The Palace of Soviets

The Palace of Soviets (Russian: Дворец Советов, Dvorec Sovetov) was a project to construct an administrative center and a congress hall in Moscow, Russia, near the Kremlin, [color=red]on the site of the demolished Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.[/color]

The architectural contest for the Palace of Soviets (1931-1933) was won by Boris Iofan's neoclassical concept, subsequently revised by Iofan, Vladimir Schuko and Vladimir Gelfreikh into a supertall skyscraper. If built, it would have become the world's tallest structure. Construction started in 1937, and was terminated by the German invasion in 1941. In 1941-1942, its steel frame was disassembled for use in fortifications and bridges. Construction never resumed again. [color=red]In 1958, the foundations of the Palace were converted into the largest ever open-air swimming pool. The Cathedral was rebuilt in 1995-2000.[/color]

The Iofan-Schuko-Gelfreikh designIofan's original draft was crowned with a relatively small statue of "The Free Proletarian". In August 1932, as is clear from Stalin's memo, this statue disappeared from his draft, and Stalin personally intervened to correct the omission. A taller tower and Lenin's statue actually appeared after the fourth contest, in response to Stalin's public speech: "The Palace of Soviets is a monument to Lenin. Don't be scared of height; go for it". In the process, the total height increased from 260 to 415 meters. The Main Hall with a capacity of 21,000 seats was 100 meters high and 160 meters in diameter (the Little Hall in the Eastern Wing was just 6,000 seats). This project was released to the public in March, 1934.

http://medlibrary.org/medwiki/Palace_of_Soviets

The Tower of Babel

The European Parliament