The Getty Foundation in Los Angeles, US, has announced a $185,000 grant to be awarded to the Buzludzha Memorial House.

The idea of the grant is to cover the creation of a Conservation and Management Plan for the Buzludzha Memorial House. This will necessarily begin with an extensive survey and evaluation of the structure’s current condition. Following this stage, it is hoped the grant will support discussions about the building’s future, including its potential for reuse, and determining a practical plan for managing the rehabilitated monument as a heritage site.

This project will be run as a collaboration between various expert teams, including: the German and Bulgarian committees of ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites); the Technical University of Munich; the University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy in Sofia; and the Buzludzha Project Foundation. It has been announced that Georgi Stoilov, the monument’s author, will also play a key role.

The grant is awarded as part of Getty’s ‘Keeping It Modern’ initiative, which supports the maintenance and restoration of important works of Modernist architecture around the world. To date they have supported 64 international conservation projects, including Sydney Opera House, the Bauhaus building in Dessau, and Boston Town Hall. An application was submitted to Getty’s initiative, on behalf of the Buzludzha Memorial House, in October 2018 by Dora Ivanova and Richard Fawcus.

A statement from the Getty Foundation described Buzludzha as: “a masterpiece of architectural engineering,” and “an integral part of Bulgarian history.”

You can read more about the grant award, as well as reviewing the other recipients, on the Getty Foundation’s website.