"Съсипаха Я Тая Държава", or a Stroll among the Ruins of a Complicated Past Part 1 Dissertation 2023 Atanas Kondakov University of Brighton | UK The modern face of Bulgarian architecture is a mixture of traditional historical buildings, contemporary attempts to push the industry forward, and socialist structures which weigh heavily due to their legacy in a post-socialist reality. The relationship between the Bulgarian population and its communist past has been a complicated one ever since 1989, when the Transition began. This work aims to explore and investigate this relationship in depth, in the effort to find what has lead Bulgarians to be so adamant in their dislike of architecture built between 1945 and 1989. It analyses three main categories – panel tower block housing, administrative monumentalism and holiday resorts – as to consider how Bulgarians’ opinion of architecture of various quality and different levels of socialist symbolism changes. Through careful literature and visual analysis, this essay factors the political, social, economic and cultural factors which have greatly skewed the balance and prevent the general public from appreciating architectural precedents isolated from their socialist legacy. Additionally, it explores how the current government is also to blame for that biased approach towards communist-era buildings. ???????? ? ??? ??????? Atanas Kondakov Tutor(s) Tilo Amhoff