Architectural propaganda

[1] Architect Richard Buday has contended that architectural works have been used to justify loyalty to an area's rulers, or to religious and spiritual figures.

The Parthenon was constructed for societal manipulation, as well as to honor a goddess (the temple’s ornamentation reminded Athenians that their beating back a Persian invasion was an act of divine intervention).

[2] Journalist Joshua Kurlantzick writes that China has been engaging in a "charm offensive" in the 21st century to improve relations with many other countries, especially in the developing world.

[6] At the Nuremberg rallies, the overall effect of architecture was further enhanced through the use of many searchlights pointed directly upward to create a "Cathedral of Light" that even further served to invite the individual to buy into the Nazi worldview.

Another prominent conceptual feature of Nazi architecture was the "Theory of Ruin Value", first put forward by Albert Speer, Hitler's personal architect.

This theory, too, took inspiration from the ancient Romans and Greeks in attempting to emulate the even architectural remains of their civilizations with Nazi ones in thousands of years.

The Potemkin village of Kijŏng-dong, which was constructed to convey an image of North Korea as prosperity, and to encourage South Korean soldiers to defect, has been cited as an example of architectural propaganda by architect Richard Buday.

[7] Modernist architecture became common in the United States during the time of the Cold War, and was used to demonstrate ideas such as efficiency and technological superiority.