{"id":400705,"date":"2014-09-30T14:41:35","date_gmt":"2014-09-30T11:41:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.moldova.org\/?p=400705"},"modified":"2014-09-30T14:41:35","modified_gmt":"2014-09-30T11:41:35","slug":"glorifying-myth-and-industry-in-bizarre-soviet-mosaics-on-tower-blocks-in-balti-moldova","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/glorifying-myth-and-industry-in-bizarre-soviet-mosaics-on-tower-blocks-in-balti-moldova\/","title":{"rendered":"Glorifying myth and industry in bizarre Soviet mosaics on tower blocks in Balti, Moldova"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

At the entrance to\u00a0the Republic of Moldova’s second-largest city\u00a0Balti,\u00a0huge Soviet mosaics celebrate\u00a0a\u00a0paradise for the proletariat\u00a0and peasants.<\/p>\n

Giant mosaics decorate residential\u00a0blocks constructed in the Soviet era in the industrial city of Balti in north\u00a0Moldova.<\/p>\n

These images combine traditional folklore\u00a0with Socialist realism to promote\u00a0hope in an industrial future embedded in the myths of the past.<\/p>\n

Above is a portrait of a\u00a0Soviet pioneer with a red scarf from\u00a0the Communist youth movement\u00a0– next to the\u00a0silver birch, a sacred symbol of Russia.<\/p>\n

\"soviet_mosaics_1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Hidden behind trees is this woman in traditional\u00a0dress dispatching a stork carrying\u00a0grapes.<\/p>\n

This refers to a myth from the 15th Century, during\u00a0dimunitive Moldovan leader\u00a0Stefan cel Mare’s\u00a0war against\u00a0the Turks.<\/p>\n

Afer a\u00a0long battle with the Ottoman hoards, the Moldovan army was\u00a0exhausted of food and supplies.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the wives and mothers of the servicemen placed bunches of grapes in the beaks of storks, who flew them to soldiers at the front.<\/p>\n

The grapes gave the men the energy and spirit to beat the Ottomans back from their land.<\/p>\n

This legend is sublime\u00a0propaganda,\u00a0as it unites the myth of Moldovan ingenuity with national symbols, such as the grapes – which nourish\u00a0the country’s wine industry –\u00a0and the\u00a0stork – a ubiquitous visitor to the country’s electricity poles\u00a0and chimney pots.<\/p>\n

\"soviet_mosaics_2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Celebrating Balti’s industrial future, this mosaic greets travellers from the Chisinau exit, with the name of the town rendered in the now near-obsolete language of Moldovan cyrillic.<\/p>\n

\"soviet-mosaics_3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The faceless proletariat at work on metal and fire\u00a0show no discrimination between man and tool.<\/p>\n

Balti is majority-Russian speaking, and during Communism was a centre for\u00a0the production of irons, telephones and sonar equipment for Soviet military submarines.<\/p>\n

Since the fall of Communism it\u00a0remained\u00a0a centre for agricultural processing, but the population fell as workers fled to Russia and Ukraine for jobs.<\/p>\n

However now Balti’s\u00a0industrial past is seeing a renaissance as the city becomes a hub for manufacturing car parts for Germany.<\/p>\n

\"mosaics\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Decades on from their construction, the elegant lines of these portraits off-set by the brutalist tower blocks reveal a deepening\u00a0contrast between the marketing\u00a0strategy\u00a0for a Socialist utopia and the reality of living in an apartment which is falling to pieces.<\/p>\n

With thanks to Elena Gutanu and Oxana Greadcenco of www.moldova.org<\/a> for invaluable help\u00a0with this short piece.<\/p>\n

This article is supported by ‘Fortification of the independence of online mass-media in the Republic of Moldova through the transfter of Know-how from the EU’ – with support from the ‘European Partnership for Democracy’ and financial resources from the ‘National Fund for Democracy’ (NED).<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Michael BIRD, theblacksea.eu.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reading Time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>At the entrance to\u00a0the Republic of Moldova’s second-largest city\u00a0Balti,\u00a0huge Soviet mosaics celebrate\u00a0a\u00a0paradise for the proletariat\u00a0and peasants. Giant mosaics decorate residential\u00a0blocks constructed in the Soviet era in the industrial city of Balti in north\u00a0Moldova. These images combine traditional folklore\u00a0with Socialist realism to promote\u00a0hope in an industrial future embedded in the myths of the past. Above is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":400706,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-400705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society"],"content_social_share":"Reading Time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

At the entrance to\u00a0the Republic of Moldova’s second-largest city\u00a0Balti,\u00a0huge Soviet mosaics celebrate\u00a0a\u00a0paradise for the proletariat\u00a0and peasants.<\/p>\n

Giant mosaics decorate residential\u00a0blocks constructed in the Soviet era in the industrial city of Balti in north\u00a0Moldova.<\/p>\n

These images combine traditional folklore\u00a0with Socialist realism to promote\u00a0hope in an industrial future embedded in the myths of the past.<\/p>\n

Above is a portrait of a\u00a0Soviet pioneer with a red scarf from\u00a0the Communist youth movement\u00a0– next to the\u00a0silver birch, a sacred symbol of Russia.<\/p>\n

\"soviet_mosaics_1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Hidden behind trees is this woman in traditional\u00a0dress dispatching a stork carrying\u00a0grapes.<\/p>\n

This refers to a myth from the 15th Century, during\u00a0dimunitive Moldovan leader\u00a0Stefan cel Mare’s\u00a0war against\u00a0the Turks.<\/p>\n

Afer a\u00a0long battle with the Ottoman hoards, the Moldovan army was\u00a0exhausted of food and supplies.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the wives and mothers of the servicemen placed bunches of grapes in the beaks of storks, who flew them to soldiers at the front.<\/p>\n

The grapes gave the men the energy and spirit to beat the Ottomans back from their land.<\/p>\n

This legend is sublime\u00a0propaganda,\u00a0as it unites the myth of Moldovan ingenuity with national symbols, such as the grapes – which nourish\u00a0the country’s wine industry –\u00a0and the\u00a0stork – a ubiquitous visitor to the country’s electricity poles\u00a0and chimney pots.<\/p>\n

\"soviet_mosaics_2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Celebrating Balti’s industrial future, this mosaic greets travellers from the Chisinau exit, with the name of the town rendered in the now near-obsolete language of Moldovan cyrillic.<\/p>\n

\"soviet-mosaics_3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The faceless proletariat at work on metal and fire\u00a0show no discrimination between man and tool.<\/p>\n

Balti is majority-Russian speaking, and during Communism was a centre for\u00a0the production of irons, telephones and sonar equipment for Soviet military submarines.<\/p>\n

Since the fall of Communism it\u00a0remained\u00a0a centre for agricultural processing, but the population fell as workers fled to Russia and Ukraine for jobs.<\/p>\n

However now Balti’s\u00a0industrial past is seeing a renaissance as the city becomes a hub for manufacturing car parts for Germany.<\/p>\n

\"mosaics\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Decades on from their construction, the elegant lines of these portraits off-set by the brutalist tower blocks reveal a deepening\u00a0contrast between the marketing\u00a0strategy\u00a0for a Socialist utopia and the reality of living in an apartment which is falling to pieces.<\/p>\n

With thanks to Elena Gutanu and Oxana Greadcenco of www.moldova.org<\/a> for invaluable help\u00a0with this short piece.<\/p>\n

This article is supported by ‘Fortification of the independence of online mass-media in the Republic of Moldova through the transfter of Know-how from the EU’ – with support from the ‘European Partnership for Democracy’ and financial resources from the ‘National Fund for Democracy’ (NED).<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Michael BIRD, theblacksea.eu.<\/a><\/p>\n

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