The Towering Glory and Infinite Weirdness of Post-Soviet Architecture

PublishedJanuary 28, 2014

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These surreal photographs from Frank Herfort's Imperial Pomp - Post Soviet Highrise series show us the strangest post-Soviet buildings of Kazakhstan, Belarus and Russia.

Two golden towers in Astana, Kazakhstan, also called as 'the beer cans' by locals, built in 1998

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An office building in Moscow, Russia

Grand Park Towers (Khodynsky Bulvar 5), 414 ft (126 m) tall apartment buildings in Moscow, 2006

The 27-story high Paveletskaya Tower, an office building designed by Sergey Borisovich Tkachenko, opened in 2003, Moscow, Russia

Cosmos Apartment Towers, Saint Petersburg

A residential building in Chelyabinsk, Russia

The highest tensile structure in the world: the Khan Shatyr Entertainment Center, a 500 ft (150 m) high transparent tent in Astana, Kazakhstan, designed by Norman Foster, opened in 2010. It has an internal park, a shopping center, an indoor beach resort, a boating river, and an entertainment venue.

Europe's tallest tower, the 1,112 ft (339 m) high, Mercury City Tower in Moscow, constructed between 2009 and 2013

The 39-story Triumph of Astana, a mixed-use building (it has offices, a hotel and apartments) in Astana, Kazakhstan, opened in 2006.

Legion III Centre, Moscow, Russia, opened in 2008

The Towering Glory and Infinite Weirdness of Post-Soviet Architecture

Two golden towers in Astana, Kazakhstan, also called as 'the beer cans' by locals, built in 1998

An office building in Moscow, Russia

Grand Park Towers (Khodynsky Bulvar 5), 414 ft (126 m) tall apartment buildings in Moscow, 2006

The 27-story high Paveletskaya Tower, an office building designed by Sergey Borisovich Tkachenko, opened in 2003, Moscow, Russia

Cosmos Apartment Towers, Saint Petersburg

A residential building in Chelyabinsk, Russia

The highest tensile structure in the world: the Khan Shatyr Entertainment Center, a 500 ft (150 m) high transparent tent in Astana, Kazakhstan, designed by Norman Foster, opened in 2010. It has an internal park, a shopping center, an indoor beach resort, a boating river, and an entertainment venue.

Europe's tallest tower, the 1,112 ft (339 m) high, Mercury City Tower in Moscow, constructed between 2009 and 2013

The 39-story Triumph of Astana, a mixed-use building (it has offices, a hotel and apartments) in Astana, Kazakhstan, opened in 2006.

Legion III Centre, Moscow, Russia, opened in 2008

Northern Tower, Moscow, Russia, completed in 2007

A residential complex in Nishny Novgorod

Baikonur Apartment Towers, Astana, Kazakhstan

Traffic Police Headquarters, Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan, Russia

The Big Ben of Surgut, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Russia

A residential complex in Moscow, Russia

MosFilm Tower, Moscow, Russia, completed in December 2011

The Scarlet Sails apartment complex with a 48-story tower, Moscow, Russia

Lazurny Kvartal (means Azure Complex), a residential complex in Astana, Kazakhstan, opened in 2011

Kuntsevo Living Complex, Moscow, Russia

The Zeppelin of Moscow, Russia

Parus Business Center, Moscow, Russia

The tallest railway station building (101 m or 331 ft including the spire) in Europe, Samara, Russia, opened in 1999

Nur Otan Party Building in Astana, Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan Central Concert Hall, designed by Manfredi Nicoletti, opened in December 2009, Astana, Kazakhstan

The rhombicuboctahedron-shaped National Library of Belarus, in Minsk, Belarus, designed by Mihail Vinogradov and Viktor Kramarenko, opened in 2006

Chrystal Plaza in Samara, Russia

Gazprom Headquarters, Moscow, Russia

A Billiard and Chess Centre in Khanty-Mansiysk, hosted the 2010 Chess Olympics, designed by Erick Van Egeraat, opened in 2010

The castle-like Edelweiss Tower, designed as a companion to the Seven Sisters skyscrapers in Moscow, Russia, opened in 2003

Zenit International Business Center, Moscow, Russia. The construction was started in 1991, but stopped two years later.

Zapsibgazprom Building in Tyumen, Russia, opened in 2004