Practicality over beauty
The Elementary School "Hristo Botev" - Dimitrovgrad is located in the central part of Dimitrovgrad. It represents a visually recognizable object which dominates the central area of the town, which is elevated in comparison to the main street.
The school was built in the early 1950s, and it was officially opened in 1954. Architecturally, it was built in the style of "social realism" ("soc-realism"), which was the dominant trend in architecture in the post-war years. Its functional design with strict rectangular forms devoid of ornamentation is typical of this style. In fact, the main feature of this trend is "practicality over beauty". Architects were supposed to make the most of the space and building capacities, rather than focusing on aesthetics.
Moreover, the architecture of social realism promotes the ideology of social equality. The regime used to limit any liberal act of creativity; at the same time social realism was imposed as the best and only artistic style. The depersonalization of an architect in the 1950s culminated in the ultimate limitation of artistic freedom and creativity by defining and prescribing a certain typology of facility. The abolition of the private sector and the loss of the identity of the architects resulted in the fact that for many buildings of that time the name of the author is not known.