Hunger circus
Part of
Nicolae Ceauşescu's program of
systematization during his period as ruler of
Romania was the construction of a series of buildings now universally known in
Bucharest as "
hunger circuses" or "circuses of hunger" (in Romanian, "circurile foamei" or "circuri ale foamei").
These large domed buildings were, in the communist era, officially known as "agro-alimentary complexes." They were intended as produce markets and public
refectories. It appears to have been Ceauşescu's vision that they would serve as food hypermarkets, eliminating the need for selling or distributing food anywhere else.
The name "hunger circuses," now so universally used as to have almost suppressed the memory of the official communist-era term, derived from the circus-like domed architecture and the irony of constructing these massive food-related buildings during a period when food was scarce throughout Romania (due to Ceauşescu's policy of exporting most of Romania's agricultural produce in order to pay off the foreign debt).
At the time of Ceauşescu's downfall and execution, only two hunger circuses had been completed: one of these, Pantelimon, now forms part of a public market in the Delfinului area of
Bucharest; the other, also in Bucharest, forms part of the Unirea shopping mall, nestled between
Lipscani and the
Centru Civic. Many others sit half-finished in scattered locations around Bucharest, surrounded by rusting construction cranes and vacant lots.
With transcendent irony, some hunger circuses left unfinished in
1989 were later completed, under a revised architectural plan, as eminently capitalist malls such as
Bucharest Mall, City Mall and Plaza România. A fourth mall in a
hunger circus is currently being built in
Rahova. Another hunger circus was transformed into a private university. Other such buildings are now either being demolished or in the process of rebuilding for different uses.
*
"Circurile foamei",
Jurnalul Naţional,
23 January 2005*
"Circul foamei din Rahova se transformă în mall",
Cotidianul,
14 February 2006
