Today our favorite period drama heroine, Keira Knightley, returns to the big screen in Tom Stoppard’s bold adaptation of Anna Karenina , the Russian high-society love story that Fyodor Dostoevsky, Vladimir Nabokov, William Faulkner, and TIME magazine have all called “flawless” and “the best ever written.” Set in pre-Soviet Russia, the tragedy explores themes that — as British translator Rosemary Edmonds explained — emerged from the vast panorama of Russian life. Not long after Tolstoy immortalized Anna’s affair with Count Vronsky, the old Russian regime collapsed, and an era of extreme artistic inquiry ensued. We’ve explored the experimental style that represents the ideological dreams and chaotic impulses of a stifled society; from retro-future research institutes and vacation spots to a wedding palace, click through to check out the very best of strange Soviet architecture.
Druzhba Holiday Center – Yalta, Ukraine
Image credit: Frédéric Chaubin via The Camera Club New York
Ministry of Highways and Transportation – Tbilisi, Georgia
Image credit: Simone Rota via Wallpaper*
Fyodor Dostoevsky Theater – Novgorod, Russia
Image credit: Andrei Rozen
Crematorium – Kiev, Ukraine
Images via OpenBuildings; wikimapia
Space Arches – Tbilisi, Georgia
Image via indoorbillboards
Cascade – Yerevan, Armenia
Image credit: Simone Rota via archidialog
Canteen for the House of Recreation for Writers of Armenia – Sevan Peninsula, Armenia
Image credit: Simone Rota via archidialog
Palace of Weddings – Tbilisi, Georgia
Images via skyscrapercity; Igor Palmin
Institute of Robotics and Technical Cybernetics – St. Petersburg, Russia
Image via rpa2101; Andrey Efimovsky
Institute of Scientific and Technological Research and Development – Kiev, Ukraine
Image credit: Frédéric Chaubin via Architectuul
House of Soviets – Kaliningrad, Russia
Image credit: Volkov Vitaly via Wikipedia
Rusakov Workers’ Club – Moscow, Russia
Image credit Richard Pare via art-Corpus; tom$
Administrative building – Tallinn, Estonia
Image via Socialism Expo
Horizon House – Karachayevsk, Russia
Image via indoorbillboards