Esposizione Universale di Roma

[Marc Williams]

The EUR was a world's fair planned to open in 1942 in Rome, Italy. You can see some of the unfinished buildings in the backgrounds of Fellini's Nights of Cabiria.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EUR,_Rome

http://www.aviewoncities.com/rome/eur.htm

[Jim]

Thank you for the links. If, as the information states, the purpose of the EUR was to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the rise of fascism, this is all the evidence one needs to verify that some nations (especially dictatorships) need huge events to justify their existence. I had seen images of the existing structures and while they are large, they are not creative or inspirational. They are fascist.

[Marc Williams]

I disagree. As modern and monumental interpretations of classical architecture the EUR buildings foreshadowed the work of Brutalist architects such as Louis Kahn and Eero Saarinen's Modernist Gateway Arch in St. Louis resembles a poster for the EUR, http://www.cesar-eur.it/show_articoli.php?nid=247. I think Lincoln Center also shares more than a passing resemblance.

I wish I could recall the source and author, but I remember reading some critics of the day felt the architecture of San Francisco, 1939-40, a fusion of Asian, Art Deco, and classical styles, resulted in designs similar to the fascist architecture in Europe.