Page 23 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 13(1) (2025)

The Critical Position of Soviet Parliament Buildings Today: A Visual Analysis of the
Crowds in the Built Environment
Kritični položaj sovjetskih parlamentarnih stavb danes: vizualna analiza množic v
grajenem okolju

İlknur Erdoğan
Ruprecht Karls University of Heidelberg
ilknurerdoganyp@gmail.com

Giuseppe Resta
CEAU, Faculdade de Arquitectura, Universidade do Porto
gresta@arq.up.pt
23

Abstract
Nationalist discourses build societal unity by shaping rituals, historical narratives, and collective mem-
ory to construct the myth of a nation. Post-Soviet countries offer a unique context for examining the
production of nationalism as a transition from a multinational past to a national identity. This process of
decommunisation unfolds through the Soviet traces in the built environment. As a physical representa-
tion of the state narrative, we focus on the architectural memory and architectonic transformations of
Soviet parliament buildings, analysed via large-scale axonometric drawings. Architectural landmarks
such as parliament areas have evolved into focal points for confronting the traumatic memory of the
second half of the twentieth century. The text focuses on the White House in Moscow, the Verkhovna
Rada in Kyiv, the Government House in Baku, the National Assembly Building of Armenia in Yerevan,
and the Government House in Minsk. How have communities reacted to the parliament buildings as
tangible reminders of their problematic past? Following the methodologies the forensic aesthetic par-
adigm opened up, we traced the protest’s morphology, its form, and the transformations made in the
built environment. By analysing videos, photos, and newspaper articles, we mapped out the protests to
discuss architecture’s role in conveying state narratives.
Keywords: parliament buildings, post-Soviet countries, nationalist architecture, spaces of protest,
anatomy of crowds.

Izvleček
Nacionalistični diskurzi gradijo družbeno enotnost z oblikovanjem ritualov, zgodovinskih pripovedi in
kolektivnega spomina, da bi ustvarili mit o narodu. Postsovjetske države ponujajo edinstven kon tekst
za preučevanje nastajanja nacionalizma kot prehoda od večnacionalne preteklosti k nacionalni identi-
teti. Ta proces dekomunizacije se odvija skozi sovjetske sledi v grajenem okolju. Kot fizično predstavi-
tev državnega narativa se osredotočamo na arhitekturni spomin in arhitektonske preobrazbe sovjetskih
parlamentarnih stavb, analiziranih preko velikih aksonometričnih risb. Arhitekturne znamenitosti, kot
so parlamentarne površine, so se razvile v osrednje točke za soočanje s travmatičnim spominom na dru-
go polovico 20. stoletja. Besedilo se osredotoča na Belo hišo v Moskvi, Vrhovno rado v Kijevu, vladno
palačo v Bakuju, stavbo nacionalne skupščine Armenije v Erevanu in vladno palačo v Minsku. Kako so
se skupnosti odzvale na parlamentne stavbe kot oprijemljive spomine na svojo problematično pretek-
lost? V skladu z metodologijami, ki jih je odprla forenzična estetska paradigma, smo sledili morfologi-
ji protestov, njihovi obliki in spremembam v grajenem okolju. Z analizo videov, fotografij in časopisnih
https://doi.org/10.26493/2350-5443.13(1)23-40 © author/authors