Forget your past. Communist-Era Monuments in Bulgaria (Second Expanded Edition)

With his photography and research project “Forget Your Past” Bulgarian photographer Nikola Mihov traces the story of the most important communist-era monuments in Bulgaria, from their construction to the present day. The title is borrowed from a graffiti written over the entrance of the Bulgarian Communist Party memorial on Mount Buzludzha, which poignantly illustrates their fate.
Conceived as expressions of pride and reverence, today most of them are abandoned, looted and neglected. Whether they commemorate the Soviet Army or the struggle against Ottoman rule, they all share a common fate – to be silent symbols of a forgotten past.

Originally published in 2012, the book was listed among the best photobooks of the year by The British Journal of Photography, reviewed in FOAM magazine and nominated for the Deutsche Börse Photography prize (2014), one of the most prestigious awards in photography.
This expanded edition of the book comes with a new design, updated texts and a newly added selection of never-before-published old photos of the monuments.