Kazakhskiy University – Almaty – Socialist bas reliefs

Posted on 06/07/2025 by Michael

Kazakhskiy University – Almaty

Kazakhskiy University – Almaty – Socialist bas reliefs

This is a (relatively) unique example of Soviet art in Kazakhstan for a number of unrelated reasons;

this was the only such example that I came across in my travels in the summer of 2025, not just in Kazakhstan but in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan;

it has obviously been looked after and any repainting and renovation has been carried out with care and consideration;

it is unusual that in the images on both sides of the entrance to the building it is the women who are playing the leading role – it’s normally shared by the genders;

the Hammer and Sickle is in a central and therefore important location but it is depicted in a form that is unusual (although not, I think, unique as I am sure I’ve seen such a representation but – unfortunately – can’t remember where). Here, in place of the shaft of the hammer crossing the blade of the sickle, the back edge of the sickle rests on the head of the hammer and its shaft touches the tip of the sickle’s blade. I cannot think of a reason for this inversion of the hammer, especially as this is at the entrance of an educational establishment. However, the laurel leaves (representing achievement and success) cradle the symbol of the agricultural and industrial workers;

both the women are striving high in their respective endeavours. The one holding the flaming torch (the flame of which is painted red) is promoting – and striving for – technology, knowledge and civilisation, but here a civilisation based on a newer and finer ethic, that of Socialism and internationalism. The woman stretching to her utmost so that her book is as high as possible represents learning, literacy (an always primary goal of any society with a Socialist aspiration) and the acquisition of knowledge in general.

These images are now at the edge of a much bigger educational complex than it would have been in the immediate pre-Great Patriotic War period but it is good to see that there are some people in a position of authority to ensure that this important aspect of Kazakh history and culture is preserved and respected.

The black plaque notes that this was the Kazakh State Institute of Foreign Languages, 1938-1940. I assume that was the period it took to build the complex as the Soviet Union always – even in its revisionist manifestation – placed great importance on the country having people with an excellent understanding of many of the world’s languages.

The gold plaque states that the building was completed and opened on 1st September 1941.

This is now quite a large complex but the learning, and teaching, of foreign languages does not seem to have the same importance in capitalist Kazakhstan as it did in the Soviet Union. Presently the building is used for a whole variety of subjects – including the ubiquitous business/management’ courses (which will lead students into debt and then into a dead end ‘start-up’, in the vast majority of circumstances).

Location;

Tole Bi Street 84, Almaty

GPS;

43.253986 N

76.936108 E

VI Lenin in Karakol – Kyrgyzstan

Posted on 29/06/2025 by Michael

VI Lenin in Karakol, Kyrgyzstan

VI Lenin in Karakol – Kyrgyzstan

The only remaining statue of VI Lenin in Karakol, a town on the southern shore of Lake Issyk Kul in eastern Kyrgyzstan, is one that stands facing the large, open square between the University building and the public park in the centre of the town.

Although Comrade Lenin looks down on the square where, in the Soviet past, there would have been various parades and celebrations, and was therefore placed in a ‘suitable’ location, the proportions make the statue look somewhat out of place.

The statue of VI Lenin is life size yet he has been placed on a very tall pillar making him look somewhat lost so high up. The fact that he is located at the end of an avenue across the road from the square further distances him from any events that would have taken place there – a square which itself stretches into the distance.

Further, the statue has suffered the ‘golden treatment’, having been given a coat of gold paint. As I see more of this treatment of Lenin statues I’m starting to wonder if this treatment is a sign of respect or just the reverse. I still haven’t been to decide which not having seen what the original was like, pre-1990 and the so-called ‘independence’ of Kyrgyzstan. That conclusion has been made more difficult due to the fact that (in the summer of 2025) statues of Lenin are being removed in Kyrgyzstan at an increasing rate.

Location;

On the corner of Gebze Street and Tynystanova Street.

GPS;

42.49161 N

78.40014 E

San Joan de Reus University Hospital

Posted on 22/09/2012 by Michael

Aerial view of the entrances to the hospital

San Joan de Reus University Hospital

Innovative modern architecture is evident in the recently opened San Joan de Reus University Hospital, on the outskirts of the city in the southern part of Catalonia. This is yet another example of where the countries of Europe lead the way when it comes to modern architecture.

I only spent little over an hour in Reus on the way to the airport. My original plan was to spend a few days getting to know the city (I’d never been there before) but as time just seemed to run out all of a sudden that was one of the plans that suffered. It seemed quite an interesting place, in a quiet way, and sitting on the bus I thought to return and make an effort to spend some time there in the future.

That became a certainty as the bus to the airport arrived at the edge of the city itself and the beginning of the industrial estate that contains the airport. Coming around the corner we passed along the whole length of one of the most impressive hospital buildings I’ve ever seen.

It’s officially called the San Joan de Reus University Hospital and was opened only a couple of years ago in 2010. For such a huge building there didn’t seem to be a lot of activity so, at the time of writing, I’m not sure if it’s one of the white elephants that seem to proliferate on the peninsular at the moment. It seems far too big for such a small place as Reus (but it does have a large oncology unit that serves the Tarragona region). There was a programme on British radio, more or less 6 weeks ago, about the airport in Ciudad Real in Castille, that was opened and then closed within a couple of years and now lies collecting cobwebs.

The Reus hospital comes from the architectural practice of Mario Corea, based in Barcelona. Its mission statement for the project introduces an interesting approach which other architects could do well to consider.

‘The project is presented as a major horizontal unit with light wells on which six two- storey hospitalization volumes rest as if they were floating.
The idea of this hospital design is to control its size and make it similar to the urban dimensions, controlling and balancing the landscape impact of such a building in the city.’

But that didn’t come cheap. The cost ranged from 120 to 170 million Euros on the different websites I consulted. Don’t know why there is such a wide variation, it’s not as if you can just ‘lose’ 50 million Euros – or can you?

As I was on my way out I don’t have any pictures of my own of the hospital but have provided a few links to some web sites which will give you an idea of what I’m talking about. On those pages there are a mixture of photographs and artist impressions.

But when I see buildings like this the question that comes to my mind is this: why does Spain, and has done so for, at least 25 years, benefit from interesting, innovative and aesthetically pleasing architecture when we in the UK are (more often than not) presented with the second class, the generic and the banal?

This is the case even when world-famous British architects are involved. For example, Foster has a huge practice just outside of Madrid, you pass it if you go to Segovia by road, due to the fact they have been commissioned to see through a number of projects in the country. And when British architects win commissions in Spain their creations are something unique, different and distinctive.

Whereas in this country we get designs which seem to be ‘off the shelf’, with little originality and if they have anything to say about them it’s that they are tall, as can be seen by The Shard in London.

And that seems to be the ambition of those who want to develop the waterfront in Liverpool. For reasons which I just can’t fathom they want to make the Liverpool skyline rival that of Shanghai. Why?

I’m not that impressed, personally, by what I’ve seen of Shanghai (which I haven’t seen in actuality) nor Hong Kong (which I have) but I’m even less impressed with the idea that Liverpool should compete with those two destroyed cities on the other side of the world.

The early 20^th century Pierhead is unique. Those three major buildings (and some of the others close by, on or close to the Dock Road) mean the only place in the world you can be is in Liverpool.

If we are to get some new buildings along both sides of the Mersey it would be a pleasant change if we had structures which can be compared favourably to the bridges of Santiago Calatrava, for example, whose structures have actually enhanced the Guadalquivir in Seville, or the Auditorio de Tenerife, which stands next to the ocean at Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

The proposed design for the new Royal Hospital looks interesting but retains the idea that higher equates to better.

I don’t know when I might have another chance to visit Reus but one of the places I will be heading for is this building on the outskirts of the city.