The Greatest Architecture Commissioned by Dictators

the greatest architecture commissioned by dictators Name: The Kumsusan Mausoleum Location: Pyongyang, North Korea Dictator: Kim II Sung, Kim Jong II, Kim Jong Un Architect: Unknown Started: 1975 Completed: 1978, 1994, 2011 Dimensions: unknown Floor Space: Front square: 500m across The Story: Formerly his official residence, the mausoleum, is the resting place of the founder and eternal president of North Korea, Kim Il-sung, and his son Kim Jong-II. Despite a famine claiming the lives of an estimated 3,000,000 Koreans, money was found to cover construction costs in the region of $900m. Name: National Library of Belarus Location: Minsk, Belarus Dictator: Alexander Lukashenko Architect: Mihail Vinogradov and Viktor Kramarenko Started: 2002 Completed: 2006 Dimensions: Height: 73.67m Floors: 22 The Story: The rhombicuboctahedron structure, conceived as an allegory of humanistic knowledge, has 90,000 registered members, receives 2,200 daily visitors and serves as one of the country's cultural hubs. Name: Slovak Radio Building Location: Bratislava, Slovakia Dictator: Yuri Andropov Architect: Štefan Svetko, Štefan Ďurkovič and Barnabáš Kissling Started: 1960 Completed: 1983 Dimensions: Height: 82.64 m The Story: Intended as part of a series of large public buildings across the country, the building has come under criticism for its excessive noise pollution and poor VISTAVNÁ SIES Sownsky meas acoustics. Name: Deutsches Stadion Location: Nuremberg, Germany Dictator: Adolf Hitler Architect: Albert Speer Started: 1937 Completed: 1943 (never finished) Dimensions: Dimensions: Height: 90 metres Capacity: 400,000 The Story: Designed by long-term Nazi collaborator Albert Speer, the Deutsches Stadion was envisioned as the centerpiece for Hitler's development of the Nazi party rally grounds in Nuremberg and would have had 400,000 seats. Name: Ehrentempel Location: Munich Dictator: Adolf Hitler Architect: Started: unknown 1933 Completed: 1935 Dimensions: unknown The Story: Meaning "honor temples", the Ehrentempel were erected to house sarcophagi of the Nazi party members who had died in the failed coup d'etat of 1923. As part of denazification, large parts of the buildings were destroyed in 1947. Name: Green Book Centre Location: Benghazi, Libya Dictator: Muammar Gaddafi Architect: unknown Started: unknown Completed: unknown Dimensions: unknown The Story: Gaddafi ensured that his ideological "Green Book' was "required reading for all Libyans". At the height of his power 2 hours of the school day was dedicated to its study, with supplementary extracts broadcast daily on Television. The building was razed to the ground by Nato forces in 2011. Name: Mayakovskaya Moscow Metro Station Location: Moscow, Russia Dictator: Joseph Stalin Architect: Alexey Dushkin Started: 1930 Completed: 1938 Dimensions: Depth: 33 metres (108 ft) 2 tracks, 1 platform The Story: Stalin was known to address assemblies of political leaders and civilians in the stations central hall, and took up residence there during WW2. Name: Palazzo della Civiltà del Lavoro Location: Rome, Italy Dictator: Benito Mussolini VN POPOLO DI POETI D ARTISTI DERO EN SANTI DN PLNSATORI D SCIENZIATI DI NAVIGATORI DN TRASMICRATORI Architect: Giovanni Guerrini, Ernesto Bruno La Padula and Mario Romano Started: 1935 Completed: 1942 Dimensions: Height 68 meters, area of 8,400 square meters The Story: The "Palace of The Workers" is clad entirely in travertine marble and consists of 6 rows of 9 arches representing the six letters of Benito the nine letters of Mussolini. Stadio dei Marmi Rome, Italy Name: Location: Dictator: Benito Mussolini Architect: Enrico Del Debbio Started: 1920 Completed: Dimensions: 1928 20,000 seats The top tier of this distinctive sports stadium is lined by 59 colossal marble sculptures of nude athletes, each offered by a different province of Italy. The Story: 事 Name: Babylon Palace Location: Babylon, Iraq Dictator: Saddam Hussein Architect: unknown Started: 1982 Completed: 1982 Dimensions: 600-room The Story: Built on the ruins of the original Babylonian Palace. Made from original stone and 60-million sand-colored bricks inscribed with the words, "In the era of Saddam Hussein, protector of Iraq, who rebuilt civilization and rebuilt Babylon." Name: Palace of the Soviets Location: Moscow, Russia Dictator: Joseph Stalin Architect: Boris lofan, Vladimir Shchuko and Vladimir Gelfreikh Started: 1937 Completed: terminated in 1941 Dimensions: Height: 495 m (1,624 ft), 100 floors The Story: Stalin wanted Communism's deep roots to be the seen around the world. The structure would have been the tallest in the world at the time had WW2 not interfered. Name: Rungnado Mayday Stadium Location: Pyongyang, North Korea Dictator: Kim Il-sung Architect: Unknown Started: Unknown Completed: 1989 Dimensions: Capacity: 150,000 Floor Space: 207,000 m2 The Story: The largest stadium in the world is mainly used for Arirang Festivals, massive events that tell epic stories of The Kim Dynasty. In the late 1990s, a number of North Korean army generals implicated in an assassination attempt on Kim Jong-Il were publicly burnt in the stadium. Name: Welthauptstadt Germania Location: Berlin, Germany Dictator: Adolf hitler Architect: Albert Speer Started: 1937 Completed: 1943 - unfinished Dimensions: Area: 891.8 km2 The Story: Hitler's vision for the future of the Germany included renaming and reorganising Berlin along a central 5 km-long boulevard known as the Prachtallee ("Avenue or Boulevard of Splendour"). Name: Tatlin's Tower Location: St. Petersburg, Russia Dictator: Vladimir Lenin Architect: Vladimir Tatlin Started: 1919- unstarted Completed: Dimensions: Height: 1,300 feet The Story: This bizarre 1,300 foot tall structure consisted of a very intricate and complicated geometric and outfitted with a giant projector to project propaganda onto clouds on overcast days. The project was never started. MALINN Name: Ryugyong Hotel Location: Pyongyang, North Korea Dictator: Kim Il-sung Architect: Baikdoosan Architects & Engineers Started: 1987 Completed: 2012 Dimensions: Height: 330.02 metres (1,082.7 ft) Floor Space: 360,000 m2 (3,900,000 sq ft), Floors: 105 The Story: Kim Il-Sung and his advisors believed that having the largest hotel in the world in Pyongyang would attract untold riches from Western investors. Kadinjača Sculpture Kadinjača, Serbia Name: Location: Dictator: Marshal Tito Architect: Dušan Džamonja Started: Completed: Dimensions: The Story: 1960-70 1960-70 unknown The Workers Battalion Monument was built to commemorate the site of a WWII battle and was designed to reflect the strength and confidence of the new regime. Name: Valle de los Caidos (Valley of the Fallen) Location: Iberian Peninsula, Spain Dictator: General Franco Architect: Pedro Muguruza and Diego Méndez Started: 1940 Completed: 1959 Dimensions: Area: 3,360 acres (13.6 km2), Height: 150-metre-high (500 ft) The Story: Franco claimed it was built to honour those killed the The Spanish Civil War, but it is widely perceived as a monument to his legacy. Name: Tokyo Imperial Palace Location: Tokyo, Japan Dictator: Emperor Hirohito Architect: Unknown Started: 1945 Completed: 1948 Dimensions: Area: 3.41 square kilometres (1.32 sq mi) The Story: The Story: This home to The Emperor of Japan, is built on the site of Edo Castle which was built in 1457 by Öta Dōkan, a Japanese samurai warrior-poet, military tactician and Buddhist monk. Name: Chairman Mao Zedong Memorial Hall Location: Beijing, China Dictator: Chairman Mao People throughout China were involved in the Architect: Started: design and construction Completed: The Story: 1976 1977 The resting place of Mao's embalmed body. Due to the Sino- Soviet split, the Soviet process of embalming bodies and making crystal coffins had to be learned from scratch. Eventually a coffin design that passed tests of temperature, vibration, and an 8.0-magnitude earthquake was accepted. image references http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Mayakovskaya_(Moscow_ Metro)#mediaviewer/File:Vertical_ panorama_of_the_Mayakovs- kaya_Metro_Station.jpg https://www.flickr.com/pho- tos/11576655@N00/114685600/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/jo- sephferris76/6116220635/ http://4rts.files.wordpress. com/2010/02/06-tatlin-tower.jpg https://www.flickr.com/pho- tos/22490717@N02/4184694331/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Kumsusan_Palace_of_the Sun#mediaviewer/File:Kumsusan_ Memorial_Palace,_Pyongyang.jpg https://www.flickr.com/pho- tos/21587935@N03/4172269195/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slo- vak_Radio_Building#mediaviewer/ File:Slovak_Radio_Pyramid1.jpg https://www.flickr.com/pho- tos/11576655@N00/115864720/ http://www.thirdreichruins.com/sta- dionmodelak38.jpg https://www.flickr.com/pho- tos/77247662@N07/8364912890/ http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/ media/images/45206000/ jpg/_45206462_-19.jpg http://www.flickr.com/photos/fortin- bras/7218088/ https://www.flickr.com/pho- tos/29413803@N00/731051194/ kipedia.org/wiki/ Ehrentempel#mediaviewer/ File:Bundesarchiv_Bild 183-S223 10, M%C3%BCnchen,_K%C3%B 6nigsplatz,_Ehrentempel.jpg https://www.flickr.com/pho- tos/19511776@N00/286811436/ https://www.flickr.com/pho- tos/79721788@N00/5063684320/ http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Welthauptstadt_ Germania#mediaviewer/ File:Bundesarchiv_ Bild_1461II-373, Modell_der_Neu- gestaltung_Berlins_(%22Germa- nia%22).jpg http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:The_Green_Book_center_af- ter_fire.JPG https://www.flickr.com/pho- tos/8097809 @N02/5616338752/ СОВА europe