Stalinist architecture is the monumental building style of the Soviet Union under Stalin (1930s–1950s), characterised by imposing scale, classical ornamentation, and an ideological programme that used architecture to project the power and permanence of the socialist state. The style is also known as Socialist Classicism or Stalinist Empire.
The Seven Sisters of Moscow — wedding-cake skyscrapers topped with spires — are the most recognisable monuments. The Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw exported the model to satellite states. These buildings combined Neoclassical facades with modern steel-frame construction, creating a deliberately anti-Modernist vocabulary of columns, cornices, and sculptural ornament at overwhelming scale.
