The cemetery of cranes

In the outskirts of Minsk you can find the cemetery of old cranes. Instead of recycling them as scrap-metal, they have gathered dozens of these cranes in one place.
Photos by (c) Arnis Balcus

RAF factory in 1978

In Soviet Latvia the factory RAF (Rīgas Autobusu fabrika) was producing a van under the brand name Latvija. The RAF vans were spread all over the Soviet Union and mainly used as ambulances, police and state organizations transport. After the collapse of the USSR the factory went bankrupt but for quite a while the vans were seen as routed taxicabs or so-called marshrutkas. Since private persons were not allowed to own one during the Soviet years, nowadays it's not that easy to spot the van in the streets of Latvia.
Photos from - Latinform , 1978

Space race

This mural can be found on a primary school's wall in a small town Olaine, about 20 km from Riga. Murals, drawings, posters on space exploration played a significant role in the ideological rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Photo by (c) Arnis Balcus

The relict of the station

Even though the central railway station has experienced major renovation works in the past years (some people say now it's hard to find the station) for some reason this exit sign has escaped the replacing.
Photo by (c) Arnis Balcus

Hard seats

It might sound unbelievable for the 21 century but in Latvia you can still find trains with hard wooden benches.
Photo by (c) Arnis Balcus

Rail crossing warning signs

Social ads were quite popular in Soviet times, but have almost disappeared from today's Latvia. However, in Belarus you can still find a lot of them. At the train station in a small town Zaslavl near Minsk I found rail crossing danger warning ads in four different designs.
Photos by (c) Arnis Balcus

Mailbox line

It's not that common in Latvia to put mailboxes outside the apartment blocks, however in Daugavpils I found one of the longest rows of mailboxes I have ever seen.
Photo by (c) Arnis Balcus

Textile shop

It looks like this textile shop on Čaka street in Riga has not changed their showcase for a few decades.
Photo by (c) Arnis Balcus

Banka Baltija

These are the adverts of infamous Banka Baltija bank in children magazine Zīlīte. The adverts teach to kids what is a credit card, where does the bank gets money and how the money is counted. In 1995 when the bank went bankrupt almost every second Latvian had savings in it. It is still considered as the biggest economical disaster in Latvia to date.
Photos from Zīlīte

Garbage bins

In ex-USSR garbage bins can have very creative design, while some of them have served for more than a few decades. This is a selection of bins from Latvia, Belarus and Russia.
Photos by (c) Arnis Balcus

Lenin

In Soviet Union almost every town used to have a monument of Lenin. In Latvia they were even more than in neighboring countries Lithuania and Estonia, however none of them has survived the changing time. But in Belarus you can still find the monument of Lenin in every major town, in Minsk even three.
Photos by (c) Arnis Balcus

Happy wall

A built-in decor of an ideal Soviet family: a husband, wife, three children (the youngest one of them holding a white pigeon - a symbol of peace) can be found on a house in Ziepniekkalns district, Southwest Riga.
Photo by (c) Arnis Balcus

Second hand in Rumbula

There are not as many second hand stores in Latvia as in 1990s, but still to be found near markets, in suburbs and smaller towns. Normally you buy a piece, but in this place in Rumbula in South Riga, which is not that easy to find, one can buy second hand clothes in kilograms - a kg cost 0,50 Ls (~0,70 EUR).
Photos by (c) Arnis Balcus

Kino Riga

Cinema Rīga was founded in 1923 and is the oldest cinema in Latvia. It is probably also the only cinema in the country that still hires an artist to paint film ads.
(c) Photos by Arnis Balcus

Pre-WWI mural

Whenever this sign in Old Russian and Old German that warns not to consume alcoholic drinks has remained in a yard on Pētersalas street in Riga since Tsar times or is a modern remake is a mystery.
Photo by (c) Arnis Balcus

Kemeri sanatorium

In Soviet times the sanatorium in Ķemeri in Jūrmala, Latvia was a posh place to be. Since the collapse of USSR it has been gradually vandalized and today the place is a popular destination among photographers and urban explorers.
Photos by (c) Arnis Balcus

20 years ago

The mural made in 1988 in Sarkandaugava in Riga has survived the factory it advertised.
Photo by (c) Arnis Balcus