Rare photographs, taken in Moscow when the Cold War was at its coldest. Step inside the real Iron Curtain of 1958-1959.

Taken by unknown visitors to Moscow between 1958 and 1959, this group of photographs have no provenance whatsoever and as such, are full of potential. These visitors stay at the better hotels (the Moscow and the Ukraine) and take photographs from their balconies. They take pictures of other people taking pictures. A man in a hat poses in the middle of a street holding a briefcase, a prominent landmark in the distance behind him. Another odd tourist in a long overcoat is photographed whilst taking photographs.

When one tries to fill the gaps with story, it’s difficult not to feel the the aura here of a Graham Greene novel. Khrushchev’s Russia is amping up, blatantly confronting the West; testing nuclear weapons, launching Sputnik 3; shooting down US planes in Soviet airspace. Cold War is fermenting. Moscow is a shadowy, threatening place for these visitors to be and yet there they are.

Exhibition of Soviet Economic Achievements at Moscow’s Central Pavilion. 1959.
Fortepan / Dán Zsuzsanna
On the chest of drawers is a Soviet made television,
the 1953 APU-1. 1959.
Fortepan / Dömölky Etelka
Sparrow Hill (then Mount Lenin), VI. A sculpture made to commenorate the World Youth Meeting. 1959.
Fortepan / Dömölky Etelka
Moszkva Szálló. Shot from a balcony of the Moscow Hotel. 1958
Fortepan / Szent-tamási Mihály
Moszkva Szálló. Shot from a balcony of the Moscow Hotel. 1958
Fortepan / Szent-tamási Mihály
A man in a hat and carrying a briefcase poses for a shot on Malaya Dorogomilovskaya street behind the Ukraine Hostel. 1958.
Fortepan : Répay András
A man in a hat and carrying a briefcase poses for a shot on Malaya Dorogomilovskaya street behind the Ukraine Hostel. 1958.
Fortepan : Répay András
Manege Square, the State Historical Museum and the Arsenal Corner Bastion shot from inside the Moscow Hotel. 1958.
Fortepan – Chuckyeager tumblr
Red Square. 1958.
Fortepan / Wein Sarolta.
Vtoroj Bryansk looking from Bryansk Street to Bolshaya Dorogomilovskaya Street. 1958.
Fortepan / Répay András
View from Moscow Hotel to Red Square. 1958.
Fortepan / Chuckyeager tumblr
The State Historical Museum next to the Kremlin in Red Square. 1958.
Fortepan / Szent-tamási Mihály
Manege Square. On the left is the Manézs, once a tsarist riding school, now an exhibition hall. 1958.
Fortepan / Wein Sarolta
Sofijskaya embankment, on the opposite side of the Moscow River from the Kremlinovskaya embankment. 1959.
Fortepan / Dömölky Etelka
Lomonosov University. 1959.
Fortepan / Dömölky Etelka
Plosagy Tverskaya Zastava (then plosagy Beloruszkava vokzala) facing Leningradsky Prospekt. 1959.
Fortepan / Dömölky Etelka
Red Square, opposite the Vasily Blazenny Cathedral,
the Spaskaya Tower, once the main entrance to the Kremlin and the Lenin Mausoleum is on the right. 1959.
Fortepan : Dömölky Etelka
Red Square. 1958.
Fortepan /Wein Sarolt
Red Square, Lenin’s Mausoleum. 1959.
Fortepan : Dömölky Etelka
Metro line 3, Kiev station. 1958.
Fortepan / Wein Sarolta
Rozestvensky Avenue facing Trubnaya Square. 1959.
Fortepan / Dobóczi Zsolt
Gorky Street seen from Triumfalnaya Square. 1959.
Fortepan / Németh Tamás Tverskaya
Kutuzov Avenue seen from Ukrainsky Boulevard. 1958.
Fortepan – Chuckyeager tumblr
Man in overcoat takes photograph in the park at the front of Lomonosov University,
behind the fence is Lomonosov Avenue. 1959.
Fortepan / Dömölky Etelka
Grand Theater (Bolshoi). 1958.
Fortepan / Wein Sarolta
Jauza Road leading up to the Great Ustinsky Hydra. 1959.
Fortepan / Wein Sarolta
The end of Red Square looking towards the Moscow River,
the high-rise building in the background is on the Kotyelnyeskaya embankment of the Moscow River. 1959.
Fortepan / Dömölky Etelk

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