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Sustainable Tourism Management Plan for the Buzludzha Monument


As part of the Sustainable Tourism Management Plan for the Buzludzha Monument, ICTC assessed the tourism potential of the Buzludzha Monument. This way the study also will contribute to a comprehensive Conservation Management Plan (CMP) in the “Keep it Modern” funding programme of the Getty Foundation and to the action field “Integrated Approaches to Dissonant Heritage” in the EU partnership “Culture and Cultural Heritage” of the EU Urban Agenda. 

One of the priorities at this stage was to outline appropriate and sustainable tourism development options that may enhance the visitor exploration, understanding and appreciation of the Buzludzha Monument including its multi-layered cultural and heritage values. Given the extensive stabilisation and restoration work already undertaken on the site, the proposed tourism development approach will, in terms of built structures, focus on maintaining the existing integrity and authenticity of the Buzludzha Monument itself. 


ICTC expert Sanjin Mihelic presenting the Buzludzha Monument Sustainable Tourism Plan at the Dissonant Heritage Conference in Kazanlak, Bulgaria from July 22-23, 2021, sponsored by the ICOMOS National Committees of Bulgaria and Germany. The event program can be found here.


The principal objective was to ensure long-term operational and economic viability, while reconnecting the site back into the social fabric of the community in Kazanlak and linking it with tourist potential in the surrounding region like natural and world heritage destinations. Instead of its current status as a misunderstood or contested oddity at the fringes of Kazanlak’s tourism offer, the site could become an integrated layer within the broader tourism framework and provide local stakeholders with future opportunities to generate lasting interest and programming in the destination. 

The ICTC project team consisted of Jonathan Karkut (ICOMOS UK), Fergus Maclaren (ICOMOS Canada) and Sanjin Mihelic (ICOMOS Croatia).

Files: ICTC Presentation

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