The Soviet avant-garde of the 20s-30s has been wearing the crown of martyrdom for a long time. It is generally thought that the turn to Stalin’s Empire style was sharp and dogmatic. It is not quite the case. It was extended in time for at least five years. The buildings and constructions of the transition period are easily identified. It is a mystery why Stalin did not support the ideologically close architects of the Soviet avant-garde. Probably, because their understanding of proletarians and proletariat, as well as of how these ‘new people’ should live in ‘new architecture’ was a pointless abstraction. The necessity for monumental propaganda through architecture and theatrical decorations covering the poverty of Soviet life was obvious, but why was it necessary to build those decorations on the basis of the architecture of the Roman Empire? There are a lot of such questions to be answered by theorists and historians of the Soviet architecture. In fact, the history of the Soviet architecture is not yet completely studied.
Soviet avant-garde of the 1920s-30s; schemes and social abstractions; turn to Stalin’s Empire style; monumental propaganda; theatralization; unanswered questions
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