There’s nothing like a bit of contrast and historical perspective to make you reevaluate what’s going on in the world now. Many people, especially those living in the West, still have very little understanding of what everyday life was like behind the Iron Curtain. That’s where the ‘Soviet Visuals’ social media project comes in. It collects and shares historical photos, propaganda posters, illustrations, and architectural images from the USSR in order to give people a better understanding of the Soviet and post-Soviet eras.
If you’re fans of history and old-timey photography, dear Pandas, then this is the article for you. Remember to upvote your fave pics as you scroll down. And if you grew up in the former USSR, let us know in the comments what life was really like back then. The good, the bad, the ugly—don’t skip out on the details.
Bored Panda spoke to the founder of the aesthetic time capsule that is the ‘Soviet Visuals’ project, Varia Bortsova. She was kind enough to answer our questions. “I always really enjoyed rummaging through old family VHS tapes and magazine cutouts, and starting a Twitter account became a way to share these findings with the world,” she told us. “Over time, more and more people started to contribute their own visuals and it evolved into a real community. I started the project on my own but now have two awesome researchers on board who help source new archive content daily and process user submissions.”
We were interested to hear Varia’s thoughts about why ‘Soviet Visuals’ became so successful. “A couple of reasons, I think. Soviet Visuals content feeds an appetite for vintage aesthetics: from design, to fashion, to architecture, to music. A lot of what was produced behind the Iron Curtain was actually exceptionally creative (despite, or sometimes due to the various ideological constraints),” she said. Scroll down for the full interview.
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#1 Post-Soviet Visual. Photo By Tatyana Rodionova
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#2 “We Are Not Raising Our Sons For War!” Soviet Poster, 1957
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#3 Azerbaijani Wedding, USSR, 1965
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#4 Soviet Postcard, 1955
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#5 School Pencil Case, USSR, 1970s
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#6 Belka The Space Dog Upon Returning From Her Cosmic Voyage. USSR, August 1960
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#7 Pictures Of A Russian Meteorologist Who Spent 30 Years At An Arctic Meteorology Base. By Evgenia Arbugaeva
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#8 Children In Sleeping Bags Are Being Taken To Have Their Mid-Day Nap, 1930s, Ussr
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#9 “Down With CPSU”. Soviet Punks During The August 1991 Coup In Moscow
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#10 Soviet Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev Was In Space When The Soviet Union Fell Apart In 1991. Unable To Return Home, He Had To Stay In Space Until Further Notice. The Cosmonaut Eventually Returned Back To Earth After 10 Months In Orbit – To A Very Different Nation. Photo By Volkov/Tass
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#11 Spring In Yakutsk, 1967
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#12 Post-Soviet Visual. “The Return” Painting By Georgy Kurasov, Russia, 2005
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#13 May Day Celebration. Photo By Ilya Pavlyuk, Lviv, Ukrainian SSR, 1968
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#14 Soviet Linguist, Epigrapher And Ethnographer Yuri Knorozov, Who Is Particularly Renowned For The Pivotal Role His Research Played In The Decipherment Of The Maya Script, The Writing System Used By The Pre-Columbian Maya Civilization Of Mesoamerica, 1971
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#15 Babies Sleep Well In The Air In A Light Frost. Nursery №155. Dzerzhinsky District Of Moscow. Photographer Dmitry Baltermantz. 1958
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#16 “8 March-International Women’s Day” Soviet Postcard, 1961
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#17 Belka And Strelka, Soviet Space Dogs. Photo By Yuri Krivonosov, 1960
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#18 Soviet Swimmer Maria Havrish Congratulates Her Rival Elena Kovalenko, Who Defeated Her In The Breaststroke Competition At The Spartakiad Of The Peoples Of The USSR In Moscow, 1956
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#19 Kievskaya Metro Station. Photo By Dean Conger, Moscow, USSR, 1964
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#20 Ice Swimmers In Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, 1960s
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#21 Bread On Sale In A Supermarket. Photo By Chris Niedenthal, Sofia, People’s Republic Of Bulgaria, 1985
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#22 The Remains Of A Concrete Apartment Building In Kirovsky, A Former Fisherman Village In Kamchatka Which Was Abandoned In 1964
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#23 Snow Drifts In Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Photo By Yuri Sadovnikov, USSR, 1968
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#24 “My Grandma With Her Classmates. Lori Region, Armenia, 1966-1967”
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#25 Soviet Postcard, 1956
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#26 Soviet Cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin And Gherman Titov In Their Flight Suits And Helmets, In A Bus Heading Toward The Vostok 1 Launch Site In Baykonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, USSR, On 12 April 1961. Gagarin Was Soon To Become Famous As The First Man In Space
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#27 Young Pioneers In Defense Drill. Photo By Viktor Bulla, Leningrad, USSR, 1937
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#28 “Architect” Soviet Construction Kit For Children, 1980s
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#29 Boy Standing In Front Of Fallen Statue Of Lenin. Photo By Dario Mitidieri, Ethiopia, 1991
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#30 Leonid Brezhnev And Erich Honecker. Photo By Helmuth Lohmann, Berlin, GDR, 1979
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#31 Dutch Fashion Models Sonja Bakker And Femke Van De Bosch In Moscow. Photo By Paul Huf, USSR 1965
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#32 Baby Yoda Is Just Capitalist Cheburashka. May The 4th Be With You!
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#33 Amanauz Hotel Abandoned During Construction, Dombay, USSR, 1985
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#34 Post-Soviet Visual. Fish Sellers In The Market Of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia, March 1993
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#35 Vacationers Sunbathing On The Coast Of The Gulf Of Riga In Jurmala. Photo By Yakov Berliner, Latvian SSR, 1975
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#36 Self-Made New Year Robot Costume, USSR, 1964
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#37 Post-Soviet Visual
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#38 World Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov (Right) Holds Demo Game At The Sports Festival Dedicated To The XVIII Komsomol Congress. Photo By Vladimir Rodionov, USSR, 24 April 1978
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
#39 “The Face Of Imperialism” Soviet Belarusian Poster, 1967
Image credits: Soviet Visuals
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