Abstract

Although the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour and the Palace of Soviets represent two completely different styles and ideologies, they are deeply intertwined in their shared building site, histories, and architecture. These two monuments were produced out of a desire to establish a new Russian architectural style and serve as symbols of power. My thesis will address the architectural competition of the design of the Palace of the Soviets and its place in the broader religious context of the Soviet Union, examining the link between religion and nation-building architecture in twentieth-century Russia. I will be framing this analysis by comparing the architectural components of the original Cathedral and the Palace of the Soviets, arguing that the conception and architectural features of both buildings and the similarities in the religious and secular rites of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) and the Communist regime illustrate the lingering presence and influence of religion in the Soviet ethos. I will be positioning the competition for the design of the Palace of the Soviets within the context of style debates that were going on in the first half of the twentieth century and the gradual move away from modernist aesthetics towards socialist realism.