Palace of the Soviets
On 20 December 1922 the First All-Union Congress of Soviets announced the creation of the Soviet Union. On the same day Sergei Kirov proposed construction of a new national convention center, which was duly approved by the Congress. This, according to the official Soviet narrative, was the beginning of the story of the Palace of the Soviets. Before the Congress, in January–May 1919, Petrograd had held an architectural competition for the "Palace of Labor"; in October 1922 the launched a competition for a different "Palace of Labor", endorsed by the same Sergei Kirov. Both projects were large enough to seat any conceivable convention, and none of them could materialize in a country devastated by wars and revolutions.