slavaroid

Built in 1981 in Chișinău, capital of Moldavian SSR, the Circul de Stat was one of the most significant and renowned circuses in the USSR.

Architects Semyon Mikhailovich Shoikhet and Ala Kirilenko designed a natural stone round building with an elegant semicircular foyer, panoramic summer terraces and a detachable dome.
The 13 metres-wide main arena could host up to 1900 people.

Losing its importance after the fall of the Soviet Union and permanently abandoned in 2004, the Soviet circus lays now in semi-decay.
The smaller arena was modernised in 2014, while the rest of the building is left to rot waiting for a possible redevelopment and a relaunch in the future.