We have recently received five books in the Socialist Modernism photo album series published in Romania by Birou pentru Artă și Cercetare Urbană (B.A.C.U), the Art and Urban Research Bureau in Bucharest, covering architecture and architectural art from 1955 to 1991.  This blog post takes a look at the volume dedicated to socialist modernist structures in Ukraine.

The book contains colour photographs of buildings and decorative facades primarily in Kyiv but also some in L’viv and elsewhere.  There is very little text – it is definitely what the book’s subject headings say: a “pictorial work” – but it provides amazing photographs of structures that recall a very specific era.  Here, for example, is the 1970s Romantyk Palace of Youth in L’viv.

Looking through the book, which was published in 2021, one cannot help but wonder how many of its subjects (some already visibly crumbling) have been damaged or even destroyed since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.   At least one monument has been changed since publication – the enormous WW2 Victory statue in the capital holds a shield bearing the Soviet symbol; it now bears the Ukrainian one alone.  The presence of the 2014- Russian war is already felt in the album.  One double-spread is given to what was once the Arch of Friendship of Peoples, but renamed in 2022 as the Arch of the Freedom of the Ukrainian People.  The arch was accompanied by two groups of sculptures with one showing a Ukrainian worker and a Russian worker bearing the Soviet Order of Friendship of Peoples.  In the photo in the album, the pedestal of this pair bears graffiti – the now-famous “SLAVA UKRAÏNI” (Glory to Ukraine) and a Ukrainian flag.  Nowadays, the arch stands alone, with both groups of sculptures removed following the 2022 Russian invasion.

So far, we have bought the following albums in the Socialist Modernism series (and appear to be largely alone in buying any of them among UK libraries, but the presence in the UL of the wonderful Soviet architecture and design collection of Dr Catherine Cooke meant that these were must-haves for us).

• Ukraine: Sot︠s︡ialistychnyĭ modernizm v Ukraïni : 1955-1991 = Socialist modernism in Ukraine : 1955-1991
• Romania and Moldova: Modernismul socialist în România și Republica Moldova : 1955-1989/91 = Socialist modernism in Romania and the Republic of Moldova : 1955-1989/91
• Caucasus: Le modernisme socialiste dans le Caucase : 1955-1991 = Socialist modernism in the Caucasus : 1955-1991
• Hungary: Szocialista modernizmus Magyarországon : 1955-1989 = Socialist modernism in Hungary : 1955-1989
• Russia: Sot︠s︡ialisticheskiĭ modernizm v Rossii : 1955-1991 = Socialist modernism in Russia : 1955-1991

We are expecting five more albums in the next couple of weeks, covering the Baltics Poland, Czechia and Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Germany.  A search for “socialist modernism” pictorial works in iDiscover should bring all 10 albums up in due course.

Mel Bach