Day 1,420
Heavy
As mentioned in a previous post, we look at various websites to find interesting things to see when we plan our routes and boy, did Tom spot something big this time! The heaviest Soviet monument in the world, the ‘Founders of the Bulgarian State’.
The monument stands high above the city of Shumen, dominating the skyline. Built in 1981 to celebrate the founding of the first Bulgarian Empire, it was designed by two Bulgarian sculptors in the cubist style, to showcase the most important men in the country's history.
The weight comes largely from eight concrete blocks, forming two semi-open halls. Within are statues of Bulgarian's founding fathers. The first being, Khan Asparuh, with a dog at his feet and a horse behind him. Above him is a copy of the oldest written document in Bulgaria, containing a list of the Bulgarian Khans.
Khan Asparuh
Next we have Terval the Diplomat, Krum the Lawmaker, and Omurtag the builder. There is an inscription of a document from 822, which still holds true today - ‘Even if he lives well, a man dies and another is born’. Then, standing between the two halls there is Boris the First. He was the chap who, after becoming a Christian in 864, converted the country too. His figure is positioned to show him looking forward into the future.
Boris the First
Finally we have Tzar Simeon, sat amongst his noblemen, his warriors and book-keepers. Written there is a poem comparing Simeon with the creator of the Library at Alexandria.
Tzar Simeon
We were both impressed. The quality of the sculptures is absolutely amazing, despite the gale-force wind and the ever present guy strimming the grass we spent quite a while just gazing upwards at this magnificent piece of artwork. Kathy, our host from last night has never been, but all I can say is, get yourself there girl, it's awesome.
That’s heavy, man!
If the wind had been a bit less fierce we'd probably have lingered quite a while longer but eventually we headed down to Shumen. Now there are steps to the town but they are no use to us cyclists, but running near them was yet another closed route. It saved miles of backtracking so off we went, maneuvering our bikes past the concrete wall blocking the path. It was steep, so we took our time and despite the odd section of damaged surface we got down just fine. Our cheap room turned out to be much better than we feared so we're bunkering down for two nights, hiding from the rain, to film edit, update the blog, service the bikes, wash our kit, and all the usual stuff that we laughingly call a day of rest!
