Photographer Christopher Herwig first noticed the unusual architecture of Soviet-era bus stops during a 2002 long-distance bike ride from London to St. Petersburg. Challenging himself to take one good photograph every hour, Herwig began to notice surprisingly designed bus stops on otherwise deserted stretches of road. Twelve years later, Herwig had covered more than 18,000 miles in 14 countries of the former Soviet Union, traveling by car, bike, bus and taxi to hunt down and document these bus stops.
The local bus stop proved to be fertile ground for local artistic experimentation in the Soviet period, and was built seemingly without design restrictions or budgetary concerns. The result is an astonishing variety of styles and types across the region, from the strictest Brutalism to exuberant whimsy.
Soviet Bus Stops is the most comprehensive and diverse collection of Soviet bus stop design ever assembled, including examples from Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Abkhazia, Georgia, Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus and Estonia.
A wide range of shapes and materials, bold colors, and patterned mosaics. The shapes are playful, often asymmetrical, an interesting mix of Brutalist and organic forms, some almost Googie-esque. Some are impractical, others unrecognizable as bus stops to my eye. Very brief text introduction then gets right to the photography, which is my preference.
Further reading:
2 replies on “Read Soviet Bus Stops”
Jump to: Books read in 2025 | Did Not Finish | Other Years’ Reading | Currently reading Books Read in 2025 * indicates re-reads. 👍 = enjoyed a lot 👍👍 = loved Presented in reverse order. Links go to my review / notes. {{CODEbookbuttons}} {{CODEfilterbooks}} Read in March Soviet Bus Stops by Christopher Herwig (art…
[caption id="attachment_25127" align="alignnone" width="1000"] digging the snack lunch this week — makes me think of my gram, who had an apple and cheese for lunch basically every day[/caption] The coup and the ravaging destruction of our government and the world order is getting to me… I’m antsy, so concentrating on reading a book is hard,…