Strange fate of Ceaușescu's "hunger circuses" in Bucharest

Bucharest - A series of magnificent buildings, seemingly built to feed the population of Bucharest, survived the collapse of communism. In Romania's capital, some now represent symbols of the free market, writes the American radio station Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) on its website about 11 buildings that some locals bitterly renamed "hunger circuses" during the last years of communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu.

The buildings were officially designated as Agricultural-Industrial Trading Centers. They were meant to serve as the only contact point satisfying the food needs of Bucharest residents and were supposed to provide ready-made meals. Several buildings featured prominent domes that reminded people of circus tents.

"People - especially women after work - stop here to pick up a container of food, which they then simply take home, heat up, and eat,” Ceaușescu said about the state-operated food distribution centers.

One local resident recalled that state-run food centers were promoted as a way to save the hassle of cooking and shopping and to "allow comrades to have time for children, family, education, books, and films as well.”

For the Romanian state, a handful of gigantic food centers was a way to cut distribution costs to thousands of workplace cafeterias and increase control over people's lives.

What theoretically sounded enticing to "comrades" burdened with work and childcare quickly turned into a disaster in practice, as the centers were plagued by familiar socialist woes in the form of food shortages and endless lines.

In 1981, amid an unrelenting effort to repay all foreign debts, Ceaușescu imposed a "rational eating program" on the Romanian people, which limited their caloric intake and introduced rations of basic foods. People who were too busy to stand in lines for food in the morning arrived at the cave-like food distribution centers in the afternoon, which by then had nearly empty shelves. The term "hunger circus" soon became the de facto name of the centers.

After the bloody overthrow of Ceaușescu's regime in 1989, the construction of "hunger circuses" was abandoned, and only two buildings were completed. The sites remained abandoned until foreign investors recognized their potential amid the economic turmoil of 1990s Romania.

In 1999, the former "hunger circus" reopened as Bucharest Mall, the first shopping center in Romania. The communist-era building served as its construction core but was massively renovated. However, it retained the glass dome as an architectural focal point.

Several more shopping centers followed, and other "hunger circuses" were destroyed. The building in the Bucharest suburb of Pantelimon was transformed into a market for cheap imported clothing. There are also two fitness centers and a martial arts gym on the site.

One former "hunger circus" near Bucharest's Unification Square has a private owner. But it remains an unfinished giant, inhabited only by surly guards facing curious onlookers peering inside. The property was supposed to become another shopping center, but reportedly the developers ran out of money in the past decade.