Why is Soviet
architecture so ugly? On a Road Scholar tour to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania,
I saw a lot of it, and, boy, is it ugly. When the USSR had control of those
countries, they plunked these bare concrete boxes down next to variously colored
and ornately decorated homes and shops from previous centuries which have kept
their charm. Not that baroque is exactly my cup of kvass, but it’s fanciful and
ebullient. Earlier styles have symmetry and decoration. Soviet brutalism (the
perfect name) is not fanciful or ebullient. It’s the wet blanket of European
architecture.
In Tallinn,
Estonia, they’ve tried perching super-modern glass enclosures on top of the
brutish concrete. My personal jury is still out on that technique. Points for
effort. In all three countries, they’re working on renovating the depressing
structures to make them more attractive. It takes a lot of time and a lot of
money and, no doubt, a mighty effort of the spirit.
I asked my fellow
Scholars, “Why is Soviet architecture so ugly?” A couple of the
engineering-minded men opined, “It’s cheap.” The Soviet occupiers wanted to
make their presence known for as few rubles as possible. And a woman added they
didn’t do any maintenance either; they just let things rust. All of this made
sense, but something else still whispered on the edge of my awareness.
Then I got a
chance to visit with a Lithuanian friend of a friend. He kindly drove me around
the city of Vilnius, saving my poor tired feet and giving me a different
perspective. So I asked Egidijus, “Why is Soviet architecture so ugly?” He
answered without a pause, “Because they reject God.” The pieces dropped into
place. The human ability to create and appreciate beauty is a gift from the One
Who made us in His image. Gazing on beauty may nudge our thoughts to the
sublime and get us thinking that there is something, Someone, higher than the
state. And if we’re building the Soviet Man, we can’t have that, can we?
The brave and beautiful
Baltic countries have come a long way since throwing off Soviet rule. May they
have all success in covering the lumps and scars with beauty. And may they know
whence comes their help.