I will add a little concrete to my full of nature photos blog today and show you some bells from all around the world.

1979 Unity Creativity Beauty

Kambanite(The Bells) is an old monument located at the foot of Vitosha Mountain near Sofia built for 30 days in 1979 initially to celebrate the International Year of the Child declared by the United Nations. An international children's festival took place in the park bringing together children from all around the world. It was initially thought to be a one time event but due to its big success the festival was repeated every 4 years until 1989 when the communism in Bulgaria collapsed.
During these events the children were creating together and getting to know the culture of the other participants' countries. Each children delegation brought a bell and plant from their county. The motto of the events was "Unity, Creativity, Beauty".

Today

The monument stands today not exactly in its best shape after its 40 years of existence, but seeing these bells from all around the world is really interesting.
It consists of four 37-meter vertical pylons, as well as two horizontal semi circles where are placed the bells (today 133 in total). The sphere at the top of the high body symbolizes the planet Earth, with seven bells arranged spirally, which represents the seven continents and with a total weight of 12 tons. 18 bells are placed at the bottom of the four pillars which are used with the main 7 bells to perform concert works.

The monument was abandoned and forgotten for almost 14 years(1989-2002). The first bell placed there after 1989 was a gift from Pope John Paul II in 2002.

Initially the park around was much bigger - 38 hectares but now it is only 10,5.

Some interesting facts about the bells

• You can see there bells from countries that don't exist anymore - like The German Democratic Republic and USSR.
• There is a copy of a bell dated to 400 BC.
• One of the bells from South Africa has participated in a revolt.
• The oldest bell is an original dated from 9th century
• The Bells is the largest percussion instrument in Europe.
• The Bulgarian bell weighs exactly 1300kg in celebration of the establishment of the country.

An aerial photo of the place - Source
I wanted to spend more time there, to explore the details and some different view points, because I think it’s great for beautiful pictures, but I couldn’t bear it, quickly took some photos and left after no more than 15 minutes. There were only several people with no more than 3 kids, but give a kid 133 bells to play and it becomes a disaster aka a great discomfort inside my ears. That’s why I quickly escaped into the woods to recover :D. I cannot even imagine what it would be like during the weekend. The monument looks neglected and not maintained, some of the bells are stolen, some are broken, but still it has its own unique charm.
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