49 Abandoned Landmarks That Are More Beautiful Than Ever

2. The Buzludzha Monument – Bulgaria

Standing like a fallen spaceship atop a remote Bulgarian peak, the Buzludzha Monument was once a dazzling showpiece of socialist pride. Completed in 1981, the structure celebrated the founding of the Bulgarian Social Democratic Party and featured sweeping murals, red star mosaics, and a grand circular auditorium. Its brutalist exterior, shaped like a giant concrete saucer, was meant to symbolize the strength and futuristic vision of communism. But when the regime fell just a few years later, Buzludzha was abandoned to the wind and snow. Today, its deteriorating walls, graffiti-tagged columns, and gaping holes in the ceiling create a sense of epic decay. Yet even in ruin, it commands awe—especially at sunrise or dusk, when fog drapes the mountain and the skeletal remains glow like a relic of an alien civilization. It’s a haunting, cinematic monument to lost ideologies and architectural ambition.