Georgi Dimitrov Mausoleum

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Georgi Dimitrov Mausoleum in September 1995, four years before being demolished

The Georgi Dimitrov Mausoleum (Bulgarian: мавзолей на Георги Димитров) in Sofia, Bulgaria was built in 1949 to hold the embalmed body of the Communist leader Georgi Dimitrov (1882-1949). It remained there from Dimitrov's death until August 1990, when he was cremated. The Mausoleum was destroyed by in 1999 as a consequence of heated nation-wide debate, since it was considered inappropriate after the fall of Communism in 1989.

It took the government four attempts to demolish the massive white marble building on Prince Alexander of Battenberg Square in August 1999. The first three attempts failed, as they relied on a single powerful blast to take down the Mausoleum that was reputedly designed to withstand a nuclear attack. The fourth (and successful) attempt was carried out using a number of consecutive less powerful detonations and bulldozers. The Mausoleum was constucted in five days. It took democracy seven days to destroy something built by communism for five days