No, that’s not a UFO or something out of Prometheus (2012); it’s the awfully baffling Buzludzha monument in Bulgaria, an admittedly futuristic remnant in the brutalist architectural style from the country’s wretched dalliance with communism. Like all pillars of the Eastern Bloc age, it reveals the hubris and folly of the state. No wonder that vast Soviet experiment went tits-up when instead of making the economics work, governments were concentrating on this nonsense. The thing, whatever it is, cost a fucking fortune.
The monument’s interior – mosaics of commie stalwarts – is closed to the public. The official line is that it’s now too dangerous to enter, but one suspects it’s frankly too embarrassing a spectacle.
It does reveal a truth, though – the lengths totalitarian states will go to awe the worker bees into submission.
Further reading:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/buzludzha-monument
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-forgotten-communist-monoliths-of-bulgaria
Wanderings and ... wonderings. 