THE “BRATSKA MOGILA” MEMORIAL IN PLOVDIV: MONUMENTAL SYNTHESIS AND ETHNOCULTURAL MODELS IN BULGARIAN MEMORIAL SCULPTURE IN THE 1970S
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Date
2026
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Plovdiv University Press "Paisii Hilendarski"
Abstract
The present study examines the “Bratska Mogila” memorial complex in Plovdiv as a characteristic example of the synthesis between architecture, monumental sculpture, and ideologically constructed cultural memory in Bulgarian art during the 1970s. The analysis focuses on the specifics of form-making, artistic and spatial organization, and the use of archetypal ethnocultural models in the construction of the memorial image. Special attention has been given to the interaction between the plastic solutions contemporary to the period and references to ancient Thracian, funerary, and sacred forms, as well as to the eternal flame, which are integrated into the structure of the complex as carriers of multilayered symbolism. The study considers “Bratska Mogila” not only as a work of socialist memorial culture, but also as an artistic object in which ideological suggestions are achieved through deeper cultural and archetypal visual mechanisms. The article analyzes the historical prerequisites for the emergence of the complex, the role of the authorial team, the specific features of monumental synthesis, and the place of the monument in the development of Bulgarian memorial sculpture of the period.
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Bratska Mogila, monumental sculpture, memorial architecture, cultural memory, ethnocultural symbolism