A merchant’s house. Early twenties.
A heritage building now
The city of Ufa, the capital of Bashkiria, is a town with the population of just over a million, at about 1500 km distance from Moscow. It is beautifully set at the confluence of the Belaya and Ufa rivers, on low hills to the west of Southern Urals. The city was founded in 1574 at the orders of Ivan the Terrible, and the name meaning “small” in Turkic. It is a well kept city with lots of greenery, wide alleys, parks and plentiful historic buildings.
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.
Building of 8 Floors. Designed and built after WWII by German architects. 
Building of 8 floors now.
One of the main streets: Lenin St, Bashkiria Hotel
Old tram. November 1947.
Hotel Bashkiria at night.
Cinema center Rodina
Constantine with Keanu Reeves is on
Old merchants’ houses on a market day
A shopping and entertainment center now. Was rebuilt in early 2000
A former bank
A former bank
National Museum now
Was fully redeveloped in late 1990s
The events centre, named after Ukrainian Bolshevik and a close friend of Stalin Sergo Ordzhonikidze
Ordzhon, as it is more commonly called.
One of the longest streets in town: in 195os it was called Stalin Avenue
The trams were put in around mid 1970s. The Stalin name got dropped.
Now it is October Avenue.
Opera and Ballet House
Opera and Ballet House
Belaya River vista: the small smudge above the forest to the right is the horse statue: see below
The house of Parliament. The horse statue is more visible. Stunning views when you drive into the city
Salavat Yulaev. One of the tallest horse statues in Europe.
A popular photo shoot destination now.
The Soviet Square. 13 April 1964
The Square today — interestingly enough, it still hasn’t been renamed.
City Council
City Council
Arguably the most prestigious university in town and among the top ten in the country: the Aviation Industry University.
Its computer science and engineering graduates are among the most sought-after in the world.
For another example of “there and now” see our old post about Novosibirk.
Some images are courtesy of Olga Eigeison aka perebeia.