sofia’s Museum of Socialist Art, but its director recently said that this was not feasible and that no contractor has been announced for the restoration.
Penkova says with objects as significant as the Red Army monument, a complete road map is essential.
"When you make a long-term plan, you need a vision for all of the stages," Penkova points out, saying work on the monument is currently “riding a wave of emotions."
Regional Governor Vira Todeva told RFE/RL that the situation of the monument is “urgent” due to the danger posed by the damaged statues on its column and that while work on finding a restoration contractor continues, “We have no way of keeping the scaffolding in place.”
The 1300 Years of Bulgaria monument in Sofia photographed in 2014
In 2017, another communist era-monument named 1300 Years Of Bulgaria that was less divisive -- its aesthetics were widely seen as charmless by Bulgarians -- was removed from a square in central Sofia with the claim it would be restored and put on display. That never happened.
Sofia’s regional history museum confirmed to RFE/RL’s Bulgarian Service that the monument currently remains in storage, in pieces. There is no known timeline for its restoration.
The director of the Museum of Socialist Art, Nikolay Ushtavaliyski, referenced the apparently forgotten 1300 Years of Bulgaria monument and told RFE/RL, “I’m afraid the Monument to the Soviet Army will share the same fate.”