Appearance of the homes for mourning civil rituals and tracing the trends in their development

The paper presents conclusions drawn from the scientific research conducted as part of the project "Study of the Current State of the Homes for Joyful and Mourning Civil Rituals and Proposal for Their Future Development" at the Research, Consultancy and Design Centre in UACEG. Following the Second World War, Bulgaria fell under the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union, leading to a series of changes in the lives of the population. A central aspect of these changes was the introduction of atheism as the leading state policy, aimed at replacing religious beliefs and practices with a secular worldview. As a result of the attempt to impose atheism, there arose the need for a new type of buildings where the newly introduced civil rituals could be conducted. These buildings are divided into two categories – Homes for Joyful Civil Rituals and Homes for Mourning Civil Rituals, with the present article focusing on the latter. The aim of this study is to examine their appearance, drawing upon the structure of the Orthodox Christian church as a prototype and as a basis for finding the principles in their design, as well as to explore how the associated spaces have evolved since the fall of socialism.