I recently visited Warsaw and snapped this picture of the Palace of Culture and Science. It’s the tallest building in Poland and one of the largest buildings in Europe. It was built for the people of Poland by Joseph Stalin, the former autocratic leader of the USSR.

Stalin “gave” this building, named in his honor, to the people of Poland after World War II, while the USSR controlled Poland. The building holds a controversial place in Polish history today, a symbol of a communist era that many would like to forget. But it’s hard to forget the tallest building in your country.

You can’t help but be astonished by the hubris of a dictator, who chooses to give people living in hovels in a devastated, war-torn city, a skyscraper named in his honor. The grandiosity of man’s pride and callousness is on display in Warsaw.