Monumenty w przestrzeni miejskiej jako narzędzia transformacji pamięci i tożsamości narodowej. Refleksje na przykładzie pomnika Armii Radzieckiej w Sofii

Katarzyna Kość-Ryżko

doi:10.23858/JUE23.2025.005

Published: 2025-12-03

Vol. 23 No. - (2025)

Monuments in urban space as tools for the transformation of memory and national identity. Reflections on the example of the Monument to the Soviet Army in Sofia

Katarzyna Kość-Ryżko

Journal of Urban Ethnology

Section: Cultural heritage

https://doi.org/10.23858/JUE23.2025.005

Abstract

Several decades have passed since the fall of communism in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, yet in some of them monuments dedicated to the Soviet Army still stand firmly on their pedestals. In general, however, relics of the previous system arouse strong emotions and become objects of protests, debates, political discussions, as well as actions aimed at their removal or destruction. In this context, the Monument to the Soviet Army in Sofia stands out in particular as one having an exceptionally rich and interesting history that entered its next phase in December 2024, when, after many years of social pressure and legal proceedings, its dismantling began. In this article, I discuss the history of the creation of the Monument to the Soviet Army in Sofia and its fate after the fall of communism, and I also cite the activities of various (creative and artistic, ideological and destructive) groups involved in its transformations. I also take into account the generational perspective and discuss the main dimensions of the conflict over the monument. The main thesis of the article is that objects of post-socialist heritage, which are a testimony to a past that is not always heroic and glorious, and therefore rejected, negated and displaced from the place they occupy in historical space and consciousness, can become an important tool for the transformation of memory and the shaping of national identity.

Keywords:

monuments of the Soviet Army, post-socialist heritage, national identity, transformation of memory, artistic interventions, heritology, dissonant heritage

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Kość-Ryżko, K. (2025). Monuments in urban space as tools for the transformation of memory and national identity. Reflections on the example of the Monument to the Soviet Army in Sofia. Journal of Urban Ethnology, 23(-), 79–108. https://doi.org/10.23858/JUE23.2025.005

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