[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="295" caption="The red star that graced Communist Party headquarters in detail against a wall"]<a class="tt-flickr tt-flickr-Large" title="The red star that graced Communist Party headquarters" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/6085258752/"><img class="  " src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6184/6085258752_84ba3234e2_b.jpg" alt="The red star that graced Communist Party headquarters" width="295" height="442" /></a>[/caption]

Sofia is opening a new museum!

A Museum of Socialist Art.

The expected opening has been covered by the <a href="http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=131521" target="_blank">Sofia News Agency/novinite</a> and by the <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/bulgaria-opening-museum-socialist-art-124651273.html" target="_blank">Associated Press/yahoo</a>. However neither of these articles revealed the actual location of the museum. <em>Awesome</em>. Really, who needs to know that?!

But there has a big deal made about the red star which once graced Communist Party headquarters. It's in most of the photos illustrating the articles announcing the new museum. This star will be on display again.

That's probably better than it's previous home. It was tucked away behind a fence and leaning up against the Sofia Bathhouse in downtown Sofia. The start was pointed out to me on <a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/2011/04/23/sofia-and-easter-weekend/" target="_blank">a tour with Free Sofia Tour</a>. Very likely, I would have never noticed the broken red star or if I had I wouldn't have known the history of the battered star. (Want a better look at the star? Check it out in <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/6085259136/" target="_blank">my flickr accoun</a>t. The lighting is pretty horrible but you can see the whole star.)

Luckily, I also stumbled across the "address" for the new museum in a <a href="http://www.sofiaecho.com/2011/08/26/1145333_national-art-gallery-in-sofia-to-close-for-four-months" target="_blank">Sofia Echo article</a> regarding the National Gallery in Sofia closing for 4 months for renovation. This is something the museum has been in desperate need of <a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/2009/06/29/museum-kind-of-day/" target="_blank">since I've lived in Sofia</a> so I was very glad to read this.

The new museum? Well, apparently it's on Lachezar Stanchev Street in the Izgrev borough, near the Sofia office of the traffic police. But I have no idea where that is. Google wasn't really anymore helpful--the google arrow seems to be plopped down on an unnamed street close to the GM Dimitrov Metro stop.

Hum. This whole thing seems very, um, Bulgarian.  We're opening a museum but we're not going to give you the address or the hours. Don't get me wrong. I am going to check out the museum--that is once I know where it is and when I can visit.

I like museums. I like history. I like old things. I like Bulgaria. So this museum seems right up my alley but what I really want to see is how this museum and the collection has been curated.