The attitude of museums to socialism in the period of bulgarian transition to democracy

AuthorIgnatova, A. - Gancheva, I.
PositionFaculty of History, St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria - Faculty of History, St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria
Pages25-32
Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov
Series VII: Social Sciences • Law • Vol. 4 (53) No. 2 - 2011
THE ATTITUDE OF MUSEUMS TO
SOCIALISM IN THE PERIOD OF
BULGARIAN TRANSITION TO
DEMOCRACY
A. IGNATOVA1 I. GANCHEVA2
Abstract: The museum stands for a social and cultur al testimonial deposit
of history, which i s greatly influenced by the State policy of the country.
During communism, throughout many countries of Eastern Europe, museums
played an i deological part, enforcing the Marxist-Leninist dogma and the
socialist lifestyle into the people’s minds. Nowadays, Bulgaria does not
possess a socialism-profiled museum; howeve r there are institutions,
museums and temporary exhibitions, both State-owned and private, w hich
display communist artifac ts. The article herein sets off to describe them b oth
in a few words and resorting to a few pictures. It also aims at emphasizing
their role, which is to analytically and critically point to the past ideologies
and events, to the past culture and civilization, in order to synthesize and
build a glorious future.
Key words: history, museum, communism, socialism, Eastern Block.
1 Faculty of History, St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria.
2 Faculty of History, St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria.
Unlike a number of Member States of the
former ‘Eastern Bloc’, Bulgaria does not
have its own museum of socialism that
should present a comprehensive history of
the country from September 9, 1944 to
November 10, 1989. There are
comparatively few Bulgarian museums that
expose subjects related to the near
communist past, as permanent or temporary
exhibitions. This paper presents some of the
most active museums and institutions in this
field, as well as the public and private
initiatives aiming at collecting and debating
the socialism era. Special attention is given
to projects focused on building museums that
should reflect the socialist period.
The museum as a social and cultural
Institute is highly dependent on the State
policy of the country. During the period of
communist rule, in Bulgaria, as in many
other countries of Eastern Europe, museums
functioned as ideological institutions.
Government officials were assigned the task
of using museums in order to contribute to
instilling a Marxist-Leninist worldview
among the population and to consolidating
the socialist way of life. In this regard, in the
late 40s, museums paid attention to the
search and collection of corporeal and
documentary materials related to the
revolutionary past of the Bulgarian
Communist Party. Through a special decree
of the Politburo of the Workers' Party (c), in

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