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Nikolova, Viktoria (2025)

Mnemonic Layers: Bratska Mogila Monument and the Transformation of Socialist Memory in Post-Socialist Bulgaria

Bachelor thesis | Kunstgeschiedenis (BA)
This thesis examines how the mnemonic function of Bratska Mogila monument in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, has transformed from the socialist period to the post-socialist present through photographic mediation. Built in 1974 as a concrete pantheon commemorating anti-fascist resistance, the monument once served as a didactic mnemonic device projecting ideological continuity. Today, it exists in material decay and contested significance. Using visual analysis methodology, this study compares historical photographs with contemporary images by artist Velislav Baldev to trace the monument's evolving function. The theoretical framework combines Svetlana Boym's concepts of restorative and reflective nostalgia with Pierre Nora's exploration of the relationship between institutional "history" and lived "memory."
mnemonic
memory
monument, photography
post-Soviet
nostalgia
Author
Nikolova, Viktoria
Faculty
Faculty of Humanities
Specialisation
Arts, Media and Society
Supervisors
Lauritano, S. M.
ECTS Credits
10
Language
en