Gifted to Poland by Stalin, the 231-metre Palace of Culture & Science in Warsaw city centre is Poland's tallest building, and one of the world's finest examples of Socialist Realist architecture. A visit to the 30th-floor viewing platform is essential.
Decorated with 550 specially cast Estonian sculptures, the colloquial name for the building became "an elephant in lacy underwear"! Started in 1952, it took three years to build, by which time Stalin was dead.
Modelled on Moscow University, the 42-floor building is home to a number of venues, used as theatres, concert halls and the popular multi-screen Kinoteka cinema.
Certainly one of the most striking landmarks on Warsaw's skyline, courtesy of a design team headed by Soviet architect Lev Rudniev, the palace has hosted a number of international stars over the years in its main hall, the Sala Kongresowa, including Marlene Dietrich, Jan Kiepura, Jacques Brel, Dalida, the Rolling Stones, Luciano Pavarotti and Eric Clapton.