"Hunger circus" was a colloquial name for any in a series of identical buildings which were to be completed as part of Nicolae Ceauşescu

Nicolae Ceausescu

Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...

's program of systematization

Systematization (Romania)

Urban planning in communist countries was subject to the ideological constraints of the system. Except for the Soviet Union where the communist regime started in 1917, in Eastern Europe communist governments took power after World War II....

 during his period as ruler of Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

. Officially designated by the communist regime

Communist Romania

Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...

 as "agro-alimentary complexes", the large domed buildings were intended as produce markets and public refectories

Refectory

A refectory is a dining room, especially in monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminaries...

. It appears to have been Ceauşescu's vision that they would serve as food hypermarket

Hypermarket

In commerce, a hypermarket is a superstore combining a supermarket and a department store. The result is an expansive retail facility carrying a wide range of products under one roof, including full groceries lines and general merchandise...

s, eliminating the need for selling or distributing food anywhere else.

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 Ceauşescu's policy of exporting most of Romania's agricultural produce in order to pay off the foreign debt). The irony was reinforced by the connotation of "circus" as ridiculous farce.

At the time of Ceauşescu'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

Bucharest

Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....

; the other, also in Bucharest, is placed close to the Unirea shopping mall

Unirea Shopping Center

Unirea Shopping Center is a large shopping centre located in Unirii Square, Bucharest, Romania.Opened in 1976 and enlarged in 1989, it was the largest department store in Communist Romania. Converted, in 1990's, into a shopping centre, the complex has a total area of and 1000 parking spaces...

, nestled between Piaţa Unirii

Piata Unirii

Piața Unirii is one of the largest squares in central Bucharest, located in the center of the city where Sectors 1, 2, 3, and 4 meet. It is bisected by Unirii Boulevard, originally built during the Communist era as the Boulevard of the Victory of Socialism, and renamed after the Romanian...

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

Ironically, the hunger circuses left unfinished after the 1989 Revolution

Romanian Revolution of 1989

The Romanian Revolution of 1989 was a series of riots and clashes in December 1989. These were part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several Warsaw Pact countries...

 were later completed, as capitalist malls such as Bucharest Mall in Vitan, City Mall and Plaza România

Plaza Romania

The Plaza Romania is a shopping mall in Bucharest, Romania. The construction, based on an uncompleted hunger circus abandoned after fall of Nicolae Ceauşescu, has 3 distinguishible parts — a central structure with a dome 40 metres in diameter, and two new and complex wing structures...

 in Militari. The hunger circus in Rahova

Rahova

Rahova is a neighbourhood of southwest Bucharest, Romania, situated in Sector 5, west of Dâmboviţa River. It is named after the Bulgarian town Rahovo , site of a battle in the Romanian War of Independence....

 was partially demolished in November 2006 to make room for a new mall - Liberty Center Mall

Liberty Center Mall

Liberty Center Mall is the fifth shopping mall in Bucharest, Romania. Opened in 2008, the construction site was an uncompleted hunger circus abandoned after the fall of the Communist system....

. Another hunger circus was transformed into a private university.