Gallery Golden Sands

The largest monument in Varna is the Bulgarian-Soviet friendship built on Turna Tepe hill being 110 meters above sea level.

Work began on the structure on November 4, 1974, over the next 7 months some 27 000 volunteers worked to produce this 23 meters high and 48 meters wide sculpture. Beneath it there several bomb shelters encased in over 10,000 tonnes of concrete. Within the structure there used to be an eternal fire demonstrating the friendship of the Soviet people towards Bulgaria, this today has fallen into disrepair and is lost since the break up of the old USSR.

There are a total of seven figures depicted all around 11.5 meters in height, the three on the left are that of  a women with relaxed hands, the other holding a flower, and the third a tray with bread and salt.  Against them on the opposing wing there are four armed Russian soldiers with rifles over their shoulders.

The hill itself used to be festooned with over 10,000 tree and 11,000 odd bushes with its own in built irrigation system feeding the water supply. The steps leading up to the monument are called the “Stairs of Victors” … with 301 in total to climb it’s a long hawl!

As an addendum to today’s world in 2009 there has been added at the base of the hill two of the largest flags within the EEC with a height of 52.6 meters, being the flag of Bulgaria and that of the EU.