Enrique sends us this question through Instagram: “In Warsaw and Riga there are very similar skyscrapers. Why do these skyscrapers look so similar? Where do they come from?” We respond in EOM Explains:
Anyone who has visited Moscow, Warsaw or Riga will have been able to appreciate tall skyscrapers with a marked architectural style similar to all of them, imposing buildings that can be seen on the horizon of these cities. The heritage of the Soviet past is still very present in the architecture of many of the main capitals of the former Soviet republics. The characteristic style of these enormous skyscrapers is what is commonly known as Stalinist architecturealso known as Stalinist Gothic or Soviet Classicism, a term used to refer to the type of architecture that was used during the Stalin’s government in the USSR, particularly after 1933.
The original towers that inspired the ones we find spread across other capitals such as Warsaw or Riga are those known as Stalin’s skyscraper or the “Seven Sisters” of the city of Moscow. Some skyscrapers that are part of a macro architectural project carried out during the late 1940s and early 1950s. After World War II, the USSR had to rebuild many cities. Stalin set out to give them a modern feel that would compete with the main Western capitals. The Cold War was also fought in the splendor of urban architecture.
As a way to commemorate the eighth centenary of the city of Moscow —celebrated in 1947— An urban project was proposed for the construction of eight large skyscrapers in the city (the last of these skyscrapers was never built). All coordinated by Soviet Academy of Architecture, from which the architectural style characteristic of Stalinism practically developed. The Stalinist style begins with the design of the Palace of Soviets —a colossal architectural project that was never carried out but that inspired and marked government architecture during the Government of Joseph Stalin— and ends with the closure of the Soviet Academy of Architecture by Khrushchev in 1955, two years after Stalin’s death.
The Seven Sisters are characterized by their resemblance to the skyscrapers that dominated Western cities. For Stalin, a modern Soviet city could not not have skyscrapers if it wanted to compete with major American cities. In fact, the similarity was such that Stalin himself decided to differentiate them with the characteristic stepped shape of their structure. A shape that resembles a cake and that has made many talk about this type of buildings as the Stalin cakes.
The Seven Sisters were for years one of the largest buildings in Europe. In fact, the Moscow State University He held the record of being the tallest building in Europe until the 90s. Currently, with its 187 meters high (240 with the antenna) it is still among the ten tallest towers on the planet and the five in Europe. They were used for very diverse activities. Some, like the Hotel Leningrad or the Hotel Ukraine They were designed to be luxury megahotels. The marked decoration was not viewed favorably by members of the Communist Party, and Khrushchev himself. I would criticize the decorative excesses of the Leningrad Hotel and the Stalinist style in general. Other skyscrapers such as the residential building in Kotelnicheskaya Naberezhnayathe building on Kudrinskaya Square or the building of the Red Gate Square They house offices, shops and family apartments. And finally, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russiacharacterized by its metal spiral at the end of the tower.
These skyscrapers served as a reference for other Soviet republics, which decided to imitate their style and erect similar buildings in their capitals. Cases like that of the Latvian Academy of Scienceshe Hotel Ukraine in kyiv or the Warsaw Palace of Culture and Science They are reminiscent of the Stalinist architectural style that dominated construction in the late 1940s and 1950s in the Soviet Union. However, none of them have the profusion and magnificence of the Seven Sisters of Moscow. After Stalin’s death, the Kremlin ordered the ostentation of buildings to be reduced, the costs of their construction to be lowered, and give them a more restrained and simple air. Socialist classicism or Stalinist architecture was very marked by luxury and excess in its constructions. The buildings that we can see today built during this period capture in their shapes and size the idea of victory and grandeur of the USSR that was wanted to be transmitted and that, from the Government, was also projected through architecture.