Casa Scanteii – “House of the Spark” (1957)

Take your time and browse through my Bucharest city tours to choose the one which suits you best! See the House of the Spark as part of my Bucharest Communism Tour

A replica of the famous “Lomonosov” Moscow State University, this edifice built in the characteristic style of the large-scale Soviet projects, was intended to be representative to the new political regime and to assert the superiority of the Communist doctrine. Construction started in 1952 and was completed in 1957, a few years after Stalin’s death that occurred in 1953. Popularly known as Casa Scanteii (“House of the Spark”) after the name of the official gazette of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party, Scanteia, it was made for the purpose of bringing together under one roof all of Bucharest’s official press and publishing houses. It is the only building in Bucharest featuring the “Hammer and Sickle”, the Red Star and other communist insignia carved into medallions adorning the façade.