Remember one of the most remarkable masterpieces of Soviet engineering? Despite only having made one flight, it is still continue to fascinate people across the globe — and She still intends to continue doing so…
The beauty of the beast
The Communal Bridge, back then (late 1970s)
The Communal Bridge, nowadays.
The unofficial capital of Siberia, the city of Novosibirsk was founded in 1893 with the initial population of only 8,000 people. By the time of the Great October Socialist Revolution of 1917, it grew to the population size of 80,000. The name, literally meaning New Siberian City, was adopted in 1926 — and since then, the town had become to grow and prosper.By 1962, Novosibirsk became the youngest city in the world to have the population of 1 million — it only took about 70 years. Now it is an important industrial, cultural and socioeconomic hub of the country.
We realise that today’s post is a little different from our usual format, as the modern pictures of the city are, well, modern and not of the Soviet epoch. It is still nice to see, however, how the city has been changing over the past hundred years — and the old photographs are still full of life and very easy on the eye.
The great shortage of almost everything required for normal well being was one of the most distinguished features of the Soviet economy. Surely, there was food, clothes and some cosmetic goods in the Soviet shops in 1950s-1970s but the variety was incredibly poor.
However, the philosophy was that the Soviet people were used to comparing their life standards with the ones of the Second World War – so any small-time luxury was very warmly welcomed. Being a nation of plain tastes, the Soviet people were happy to be buying things made in the USSR – they understood that even not so long before, it was impossible.
Many people still associate the fragrance “Red Moscow” with their childhood. All women, especially those who wanted to be elegant, were in love with this perfume. “Red Moscow”, created exclusively for the Russian Empress Maria Feodorovna, in 1913, had quickly become a tremendous success both in Russia and abroad. Henri Brocard, the owner of the largest Russian factory of pomades, perfumes and soaps before the Revolution; had created the perfume “The Empress’s Favourite Bouquet”. When in 1917 his factory was nationalised and renamed into the “Zamoskvoretskiy Soap Factory No 5”, the perfume was also renamed as “Red Moscow”.