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yes, this should be referenced of course: 1st ref - The Journal of Modern History, 2nd - relevance - see quotation of Starovoitova; more supporting refs can be found if needed
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{{multiple image
| perrow = 5
| total_width = 400
| image_gap =
| caption_align = center
| align = right
| image1 = Mauzoleumlenina (cropped).jpeg
| link1 = Lenin's Mausoleum
| image2 = Mausoleum of Mao Zedong.jpg
| link2 = Mausoleum of Mao Zedong
| image3 = Kumsusan Memorial Palace, Pyongyang.jpg
| link3 = Kumsusan Palace of the Sun
| image4 = Ho chi minh mausoleum.jpg
| link4 = Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum
| image5 = Georgi Dimitrov mauzóleuma. Fortepan 69811.jpg
| link5 = Georgi Dimitrov Mausoleum
| image6 = Praha, Vítkov, památník.JPG
| link6 = National Monument at Vítkov
| image7 = Suhbataar square n mausoleum b.jpg
| link7 = Sükhbaatar's Mausoleum
| image8 = Memorial Antonio Agostinho Neto (19882325368).jpg
| link8 = Agostinho Neto
| image9 = RO B Carol Park monument 2.jpg
| link9 = Carol Park
| image10 = Kuca cveca.jpg
| link10 = House of Flowers (mausoleum)
| image11 = Brosen tirana hoxha mausol.jpg
| link11 = Pyramid of Tirana
| image12 = MuseeKaysone.jpg
| link12 = Kaysone Phomvihane
| image13 = Gedenkstaette der sozialisten.jpg
| link13 = Zentralfriedhof Friedrichsfelde
| image14 = Tumba de Fidel Castro Ruz CF9A1523.jpg
| link14 = Santa Ifigenia Cemetery
| image15 = 4F Chavez Monument in Caracas (cropped).jpg
| link15 = :es:Cuartel de la Montaña 4F
| footer = [[Communist]] [[mausoleums]] have bee described as hallmarks of totalitarian architecture<ref>[https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/505801?mobileUi=0&journalCode=jmh The Mausoleum of Georgi Dimitrov as lieu de mémoire] by Maria Todorova, [[The Journal of Modern History]], Volume 78, Number 2</ref><ref>[https://www.csmonitor.com/1997/0404/040497.intl.intl.2.html In a Russia Torn by Past, Some Come to Praise Lenin, Some to Bury Him], by Peter Ford, [[The Christian Science Monitor]]</ref><ref>[https://www.exutopia.com/pyramid-bunkers-communist-albania/ The Pyramid, Bunkers & Purple Concrete of Communist Albania]</ref>
}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1988-092-32, Berlin, Neue Reichskanzlei.jpg|thumb|Historical photograph of the New Reich Chancellery in [[Berlin]], [[Germany]].]]
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1988-092-32, Berlin, Neue Reichskanzlei.jpg|thumb|Historical photograph of the New Reich Chancellery in [[Berlin]], [[Germany]].]]
[[File:Red Army Theatre in Moscow.jpg|thumb|Historical photograph of [[Red Army Theatre]] in [[Moscow]], [[Russia]]. It is designed in the shape of the communist star.]]
[[File:Red Army Theatre in Moscow.jpg|thumb|Historical photograph of [[Red Army Theatre]] in [[Moscow]], [[Russia]]. It is designed in the shape of the communist star.]]

Revision as of 16:05, 20 July 2021

Communist mausoleums have bee described as hallmarks of totalitarian architecture[1][2][3]
Historical photograph of the New Reich Chancellery in Berlin, Germany.
Historical photograph of Red Army Theatre in Moscow, Russia. It is designed in the shape of the communist star.
Project of a "Temple of Heroes". by Arnaldo dell'Ira (1903–1943)

Totalitarian architecture refers to the type of architecture or an architectural style approved by and often preferred by dictatorships and governments of totalitarian regimes, intended to strengthen and spread their ideology.[4] The style of totalitarian architecture shows a preference for "classical symbolism and monumentality",[5] drawing on simplified Neo-Classicism and (in sculpture), realism.[6]

This type of architecture was described as "legacy of dictatorships"[7] and includes Stalinist architecture, Fascist architecture and Nazi architecture.[4][8][9][10] Redevelopment of entire cities, such as Moscow, Rome, Berlin and Bucharest, including the large-scale demolition of many individual historical buildings, was planned and accomplished to symbolize the glory and supremacy of totalitarian states and their leaders.[11] Many new buildings were constructed. For example, the House of Soviets in Saint Petersburg has been described as "the purest form of totalitarian monumentality".[12]While many examples of totalitarian architecture are European, particularly from the eras of Soviet Union and Nazi Germany,[13] it has also been discussed in the context of other parts of the worlds, such as architecture of North Korea or the architecture of Communist China.[14][6]

According to historians of art, the totalitarian architecture of 20th century represents a variety of religious architecture, with prominent examples like Altar of the Fatherland in Rome, Russian State Library in Moscow built in 1929, or Lenin's Mausoleum similar to the Pyramid of Djoser.[15] Both Nazi and Fascist architectures served to sacralize their leaders.[16]

The intended aim of totalitarian architecture has been described as strengthening and spreading its ideology, and they are an element of the state propaganda.[4][17][18] According to journal Esempi di Architettura, "Architecture and town planning have the potential to support and promote ideological propaganda. In many ways, totalitarian architecture represents the regime that builds it."[19] These architectures are generally described as united by using the megalomania to portray a sense of power, majesty and virility.[20] The style has been criticized for "congenital unwholesomeness" and its "desire to dominate", hiding "feelings of inferiority" and projecting a "massive ego" of totalitarian leaders.[5]

In 2009, Theodore Dalrymple criticized Le Corbusier for contributing to creation of totalitarian architecture. He described brutalist structures as an expression of totalitarianism given that their grand, concrete-based design involves destroying gentler, more-human places such as gardens.[21] The Times columnist Ben Macintyre wrote that "Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Mussolini and Saddam all imagined vast cities constructed in their own honour. Stalin’s Palace of the Soviets was to be higher than the Empire State Building. Hitler’s Reich Chancellery was a deliberately theatrical statement, with towering brass doors 17ft high and the Föhrer’s 4,000 sq ft “study”. In 1984, written in 1948, George Orwell left a prescient description of the sort of totalitarian architecture that would soon dominate the Communist bloc, imposing and hideous: the Ministry of Truth, an “enormous, pyramidal structure of white concrete, soaring up terrace after terrace, three hundred metres into the air.”"[22]

The totalitarian architecture was described by the Council of Europe as a part of European cultural heritage. According to their website[23] "Studying the architecture of Europe's totalitarian regimes, both the fascist and the communist ones, is a way to enhance the European identity in its unity and diversity. The idea of Europe originated from the wounds of World War II and the fall of Fascism and Nazism. It entered a new phase after the downfall of Communism, opening the way to a broader and more comprehensive idea of a Europe based on fundamental values such as political liberty, freedom of expression and assembly, democracy and the rule of law." However, many buildings from the Communist era are in the state of decay. Hence, the European cultural organization ATRIUM collects photographs of the abandoned buildings "that still stand as monuments to another time".[24]

A number of buildings and memorials created by totalitarian regimes have been demolished, especially in Poland and Ukraine, based on the legislature such as The law On the Prohibition of Propagation of Communism or Any Other Totalitarian System Through The Names of All Public Buildings, Structures and Facilities[25][26] A demolition of the Palace of Culture and Science in Poland was debated.[27]

See also

References

  1. ^ The Mausoleum of Georgi Dimitrov as lieu de mémoire by Maria Todorova, The Journal of Modern History, Volume 78, Number 2
  2. ^ In a Russia Torn by Past, Some Come to Praise Lenin, Some to Bury Him, by Peter Ford, The Christian Science Monitor
  3. ^ The Pyramid, Bunkers & Purple Concrete of Communist Albania
  4. ^ a b c Antoszczyszyn, Marek (2017). "Manipulations of Totalitarian Nazi Architecture". IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering. 245: 052062. doi:10.1088/1757-899X/245/5/052062. ISSN 1757-8981. Totalitarian architecture. Generally it might be defined as architecture created in frames of totalitarian State activity & under its strict control, due to its thorough character of the policy in order to strengthen & spread its ideology.
  5. ^ a b Ward, Tony (1970-09-01). "Totalitarianism, Architecture and Conscience". Journal of Architectural Education. 24 (4): 35–49. doi:10.1080/10464883.1970.11102464. ISSN 1046-4883.
  6. ^ a b Totalitarian architecture by A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, James Stevens Curl, Oxford Reference
  7. ^ Urbanism, architecture, and dictatorship. Memory in transition by Harald Bodenschatz, The Routledge Companion to Italian Fascist Architecture
  8. ^ Totalitarianism, Architecture and Conscience by Tony Ward, Journal of Architectural Education
  9. ^ Totalitarian Art in the Soviet Union, the Third Reich, Fascist Italy and the People's Republic of China by Igor Golomstock
  10. ^ ATRIUM - Architecture of Totalitarian Regimes of the 20th Century In Europe's Urban Memory by the Council of Europe
  11. ^ Maria de Betania Cavalcanti Totalitarian states and their influence on city-form - the case of Bucharest. Journal of Architectural and Planning Research Vol. 9, No. 4, 1992
  12. ^ Sennott, Stephen (2004). "ST. PETERSBURG (LENINGRAD), RUSSIA". Encyclopedia of Twentieth Century Architecture. Taylor & Francis. p. 557. ISBN 978-1-57958-433-7.
  13. ^ Ракочий, Я. В. (2010). "Передумови стилістики тоталітаризму в творах львівської архітектурної школи початку ХХ ст". Bulletin of the National University "Lviv Polytechnic". Вісник Національного університету "Львівська політехніка" (in Ukrainian). 674: 184–187. Study and research of this topic is an important link in understanding of the evolution of totalitarian architecture as part of European cultural process, and its professional origin.
  14. ^ Prokopljević, Jelena (2019-09-30). "Hapkak and Curtain Wall: Imaginaries of Tradition and Technology in the Three Kims' North Korean Modern Architecture". S/N Korean Humanities. 5 (2): 59–86. doi:10.17783/ihu.2019.5.2.59. ISSN 2384-0668. The socialist architecture developed in North Korea has generally been explained through two discursive frameworks: that of totalitarian architecture and that of national formalism, outdated and out-scaled
  15. ^ Tracing Religion and Cult in the Architecture of European Totalitarian Regimes of the XX Century, by Sasha S. Lozanova and Stela B. Tasheva, Design. Art. Industry (DAI). Issue 5, link
  16. ^ Nanni Baltzer, "The Duce in the Street. Illumination in Fascism", in Totalitarian Communication. Hierarchies, Codes and Messages. Edited by Kirill Postoutenko, Columbia University Press, 2010, [1], online version, page 135. "In both regimes, the light contributes, as a symbol of the Divine, to the sacralization of profane events. Whereas on the Zeppelin-field the sacral architecture was constructed by light, fascism used the church facade - or so it seems— solely as a carrier for the gigantic portrait of the Duce".
  17. ^ Ua Caspary (12 January 2017). "Digital Media as Ornament in Contemporary Architectural Facades: Its Historical Dimension". In Stephen Monteiro (ed.). The Screen Media Reader: Culture, Theory, Practice. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 143. ISBN 978-1-5013-1167-3. Totalitarian architecture, for instance, utilised specific propagandistic and symbolically loaded icons for its purposes"
  18. ^ Antoszczyszyn, M. (2016). "Manipulations of architecture of power; German New Reichschancellery in Berlin 1938 - 1939 by Albert Speer". Technical Issues. nr 3. ISSN 2392-3954. Totalitarian architecture was supposed to achieve political benefits thanks to some perceptional codes, consciously hidden in it. {{cite journal}}: |volume= has extra text (help)
  19. ^ Totalitarian architecture and urban planning. History and legacy, an editorial by Esempi di Architettura, ISSN (print): 2384-9576
  20. ^ Dennis P. Doordan. Twentieth-century architecture. H.N. Abrams, 2002. p. 122.
  21. ^ Dalrymple, Theodore (Autumn 2009). "The Architect as Totalitarian.Le Corbusier's baleful influence". City Journal. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  22. ^ Macintyre, Ben (30 March 2007). "Look on those monuments to megalomania, and despair". The Times. Archived from the original on 29 August 2008. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  23. ^ ATRIUM - Architecture of Totalitarian Regimes of the 20th Century In Europe's Urban Memory
  24. ^ Hunting For The Architectural Relics Of Totalitarianism. A three-year project documents structures that date back to the reigns of Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini by Katharine Schwab, Fast Company
  25. ^ Then And Now: Soviet Monuments Disappear Across Poland, by RFE/RL
  26. ^ From acceptance to negation: how Soviet war memorials are treated in Europe
  27. ^ The Movement to Destroy Warsaw’s Tallest Building

Further reading

  • Architecture as Propaganda in twentieth-century totalitarian regimes: History and Heritage, by Håkan Hökerberg (Editor), Edizioni Polistampa (November 2, 2018), ISBN 8859618355
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