100 monuments of monumental facade art (sgraffito, mosaic, ceramoplastic, metaloplastic, etc.) created after 1960 in Burgas, Veliko Tarnovo, Plovdiv and Sofia were documented and studied by a professional team during the implementation of the BHF project: “New Heritage: approaches to conservation and dissemination of contemporary monumental facade art in Bulgaria”, funded by the National Fund for Culture.

In the period from 25.02. to 05.03. 2022 the team: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Elena Kantareva-Decheva (conservator of the mosaics in the Episcopal Basilica of Philippopolis) and Dr. Alessandro Lugari (conservator in the archaeological park “Colosseum”, Italy), Anton Chalakov (professional photographer) and Dr. Angela Pencheva (project coordinator and program director at the BHF) in cooperation with representatives of the local municipalities, documented and described the state of preservation of the sites on the territory of the four partnering municipalities.

The collected information will be used for assessment and prescription preparation for the future conservation and preservation of the facade monuments. It will also be integrated into a pilot database of an online registry for monumental facade art in Bulgaria, which will be created by the autumn of 2023 as a key tool to support local authorities in implementing policies for culture, conservation and utilization of monumental art in urban environments.

Photos: Anton Chalakov