The second part of unique photos taken by Major Martin Manhoff, who spent more than two years in the Soviet Union in the early 1950s as an assistant to the military attache in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.

The first part of the photos.

View of the Kremlin from Moskvoretskaya Embankment.

Moscow in the early 1950s

Tags: Moscow city · Soviet past

Soviet propaganda was diverse and influenced the minds of people all the time. Let’s see how the image of a woman was used and gradually changed on Soviet posters. Source: humus

Woman! Learn to read and write!
Oh, mother! If you were literate, you could help me! (1923)

Soviet propaganda posters

Tags: propaganda · Soviet past

Major Martin Manhoff spent more than two years in the Soviet Union in the early 1950s. He worked as an assistant to the military attache in the U.S. Embassy, ​​located near Red Square.

Manhoff, being a gifted photographer, shot hundreds of scenes from everyday Soviet life – both in Moscow and in other regions of the USSR.

Construction of the hotel “Ukraina” from the roof of the U.S. Embassy on Novinsky Boulevard. On the left you can see the Church of the Nine Martyrs of Cyzicus (1954).

Moscow in the early 1950s

Tags: Moscow city · Soviet past

Kolomna is a city with a population of about 143 thousand people located about 113 km southeast of Moscow. This is one of the oldest (the first mention in 1177) and the most beautiful cities of the Moscow region.

One of the main attractions of Kolomna is a partially preserved rare monument of ancient Russian defensive architecture – the grandiose Kolomna Kremlin (1525-1531). Photos by: maximus101.

magnificent fortress

Tags: Moscow city · Moskovskaya oblast

Today, Vytegra is a small town (since 1773) with a population of about 10,000 people standing on the banks of the Vytegra River, 337 km north-west of Vologda, in the Vologda region.

You can see how this place looked like 108 years ago, in 1909. It is possible due to unique color photographs made by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky. Source.

General view of Vytegra and the Vytegra River.

back to the past

Tags: Russian Empire · Vologda oblast

St. George’s Cathedral, a white-stone church located in the central part of the ancient Russian town of Yuryev-Polsky in the Vladimir region, is an outstanding monument of ancient Russian architecture.

The cathedral was built by Prince Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich in 1230-1234. In 1326-1327, on the model of St. George’s Cathedral, the first stone church was built in Moscow – the Cathedral of the Assumption. Photos by: Pavel Labutin.

beautiful ancient temple

Tags: Vladimir oblast

Ekaterinburg (in 1924-1991 – Sverdlovsk), the fourth largest city of Russia, is an administrative center of the Sverdlovsk region and the Urals Federal District. It is the biggest administrative, cultural, scientific, and educational center of the Urals.

Over almost three hundred years of its existence, Ekaterinburg was rebuilt several times. The project “Ekaterinburg. Then and Now” shows how much the city has changed over the 100 years. Photos by: Slava Stepanov.

Ekaterinburg – past and present

Tags: Ekaterinburg city

“Malye Korely” is a state museum of wooden architecture and folk art of the northern regions of Russia. The area of ​​the museum is 139.8 hectares.

The museum is located in the rural settlement of Uyemskoye in Primorsky district of the Arkhangelsk region, on the right bank of the Northern Dvina River, 25 km south of Arkhangelsk. Photos by: Denis Spirin.

explore the museum

Tags: Arkhangelsk oblast · museum

Church of Nikola Mokryi (St. Nicholas the Wet) in Yaroslavl, built in 1662-1675, is located at Chaikovsky Street, 1.

The church was named after St. Nicholas, in honor of whom the icon “Nikola Mokryi” was painted on the basis of an ancient story. Photos by: Kirill Moiseev.

beautiful old church

Tags: churches · Yaroslavl city

Gamsutl is a picturesque Avar village located on top of Mount Gamsutlmeer, in Gunibsky district of Dagestan. This village is one of the oldest settlements on the territory of the republic.

Translated from the Avar, the word “gamsutl” means “at the foot of the khan’s fortress”, from what historians have concluded that once, in ancient times, Khan chose this place to build his fortress or tower. Gamsutl on Google Maps. Photos by: Olga Stanina.

explore the abandoned settlement

Tags: Abandoned · Dagestan Republic