Friday 31 July 2009

Troika


This is quite untypical decoration of Marx, Engels and Lenin as usually they are depicted from a side view. Found in Moscow, Russia.
Photo by (c) Arnis Balcus

Thursday 30 July 2009

Soviet Moscow






Moscow is full of Soviet time symbols, this is just a selection of few of them.
Photos by (c) Arnis Balcus

Monday 27 July 2009

Stolovaya in Latvia




It is very rare to find a canteen sign in Russian language (stolovaya) in Latvia, but there is at least one near Malta, East Latvia. And it also seems that this place actually still operates on working days.
Photos by (c) Arnis Balcus

Friday 24 July 2009

Aglona

This is a typical Soviet time sign for shoes and hosiery shop, found in Aglona, Latvia.
Photo by (c) Arnis Balcus

Tuesday 21 July 2009

One of canteens at MGU



There are not that many old style canteens (stolovayas) nowadays in Latvia, or even in Moscow. But at Moscow State university (MGU) one can find quite a few - most of them are located within the skyscraper, but this one is in a separate building.
Photos by (c) Arnis Balcus

Sunday 19 July 2009

Dagda








I already posted the glory to labor mural and cinema Komjaunietis of Dagda earlier in June, but there are quite a few more interesting things to notice in this town - old signs for photo service, sewing accessories shop and department store, culture house with its mother-like ornament, another monument with a mother and child, gas station and a Soviet time social ad that says "here the defective stove was heated".
Photos by (c) Arnis Balcus

Friday 17 July 2009

Old shop in Livani


This is a grocery store in Livani, Latvia with an old time sign "Pārtika" on the top of it.
Photo by (c) Arnis Balcus

Tuesday 14 July 2009

Prospekt Mira


There's nothing much left from the Soviet times propaganda on the Peace avenue (Prospekt Mira) in Moscow - just a decoration with the name "peace" in four languages and a mosaic with Felix Dzerzhinsky, the founder of KGB.
Photos by (c) Arnis Balcus

Monday 13 July 2009

Abandoned factory in Malta




There's abandoned factory in Malta, a small town in Latvia. Quite a few interesting relicts, such as the information desk for their local cinema and culture house, or some decorative installation from 1990 that feature not only nationalistic symbols but also a hammer and sickle.
Photos by (c) Arnis Balcus

Sunday 12 July 2009

Pioneers palace in Moscow




This is a young pioneers palace in Moscow which of course today is just called a youth activity centre, but it has kept its Soviet time exterior and also a sculpture of Alyosha. Such centres were in every major town in Soviet Union and served for children's after-school activities, such as creative work, sport.
Photos by (c) Arnis Balcus

Friday 10 July 2009

Shop Nr.1 in Demene


Abandoned shop in Demene, a place south of Daugavpils in Latvia.
Photo by (c) Arnis Balcus

Thursday 9 July 2009

PMK

PMK, written in Cyrillic, stands for Передвижная Механизированная Колонна or "mobile mechanized column" in English, today simply to be called a building company. Dozens of such PMK's were building houses for factory workers all around Soviet Union. Often the workers would use red bricks to built in some communist slogans but in this house in the outskirts of Daugavpils, Latvia they decided to include their own "company's" name.
Photo by (c) Arnis Balcus 

Wednesday 8 July 2009

Informal Lenin




Most monuments of Lenin portray him as a cool headed leader with him showing the way with his lifted hand. However there are also less formal monuments in Russia, for instance, Lenin chilling out with his wife Krupskaya (Prospekt Lenina, Moscow), Lenin in youth (Park kultury, Moscow) and Lenin in casual dress with one hand in his pocket (ulitsa Kominterna, Nizhny Novgorod).
Photos by (c) Arnis Balcus 

Tuesday 7 July 2009

Pioneers

There were quite a few pioneer summer camps in Jaunstropi, the district of Daugavpils, Latvia, but today some of these camps have been turned into guest houses. In one of those guest houses still stands a small monument with pioneers.
Photo by (c) Arnis Balcus

Monday 6 July 2009

Gas station

This is an old Soviet time gas station sign found by the highway in Ogre, Latvia. 
Photo by (c) Arnis Balcus

Saturday 4 July 2009

Circular kinopanorama



Krugovaya Kinopanorama is a cinema in Moscow that shows films on a circular screen with a  360° view. It works that 11 cameras synchronously project the film on 11 screens. The cinema opened in 1959 in all-Russia exhibition centre and works up to this day showing 20 minute Soviet documentaries.
Photos by (c) Arnis Balcus

Friday 3 July 2009

Visaginas










Visaginas was established in 1975 as a town for workers in the Ignalina nuclear power station. Unlike Prypiat which was build too close to the plant (2km), Visaginas is 6 km from the plant. The population now has grown to over 33 thousand people and most of them are Russians. Even now the place resembles an ideal Soviet town with a lot of schools, kindergartens, wide alleys, leisure centres, playgrounds, parks, shops and a lake with small beach.
Photos by (c) Arnis Balcus