Moscow, Now and Then · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

On Oct. 31, LJ user dolboeb was at his Moscow office, taking pictures (RUS) of a huge traffic jam down below:
MosGorProbka [Moscow City Jam], across the street from the Russian Foreign Ministry – by Anton Nossik/LJ user dolboeb: “Although my photos are covered by the Creative Commons license, there's still the [Internet charity] fund Pomogi.org, and neither money, nor publicity would hurt it, even if I myself am not charging for my photos.”
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English Russia has just posted a Moscow subway video shot with a cell phone camera during rush hour:
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Back in May 2005, LJ user valkorn came up with a nostalgic postcard tour (RUS) of Russia's capital: the city looks eerily – or blissfully – deserted on some of these photos, scanned from the 1980 edition of Moscow encyclopedia:
“Hi, I'm the daytime traffic flow on Gorky Street.”
Below are the translations of the captions from the rest of this interactive, talkative series:
[photo omitted]
Hi, we are the Intourist Hotel, Moscow Hotel and the empty space in front of the Manege. We no longer exist.
[photo omitted]
Hi, I'm [Karl Marx Avenue]. Today, I've a different name and have turned into a traffic jam.
[photo omitted]
Hi, I'm the Kursk Train Station. Today, you can't see me from behind the shopping mall.
[photo omitted]
Hi, I'm the clock with mechanical fairy tale characters from the Central Children's World [store]. We no longer exist.
[photo omitted]
Hi, we are street signs. We no longer exist.
[photo omitted]
Hi, I'm the administrative building of the Lenin Komsomol car factory. There's nothing to administer here anymore now, and I've been partly leased and partly deserted.
[photo omitted]
Hi, I'm the movie theater “Rossiya.” I've a different name now and there's a casino inside me.
[photo omitted]
Hi, I'm Taganskaya Square without the casino.
[photo omitted]
Hi, I'm [Yuri] Gagarin Square without the ads.
[photo omitted]
Hi, we are the buildings of the Belgrade Hotel. We used to be the same once.
[photo omitted]
Hi, I'm the spacious October Square.
[photo omitted]
Hi, I'm the subway station “Textilshchiki” without the gambling pavilions.
[photo omitted]
Hi, I'm the Building-on-the-Embankment, with no ads. And behind me is the “Udarnik” movie theater without the casino.
[photo omitted]
Hi, I'm “Wanda” store, where goods from [the People's Republic of Poland] are sold. I'm one of the few stores in the city that has gained the right to have Latin script on the sign.
[photo omitted]
[…]
[photo omitted]
Hi, I'm the Planetarium, a monument of Constructivist architecture. Under the “restoration” disguise, they are rebuilding me now.
[photo omitted]
Hi, we are Vera Mukhina's “The Worker and the Kolkhoz Woman.” They've dismantled us and taken away for restoration, and they are promising to install us on the roof of a shopping center.
[photo omitted]
[…]
[photo omitted]
Hi, I'm the “VDNKh” subways station without vending pavilions.
Good bye.
There are 14 pages of comments to this entry. Here's part of one (RUS), picked almost at random:
oniku_san: Photos are beautiful and interesting. But it's silly to get nostalgic. Yes, there were no traffic jams – but that's because only a few could afford to buy a car. Yes, there were no ads. But because of that, the city was dark and not cosy in the evenings. […]