Hunger circus

"Hunger circus" (Romanian: Circ al foamei) was a colloquial name for any in a series of identical buildings which were to be completed as part of President Nicolae Ceaușescu's program of systematization during his period as ruler of Romania.

[citation needed] 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 Ceaușescu's policy of exporting most of Romania's agricultural produce in order to pay off the foreign debt.

[citation needed] The irony was reinforced by the connotation of "circus" as ridiculous farce.

[citation needed] At the time of Ceaușescu'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, is placed close to the Unirea shopping mall, nestled between Piața Unirii and Sfânta Vineri Street.

Several others stood half-finished in scattered locations around Bucharest, surrounded by rusting construction cranes and vacant lots.