Sofia Graffiti Fans Mourn Soviet Memorial's New Look

Sofia has lost its life-sized version of Superman, Captain America and Ronald McDonald along with an entire company of superheroes after they got turned back into old, bronze statues of Soviet soldiers.

The Soviet Army Monument painted to represent a set of US pop culture characters | Photo by: Julia Lazarova

On Saturday, an unknown street artist painted over the bronze figures on the Soviet army monument in Sofia, turning them into various US superhero and other pop culture characters – including The Joker, Wolverine, Santa, Superman, Ronald McDonald, Captain America, Robin, and Wonder Woman.

The Soviet flag waved by the soldiers was painted to become a US flag, while an inscription by the artist below the soldier statues read, "Rolling with Time."

The conversion of the Soviet soldiers into superheroes and other pop culture characters drew diametrically opposed reactions, ranging from admiration for the ingenuity of the artist to condemnation of what was termed "the desecration" of a monument built to honour the role of the Soviets in beating Nazism in Europe and liberating Bulgaria.

On Tuesday morning, after the statue appeared all cleaned up, a Facebook group with nearly 2,000 members, supporting the makeover, echoed with protests.

"Cowards!" and "What are they hiding?" were some of the statements made by Bulgarian Facebook users concerning the overnight cleaning operation. Some pointed out that fascist symbols and other hateful signs have remained untouched for a long time on the capital's walls.

Others praised the swift reaction of the Sofia municipality, urging it to keep up the good work by cleaning other graffiti-sprayed monuments, underpasses and buildings.

The city authorities of Sofia stated that they had nothing to do with the cleaning. The monument is owned by the state, the municipality said, in a statement. Instead, the operation was covered by non-governmental organizations.

According to Bulgarian National Television, the money came from the "Bulgaria-Russia" forum, chaired by Svetlana Sharenkova.

Graffiti is a common occurrence on this particular monument, and this latest redesign dovetailed with the 2011 Sofia Design Week.