Totalitarian architecture is a term utilized to refer to "the officially approved architecture of dictatorships, over-centralized governments, or political groups intolerant of opposition, especially that ofFascist Italy,Nazi Germany,Stalin's Soviet Union, etc. Asan international style, it often drew on simplifiedNeoclassicism, and sculpture based on 19th-century realism and Classicism for massive oversized State monuments."[2][3] Such architecture was intended to support the leaders and the ideology of the regime.[4]
Beyond Neoclassicism, which is not unique for totalitarian systems,[5][6] the descriptions of the totalitarian architecture sometimes focus onbrutalism, often in the context ofLe Corbusier and his associations withBenito Mussolini.[7] Other authors have upheld brutalism andsocialist realism asmodernist art forms which exist beyond simply being physical manifestations of totalitarian ideology.[8][9] Though manyarchitects andarchitectural historians believe that significant similarities exist in the planning and construction of buildings within totalitarian regimes, it is frequently not considered a uniquearchitectural style.[10][11]
The term "totalitarian architecture" appears in thescientific literature to compare architectures ofNazi Germany,Fascist Italy andStalinist Soviet Union, all of which are characterized by large monumental forms andideological orientation.[3] Much of the study on architecture under totalitarian regimes and the related terminology was developed after theSecond World War as people began to reconcile with extant buildings that invoked totalitarian ideals long after the associated regimes had collapsed.[12] Redevelopment of cities involving large-scale demolition of previous buildings was often executed by totalitarian regimes as a way of physically reshaping society to the desires of the nascent totalitarian states and their leaders.[13]
Architect and architectural historianDmitry Khmelnitsky [ru;uk;de] wrote that the concept of totalitarian architecture is usually associated with Stalin's neoclassicism and that it "strives to symbolize an abstract idea by architectural means. Usually, this is the idea of the greatness of statehood and power."[14]Elizaveta Likhacheva [ru], art historian and director of theShchusev Museum of Architecture, has described thetotalitarian architecture as a common terminology, but hardly a distinct well-definedarchitectural style.[15] No true definition exists of a single unified style of "totalitarian architecture," and the term is generally considered as a descriptor of the broad trends within the architecture of totalitarian regimes in Europe rather than as a school of architecture in and of itself.[10][11]
Theimperial style of Japan is sometimes also grouped under the label of totalitarian architecture.[16][17] However, art historian Yu Suzuki argued that the totalitarian style in Japan was not nearly as uniform as in Germany or Italy due to the lack of direct control over architects.[17]
As all architecture is inherently a product of the society in which it was constructed, the architecture of totalitarian regimes can be used to glean information on the ethos and desires of its creators, making it a popular subject for analysis by architectural historians.[18] The architecture of totalitarian regimes is often viewed in terms of how it manifests dominant statepropaganda.[4][19][20] While the architecture of fascist Italy, Germany,Portugal, andSpain often invoked notions ofracial supremacy, nationalism, and Christian supremacy,Stalinist architecture (such as theExhibition of Achievements of National Economy) frequently emphasized the successes of the Soviet Union in building new society.[12]
The goals of totalitarian regimes in constructing memorials to their leaders and the aesthetic qualities ofreligious architecture are often compared, such asLenin's Mausoleum invoking the shape of thePyramid of Djoser.[21] Other tombs' architectural typologies, such asHo Chi Minh Mausoleum andGeorgi Dimitrov Mausoleum, have also been described as examples of architecture promotingcommunism as apolitical religion.[21][22][23][24]
The Times columnistBen Macintyre wrote that "Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Mussolini and Saddam all imagined vast cities constructed in their own honour. Stalin'sPalace of the Soviets was to be higher than theEmpire State Building. Hitler'sReich Chancellery was a deliberately theatrical statement, with towering brass doors 17ft high and the Führer's 4,000 sq ft 'study.' In1984, written in 1948,George Orwell left a prescient description of the sort of totalitarian architecture that would soon dominate the Communist bloc, imposing and hideous: theMinistry of Truth, an "enormous, pyramidal structure of white concrete, soaring up terrace after terrace, three hundred metres into the air."[25]
The remnants of the architecture of European totalitarian regimes can be seen as a part of Europeancultural heritage. According to theCouncil of Europe, "studying the architecture of Europe's totalitarian regimes...is a way to enhance the European identity in its unity and diversity. The idea of Europe originated from the wounds of World War II and the fall of Fascism and Nazism. It entered a new phase after the downfall of Communism, opening the way to a broader and more comprehensive idea of a Europe based on fundamental values such as political liberty, freedom of expression and assembly, democracy and the rule of law."[26] The European cultural organization ATRIUM collects photographs of abandoned buildings which have outlived the regimes that constructed them and "that still stand as monuments to another time."[27]
A number of buildings and memorials created by totalitarian regimes have been demolished, especially in Poland andUkraine, based on legislation such asThe Law on the Prohibition of Propagation of Communism or Any Other Totalitarian System Through The Names of All Public Buildings, Structures and Facilities.[28][29] A demolition of thePalace of Culture and Science in Poland was debated.[30]
Totalitarian architecture. Generally it might be defined as architecture created in frames of totalitarian State activity & under its strict control, due to its thorough character of the policy in order to strengthen & spread its ideology.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link)Totalitarian architecture, for instance, utilised specific propagandistic and symbolically loaded icons for its purposes"
Totalitarian architecture was supposed to achieve political benefits thanks to some perceptional codes, consciously hidden in it.