slavaroid

Oldest city of the country, Osh is regarded as the southern capital of Kyrgyzstan.
As a result of the 1970s industrialization, lots of concrete-paneled apartment buildings were built; they couldn’t be taller than 5 storeys due to the high seismicity level of the area.

At that time in the USSR many side façades used to get decorated with the most popular Soviet themes – from the timeless “Slava Trudu” to traditional folk motifs.

One of the best known still exists in Osh: right next to a likewise enormous Aeroflot mosaic commercial, Misha the Olympic bear proudly smiles from the wall of a khrushchyovka.

Hidden among dusty streets, the über cute jumbo-sized mascotte was allegedly assembled during the late Seventies, when the rising games fever led to embellish every spot (fences, living room, even wells) of the whole Soviet Union with the symbols of Moscow 1980 Summer Olympics.

Karosta means in Latvian “war port” – and it couldn’t be more evident.

Between the 19th and the 20th century, the Russian Empire began to fortify Liepāja. Massive coastline batteries were raised along its northern shore in order to prevent potential attacks from the Germans. The base hosted several submarines and many warships of the Imperial Navy.

Nevertheless, on November 1908 the fort was declared a tactical failure. It was completely demobilised and partially blown up – its solid concrete walls, yet almost intact, crumbling in one piece into the sea.

As a highly strategical point – the port doesn’t ice even during harsh winters – after World War II the fort was permanently occupied by the Soviet Armed Forces. Liepāja became a closed military city, the naval base secreted and excluded from the maps.
The Red-Banner Baltic Fleet and its nuclear weaponry stationed in Karosta until the early Nineties, when Latvia obtained its independence.

At the end of the 19th century, during the construction of the Kerch railway line, a village named Семь Колодезей – Seven Wells – began to form. Despite its name, the lack of fresh drinkable water made its development very hard. 
Wells, ponds and pipelines became to appear after World War II.

In 1954 Sem’ Kolodezey was transferred, as well as the whole Crimea, to Ukrainian SSR.
On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the October Revolution, the town was transformed into an urban-type settlement and renamed Lenino.