Eastern Europe continues to boast monumental "palaces of culture"

Moscow/Warsaw/Sofia/Berlin/Prague - Almost every country in Eastern and Central Europe boasts monumental palaces of culture, science, or the republic. These ostentatious landmarks of their metropolises, built during the former communist regimes, primarily served to host communist congresses, political meetings, or grand celebrations of national holidays. After the fall of communism in the 1990s, they gradually became centers of cultural life, although in Berlin, the building is deteriorating.
The fate of Prague's former Palace of Culture largely reflects the course of modern history. Once it hosted congresses of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, in December 1989 it was the venue for discussions on the formation of the first post-November government, and in 2002, already renamed the Congress Center Prague, it was chosen for meetings by the North Atlantic Alliance. April 2 marks exactly a quarter of a century since the ceremonial opening of the building. From 1998 to 2000, the building underwent extensive renovation.
In Russia, the communists built their main "temple" in one of the oldest parts of Moscow. The State Kremlin Palace, with its stark white marble construction that stands out like a sore thumb among the gilded Orthodox churches, began construction in 1959. It was completed in a record short time, in two years. The communists urgently needed a place for their congresses, meetings, and national holidays.
The monumental building still offers about 800 spaces for various occasions. Scientific conferences and theatrical performances are held here, and the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre has transferred part of its repertoire here. In the main hall, which at 5,600 square meters is one of the largest in Europe, there are around 6,000 seats. A rarity of the 29-meter-high building is its depth. To avoid disrupting the character of the historical Kremlin structures, the architects sunk the palace 15 meters into the ground.
The famous Warsaw landmark - the Palace of Science and Culture - remains today the most glaring reminder of real socialism in the Polish metropolis. As a gift, it was given to the Poles by the then Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in the 1950s. The highest point of the sandstone giant rises 230 meters above the city.
The building houses 3,288 rooms, including a congress hall with a capacity of 3,000 seats. Many legends have arisen around the palace. One speaks of an allegedly high number of casualties during its construction and of bricklayers walled inside the building. According to official information, however, "only" 16 people died during the construction, and all are buried in a cemetery. On New Year's Eve in 2000, a clock was unveiled on the palace tower - in keeping with the spirit of the building - the largest in Europe and the highest in the world. The four dials have a diameter of six meters. Currently, the palace houses companies and public institutions, such as cinemas, theaters, or museums, and it hosts exhibitions and fairs.
In Sofia, Bulgaria, the monumental palace was opened in 1981. After the death of the daughter of then-communist leader Todor Zhivkov, Lyudmila, who was at that time the Minister of Culture and a member of the Communist Party's inner circle, the palace was named in her honor. After the regime change at the end of the 1990s, it was renamed the National Palace of Culture.
It is considered one of the largest buildings of its kind in Southeast Europe. It covers an area of 123,000 square meters, has eleven floors, three of which are underground. Its capacity is 8,000 seats. In the 1980s, it hosted congresses of the Communist Party, and later it hosted meetings of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, as well as NATO representatives.
The sad fate of the once-proud Berlin Palace of the Republic has been reported many times in the media. The building, which in the past hosted congresses of the East German communist SED and sessions of the parliament of the former GDR, was closed in 1990 due to the presence of carcinogenic asbestos. After remediation, which left it only as a reinforced concrete skeleton, it never recovered. The decaying ruin thus formed an unsightly contrast to the ostentatious historicist buildings on the adjacent Museum Island.
Only in the last two years has it become an unusual, sporadic exhibition or conference venue, providing refuge for exhibitions, such as that of copies of the famous Chinese Terracotta Army. In January of this year, German lawmakers definitively decided on the demolition of the building. A replica of the Berlin Imperial Palace, which was demolished by East German communists in 1950, is set to be built in its place.