Buzludzha monument: sustainable cultural tourism plan

Project title

Buzludzha Monument sustainable cultural tourism plan: Acknowledging the past – Embracing the future

Where

Bulgaria

When

2021

Project aim

Through ICOMOS International Cultural Tourism Committee (ICTC), the project aimed to develop a sustainable cultural tourism plan to support destination development at the Buzludzha Monument in central Bulgaria. The monument is a dissonant aspect of cultural heritage that aims to align with the other layers of the tourism offer developed in the municipality of Kazanlak. Buzluadzha is also part of a wider network of dissonant heritage sites being linked through the Urban Agenda for the EU cultural heritage programmesent.

Who we worked with

Jonathan Karkut (ICOMOS UK), Fergus Maclaren (ICOMOS Canada) and Sanjin Mihelic (ICOMOS Croatia), as ICOMOS ICTC worked with – Buzludzha Foundation & ICOMOS Germany

What we did

The scope of the project was to provide a comprehensive Sustainable Cultural Tourism Plan for the Buzludzha Monument. The Plan was developed through an extensive desk research and intensive consultations with all relevant stakeholders. The underlying rationale was to produce a workable document that will inspire and guide the future cultural tourism endeavour focusing on the Buzludzha Monument itself, as well as highlighting its potential role as a cultural tourism attraction within the broader area of Kazanlak.

Results

For the project we delivered,

a) A sustainable cultural tourism plan for Buzludzha – incorporating maps, images and comparative examples from other similar types of dissonant heritage sites

b) Reported on the plan to a number of community and stakeholder platforms, including the Dissonant Heritage Conference in Kazanlak, co-organised by ICOMOS Bulgaria & ICOMOS Germany