Kaliningrad: House of Soviets in Kaliningrad

House of Soviets is a major landmark in Kaliningrad and is the most vivid example of the style known as Soviet Brutalism (no kidding). Nobody has ever lived in this monstrosity since it was built back in the 80s. This was originally the site of the magnificent Konigsburg castle which was seriously damaged in WWII. Rather then restore the historic gem, the Communist party leaders decided to built a new House of Soviets in its place. Inspired by Oscar Niemeyer’s Brasilia, this weird cubic building was constructed (locally known as “buried robot”, since that is what it resembles). However, muddy soil couldn’t support the hideous structure, so at first the plans for 8 top floors were scrapped and then the money ran out altogether in the 90s. The building stood empty, grey, windowless, hideous ever since. Until 2005, when Putin visited Kaliningrad and – true story – the building was painted blue and windows were installed. Still a ghost empty building though! Interestingly, several claims have been made that the famous Amber Room (6 tons of amber), taken by the Nazi from Saint Petersburg to the Konigsburg Castle (confirmed fact), was hidden in the subterranean basements and was never evacuated before British and then Soviet armies bombed the city to hell. When the House of Soviets was built – no digging or any archaeological research was done on the site… I also added some other Kaliningrad Soviet memorabilia/pics in this post.