site.btaJuly 3, 1949: Mausoleum of Communist Leader Georgi Dimitrov Goes under Construction in Sofia

On July 3, 1949, construction began in downtown Sofia of a mausoleum of Communist leader Georgi Dimitrov. It was built in just six days.

Dimitrov was Chairman of the Council of Ministers (November 23, 1946 - July 2, 1949), General Secretary (1946-1949) of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Workers' Party (Communists), renamed Bulgarian Communist Party in December 1948, and General Secretary of the Comintern (August 20, 1935 - May 15, 1943). Dimitrov died on July 2, 1949 in the Barvikha Sanatorium near Moscow, USSR, where he had been treated.

On July 3, 1949, the Council of Ministers decided that his body should be embalmed and placed in a mausoleum. Construction of the mausoleum began immediately and it was built in six days, during which time Georgi Dimitrov's body was transported from the USSR to Sofia.

The mausoleum became part of the state ceremonial in the People's Republic of Bulgaria in the 1949-1989 period.

On July 18, 1990, Dimitrov's remains were removed from the mausoleum and cremated, and the urn was placed in the Central Sofia Cemetery.

On August 9, 1999, the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works ordered the mausoleum to be removed. Its demolition by controlled explosions began on August 21, 1999, and took seven days.