These are some color photos of Leningrad, Odessa, Kiev, Sverdlovsk, Perm dated 1968-84.
For the beginning some photographs of Vladislav Mikosha, the pioneer of the Soviet color photography.
Leningrad through the camera of a foreign tourist, 1971.
“Astoria” hotel
Dvortsovaya Square
The Church of the Spilled Blood
St. Isaac Cathedral
Old “Aurora”
Odessa in the 1970s
Trams at the railway station
1977, Potemkinskaya stairs
Vegetable market
Beach in Arkadia
Registry office
Pictures in a kindergarten, 1977
1985
Kiev in the 1980s
Future Maidan Nezalezhnosti, “Paremoga” 1986
Square of October Revolution, 1983
The same square at another angle in the 1980s
Andreevskaya Church, the masterpiece of Rastrelli, 1980
View from the Cathedral of St. Sophia, 1981
Square of St. Sophia, 1983
The same square in 1986
Kreschatik, 1981
Bessarabsky market in the 1980s
Mariinsky Palace and Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in 1982
Brench of Lenin Central Museum
Pochtovaya square
Druzhba Narodov Blvd. 1980
Sverdlovsk, 1968-1979.
1968, Lenin avenue
1968, the Ural State University named after Gorky.
1968, Labour Square
Post Office, 1968
1960
1960s, Lunacharsky Theatre of Opera and Ballet
1960s, Lenin avenue
Lenin avenue, 1968
1970, University
1974, Night Sverdlovsk
1977, Lenin avenue
1970s
Aerial view, 1979
1979, Square of 1905
Lenin avenue, 1979
1979, Executive committee of the City Council
1970s, Square of 1905
1972
Chelyabinsk 1972-1984. Before the revolution Chelyabinsk was a little city of the district and in the Societ time its centre was almost fully rebuilt.
Revolution Square and Lenin avenue
1974, the Miass embankment
South Ural hotel, 1973
Tsentralnaya hotel, 1973
Lenin avenue, 1974
Bogdan Khmelnitsky avenue, 1974
Komsomolsk avenue 1974
Soviet Perm (1970-80s)
Komsomolsk avenue 1980
The same view in 1970
1970
1970, October Square
1976 on the photo of Dupâquier
Lenin Street 1978
Station 1969
via photoplay
Everything more clean, tidy and green than today…
“Everything more clean, tidy and green than today…”
I doubt everything was so clean, tidy and green back then too. I mean what postcard isn’t by the time they get done retouching it? All it takes is a little artistic talent. Most of these photos are idealistic postcards carefully polished for public consumption, not candid photos of street life.
I think Russia look better in the Communist era than today.
The Russian city scene has been totally destroyed by rampant advertising signs. At least there are some laws in the West that limit our ugly advertising signs.
Some things were better back then, others better now. The real tragedy is that we cant have a blend of the two, so that we could have all, as opposed to sacrificing one good thing for another.
And before you get started, hirsh, this is real. Not just propaganda from Life.
Yes the tidy wonderful lives that these photos depict are real. So were the harsh realities of life in the Soviet Union, a harsh reality for many that these photos don’t depict. That’s the case with all Life magazine photo spreads of the Soviet Union. They always portrayed the Soviet Union in an idealistic and unrealistic light, as if it was some Communist Utopia. Well it didn’t work.
Let me ask this. How would you know the first thing about life in the Soviet Union?! From all the crap you give, I’m pretty sure you’ve never been to Russia, let alone to the old USSR.
“a harsh reality for many that these photos don’t depict”
And what harsh realities are they, may I ask?
“Communism didn’t work”. You are one to talk. Look at the mess your beloved capitalism has brought you and most of Europe into.
Hirsh gday, I have been away along time, good to see you are still here. Hope all is well. Be calm be good be happy.
Hi, geoff. Now and Zen I’ve thought about you…
ayaa is that you,vorontsevich (f/k/a ayaa). If it is you, what made you change.
Hi, geoff. Yes its me. Some troll took my username, so I decided to change it. I’ve seen what impostors do around here.
and no one commercial)
So few cars! Gotta give the socialists and communists props for promoting public transportation.
I lived in Perm. It was a great city, but never as clean as the photos suggest. It is far better now.
Oggi in Russia va malissimo, la maggior parte del popolo hanno la fame, la miseria e la dissoccupazione alle stelle, causa il comunismo e’ caduto lo stato non aiuta piu’ !!!!!!!!!!!
Preferisco rimanere come prima, addio i voli spaziali CCCP.
Spero un giorno Putin capira’ queste cose.
A lot of cult of personality, the legacy of Stalinism. Just call them all October Street/Museum/whatever (or Socialist Street, or Revolution Street).
Been in Odessa 2 years ago.. nothing changed sinse
only traffic is worse, and many cafe`s and “shaslõkk-shaurma” plases is everywhere.. City is more dirty, if it is windy day the dust and garbage fly into your face.. Ukraine have a lot more better places, for example the Karpatian little villages is more clean and nice place to stay.. (I was born in USSR) 
This is amazing! I enjoy looking through the photos. Russia is a real beauty.
Its such a pleasure seeing a magnificent showcase of your photography skills.
My dear Nazim Hikmet. You were such a valuable man and a great poet. I apologize you for what the Turkish government did to you in those times. I am very happy that a great country like the USSR respected you and gave you what you deserved.
Hi, I am an italian, never been in Russia, and I am really interested about how life is now, compared to how it was once. From people-living-there opinion.