Something must be said in principle about the attitude towards cultural monuments in our country. It is, to put it mildly, neglected. Shipka is an emblematic case and that is why people stare at it. This is perhaps the most important place for our common historical memory. Because there, Bulgarians, not only because of Grandpa Vazov, become a nation – when the culmination of the Russo-Turkish War merges with the Bulgarian heroic militia. If we waste so much time and so much damage is caused to this monument, because it is a building that needs maintenance, then what is left for the other monuments? They are also in a deplorable state. This was announced to Lili Marinkova in the studio “FACTS“ and the program “Conversation“ by Radoslav Iliev, a lecturer at the Department “History of Bulgaria“ at the Faculty of History of Sofia University.
“And this is not about raising a voice about some isolated case. There was such a case recently with the Naval School on the island of “St. St. Kirik and Julita“. Now it will collapse or it will not collapse – and some kind of PR campaign is quickly being made, people go there, solutions are being sought. The point is that our country is the only one in Europe that does not have a specialized agency or body responsible for all cultural monuments. There is a Law on Cultural Heritage, there is an Inspectorate at the Ministry of Culture, but there is no specialized body. In France, in Italy or in Greece there is“, added the guest.
“Anyone who is a little concerned with the history and maintenance of the Shipka monument knows that it has not been fundamentally repaired since 1982. Even then, along with the construction of Buzludzha, Construction Troops carried out some repair work – patching the facade, as is necessary there. The first bell about its urgent need for repair was in 2017, and in 2021, collapses and falling stones began. Anyone who has been there knows that it is surrounded by a fence. For no other reason than to prevent people from touching it, but because stones fall that have broken their bond with each other due to the moisture accumulated over the years in the walls of the monument. After 2019, when the situation is already urgent, we have seven years in which the repair is delayed. Almost ten governments have passed since then, and we have a lot of work to do“, Radoslav Iliev also commented.
See more of the conversation in the VIDEO.