The Bronze House symbolizes the good cultural partnership between Bulgaria and Austria. The project is implemented on a proposal from Austria, via the Austrian Embassy, on the two countries’ presidency of the Council of the EU in 2018. “We have a well-established cultural partnership with Vienna, and I am glad that we can show a contemporary art project in an open-air urban space”, said the Mayor of Sofia, Yordanka Fandakova, who, together with the Austrian President Alexander van der Belen, visited the site in the center of the city, where the erection of the modern art installation, the Bronze House, was taking place.

Since yesterday, the project team has been working on installing the elements of the Bronze House, a work of the Bulgarian artist Plamen Deyanoff, who lives in Austria.

On the initiative of the Embassy of the Republic of Austria and in connection with the current Bulgarian Presidency and the forthcoming Presidency of the Republic of Austria, the Bronze House will be temporarily located in front of the building of the National Museum of Bulgarian Fine Arts (the Royal Palace) on the site of the former Mausoleum.

The Bronze House focuses on various aspects of art in urban environment and its interrelation with social processes, modern urbanism, and the attitude to history, memory and cultural heritage. The sculpture building will be 11 meters high and its foundation will have dimensions of 7 х 7 m. It will consist of more than 1000 bronze elements that will be assembled without the use of additional binders. 

The work The Bronze House was inspired by the traditional Bulgarian architecture, and in particular, the Hrelyo Tower of the Rila Monastery. With this art installation, Sofia Municipality symbolically marks the start of its project for transforming the space, including underground, into a gallery of contemporary art where artists from the country and abroad will be able to present their works.

Photographer: Geo Kalev