Sitting on a snow-covered mountain range in central Bulgaria, the saucer-shapedBuzludzha monument may seem like it's from another world. But the monument, also known as the House of the Bulgarian Communist Party, is merely from another era, a relic of Bulgaria's communist past.

Completed in 1981, Buzludzha (literally "glacially/icy") was opened on the 1300th anniversary of the founding of Bulgaria. It took seven years and the equivalent of $10 million to build the shrine to socialism, according to the Daily Beast.

But after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, the massive relic was abandoned. Today, it is covered in graffiti and left to crumble and decay, perched at an altitude of 5,000 feet.

(MORE: 7 Earthquake Ghost Towns)

Although officially closed to visitors, tourists still flock to this UFO-like structure. Aside from tourists and photographers, the monument has also attracted thieves and vandals who havestripped much of the roof paneling away from the building, the Daily Mail reported in 2012. This has leftBuzludzhavulnerable to the elements for the past 20 years.

In the winter, the monolithic structure can be seen buried in snow, the colorful wall mosaic ofcommunist heroes Marx, Engels and Lenin barely recognizable.These freeze and thaw cycles, in addition to rainfall entering the structure, cause the building to crack and crumble, and with continued neglect, the once majestic structure may deteriorate and collapse. (A recent fire inside the huge auditorium has also done more damage to the site, according to Kuriositas.)

Many believe that, if restored, the monument (and other structures from Bulagaria'scommunist past) can attract Western visitors to the region. However, the Bulgarian government does not have the resources to carry out the necessary extensive repair work, at an estimated cost of £12 million (around $19.6 million), nor to pull them down, according to the Daily Mail.

MORE ON WEATHER.COM: Eerie Photos of Cleveland's Abandoned Buildings

An abandoned building. Photographer Seph Lawless has documented the modern ruins and decaying, abandoned buildings in Cleveland, East Cleveland and the northern Ohio area. (Seph Lawless)