A few days ago, in Perm, the festival of arts “White Nights” started. An exhibition of Krasnoyarsk artist Vasily Slonov “Welcome! Sochi 2014” was one of the participants of the festival. A couple of days later, it was closed by the local authorities.

Officials found the exhibition Russophobian and defaming the Olympics in Sochi, said the organizer of the festival Marat Gelman. However, he said, the exhibition will be reopened in the independent cultural center “Rechnik” today.

More caricatures of the Sochi 2014 Olympics

Tags: Perm city · Sochi city · Sochi2014

May 1 is a holiday in many countries around the world and is known as Labor and Spring Day in present Russia. In the USSR it was celebrated as International Workers Day.

May 1, 1886, socialist, communist and anarchist organizations in the U.S. and Canada staged a series of rallies and demonstrations. May 4, 1886, six people were killed when the police broke up one of these demonstrations in Chicago.

If you have worked well – you will have good rest

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Tags: posters · propaganda · Soviet past

The State Museum of Architecture named after A.V. Shchusev in Moscow begins advertising campaign. The main purpose is to tell people about this wonderful museum. Unique collections of the museum reflect thousand-year history of the architectural heritage of Russia.

The focus is on the key historic buildings, symbols of the city – St. Basil’s Cathedral on Red Square, the Bolshoi Theater, and the main building of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov.

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Tags: Moscow city · museum

“One cowboy, two cowboy” is a Soviet animated film released in 1981. Director: Anatoliy Reznikov. Screenwriter: Arkadiy Khait.

The main characters are a cowboy and his cow. It is one of the classic Soviet cartoons. Almost all children in the Soviet Union saw it.

Tags: cartoon · Soviet past

Soviet moviegoer in the 1920ies, during the NEP (the New Economic Policy), was able to watch a lot of not only Soviet, but also foreign films. As a rule, it was purely entertaining films, ideological films were not the biggest part of all the films, as it became later.

The movie posters of these years are of great interest. It was a continuous celebration of avant-gardism, endless experiment with colors, shapes, images. This flashy language of bright colors was coming into collision with the black-and-white world of the silver screen. Pictures by visualhistory

The Battleship Potemkin

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Tags: posters · Soviet past

February 13, Russia marks 140 years since the birth of the great singer Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin, who became a symbol of an era.

Chaliapin, peasant family offspring, who studied music himself had an enormous influence on the Russian and world culture.

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Immediately after the October Revolution, the Soviet government took control of the fashion. In general, the changes occurred mostly in women’s fashion. Clothing was unpretentious, simpler than in the days of the Russian Empire. The woman was to look like as a citizen (“tovarisch”), who can “build” socialism.

However, during the Khrushchev thaw (late 1950s – 1960s), due to more openness in Soviet society, the western style in fashion began to spread. This catalog, published by Leningrad fashion house (Saint Petersburg today) in 1957, gives an idea of this time. Pictures by visualhistory

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Tags: Saint Petersburg city · Soviet past

There is a widespread belief that Stalin’s Soviet Union was a country almost completely closed to foreigners. However, advertising of “Intourist” (organization responsible for foreign tourism in the USSR) created in 1930ies, gives somewhat different look at the issue.

The country was in desperate need of foreign currency for industrialization, so all the ways to lure wealthy foreign tourists to the USSR were used. And it was not just about the major cities – Moscow and Leningrad.

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Tags: posters · propaganda · Soviet past

Even sleeping areas of St. Petersburg may surprise you. Among the usual residential buildings of Moscow district there is a unique museum project – the largest miniature of Russia (total area is about 800 square meters).

Miniature is a collective image of Russia, which has absorbed all of its most characteristic features, and objects. You will be able to find the Moscow Kremlin, Karelian Kizhi, Peter and Paul Fortress, and other sights of Russia here.

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Tags: Saint Petersburg city

“Deep blue sea, light white foam” is a Soviet (Armenfilm) animated short captured by Robert Sahakyants in 1984. It is a musical fantasy on the themes of Armenian folk tales.

In spite of an ancient story, the cartoon is full with allusions to the modern realities. It is especially relevant in the contemporary Russian realities where the main values of many people are only money and power.

Tags: cartoon · Soviet past