Across Russia and the Eastern Bloc, the Soviet side of the space race was celebrated in massive, colorful murals. And while some of them are starting to crumble, they still stand as inspiring visions of human progress.

Communist architecture is often monumental, sometimes minimalist, and always imposing. But in the latter years of most European communist states, traditional Brutalist architecture gave way to something a little weirder — and occasionally even playful. Here are some incredible buildings from this era in late Eastern…