Bulgarian Rightists Speak Up against New Museum of Socialist Art

The entrance to the Sofia Museum of Socialist Art, which is located on 7 Lachezar Stanchev Str in Sofia. Photo by the Culture Ministry

Bulgaria's Museum of Socialist Art, which opened doors Monday, is wrongly conceived and a disgrace for Bulgaria's history, according to politicians from rightist Union of Democratic Forces.

Senior members of the rightist party, which was the main rightist political force during the transition from communism in the 1990s, argued that the museum was both haphazard and forced a particular interpretation of the 1944-89 period in Bulgaria's history.

UDF leader Martin Dimitrov went as far as claiming that the museum, the official purpose of which is to preserve part of Bulgaria's history, actually glorifies the decade-long rule of the Bulgarian Communist Party.

"One ought not to represent a period of dictatorship as a period of progress in culture. This is an attempt to falsify Bulgarian history," said Dimitrov, speaking in Parliament.

Democrats went on to slam the ruling center-right GERB party for what it sees as a "chaotic" policy in the field of culture.

"If we knew that GERB would open such a Museum of Socialist Art, we would never have backed GERB's membership in the EPP," said Dimitrov.

Union of Democratic Forces presidential candidate Rumen Hristov has also slammed the newly-open museum.

The party also informed it has received numerous messages from citizens, including ones repressed by the communist regime, who have also expressed disaffection with the site.

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