The design process reflected the shifting ideological tides of the 1930s. What began as an open competition featuring international modernist icons like Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius ended in a mandated return to monumental neoclassicism.
: The winning design by Boris Iofan abandoned modernist "functionalism" for a tiered, wedding-cake aesthetic that defined the "Stalinist Gothic" style. palace of soviets
: The site chosen was that of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour , which was dynamited in 1931 to make way for the new "secular cathedral". From Avant-Garde to Socialist Realism The design process reflected the shifting ideological tides