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| Avesto Hotel, Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Image: Stefano Perego |
Italian photographers Roberto Conte and Stefano Perego crossed the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, documenting buildings constructed from the 1950s until the fall of the USSR.
The resulting images showcase the majestic, largely unknown, modernist buildings of the region. Museums, housing complexes, universities, circuses, ritual palaces – all were constructed using a composite aesthetic.
Influenced by Persian and Islamic architecture, pattern and mosaic motifs articulated a connection with Central Asia. Grey concrete slabs were juxtaposed with colourful tiling and rectilinear shapes broken by ornate curved forms: the brutal designs normally associated with Soviet-era architecture were reconstructed with Eastern characteristics.
Conte and Perego travelled through the region in 2018. Since then, some outstanding examples of Soviet Modernism have been demolished and it is poignant to view them again in this collection. Tashkent's stunning Dom Kino - House of Cinema - is no more. Other fine examples are under threat.
More images below.
Related posts
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Back in the USSR: Soviet Roadside Architecture
Kyrgyzstan's Bus Stops
Georgia: Soviet Modernist Mosaics from 1960 to 1990
Tashkent's Soviet Buildings
Seismic Modernism - Architecture and Housing in Soviet Tashkent
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| Drilling tool plant, Samarkand. Image: Stefano Perego |
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| State Academic Russian Theatre for Children and Young People, Almaty. Image: Stefano Perego |
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| Bishkek circus. Image: Stefano Perego |
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| Exhibition Hall of the Uzbek Union of Artists, Tashkent. Image: Stefano Perego |
