Picture the Empire State Building. Now, imagine someone glued the Statue of Liberty on top. You've now imagined a much less crazy version of the Palace of the Soviets.
Joseph Stalin, during his "crazy stage" had a big problem. After Vladimir Lenin's death, the peasantry went cuckoo for monuments to their fallen leader, and it was up to Joe to deliver. If displaying Lenin's corpse in a glass case wasn't good enough for these people, a cheesy statue in a park probably wouldn't be enough, either. The Soviets demanded something FABULOUS.
So Stalin came up with a plan. First, he blew up the 70-year-old church that was clearly in prime monument real estate. Second, he held a contest allowing the best architects in the world to compete for the winning monument design. What he chose was a 100-floor, 1,392-foot building towering over Moscow, which would have been a full 100 feet taller than the Empire State Building. Then, on top of that, was to be a 260-foot-tall statue of Lenin. For comparison, the Statue of Liberty is 151 ft. from base to torch. With the pedestal and foundation included, the full height is 305 ft.
After receiving widespread praise from architects worldwide, the Soviets started construction on their Lenin monster house in 1937, spending two years on the foundation alone.
It was never finished because....The Nazis. Since the war was coming closer to Moscow, materials were needed and the steel was ripped up and used for railroads or military fortifications. By 1945, the site for the Glorious Hall of the Soviets was nothing but a huge pile of rubble and concrete. Even after the war was over, the Cold War put strains on the same resources and the project never gained momentum again. Especially after Nikita Khruschev turned it into one the largest outdoor pools in the world.
malgoya on February 9th, 2018 at 11:56 UTC »
Picture the Empire State Building. Now, imagine someone glued the Statue of Liberty on top. You've now imagined a much less crazy version of the Palace of the Soviets.
Joseph Stalin, during his "crazy stage" had a big problem. After Vladimir Lenin's death, the peasantry went cuckoo for monuments to their fallen leader, and it was up to Joe to deliver. If displaying Lenin's corpse in a glass case wasn't good enough for these people, a cheesy statue in a park probably wouldn't be enough, either. The Soviets demanded something FABULOUS.
So Stalin came up with a plan. First, he blew up the 70-year-old church that was clearly in prime monument real estate. Second, he held a contest allowing the best architects in the world to compete for the winning monument design. What he chose was a 100-floor, 1,392-foot building towering over Moscow, which would have been a full 100 feet taller than the Empire State Building. Then, on top of that, was to be a 260-foot-tall statue of Lenin. For comparison, the Statue of Liberty is 151 ft. from base to torch. With the pedestal and foundation included, the full height is 305 ft.
After receiving widespread praise from architects worldwide, the Soviets started construction on their Lenin monster house in 1937, spending two years on the foundation alone.
It was never finished because....The Nazis. Since the war was coming closer to Moscow, materials were needed and the steel was ripped up and used for railroads or military fortifications. By 1945, the site for the Glorious Hall of the Soviets was nothing but a huge pile of rubble and concrete. Even after the war was over, the Cold War put strains on the same resources and the project never gained momentum again. Especially after Nikita Khruschev turned it into one the largest outdoor pools in the world.
-As a off topic side note- San Alfonso del Mar Resort in Algarrobo, Chile has the words largest swimming pool at 66 million gallons!
Finally, once communism collapsed for good, the pool was replaced with a - you guessed it - replica of the church that was there in the first place.
Here's what it looks like on the inside cut in half
Album with individual pictures
Mattiboy on February 9th, 2018 at 12:09 UTC »
Can we crowdfund the construction of this plz? I love megalomaniac buildings!
GorillaPecker on February 9th, 2018 at 13:39 UTC »
I consider myself pretty familiar with history, but somehow this one has escaped my knowledge until know. This was a great read. Thank you!