This photographic series tells the story of Yangiyabad — a secluded mountain town in Uzbekistan, built after World War II by German prisoners of war. I was born there, and after years of living in the capital, I longed to return through the lens of my camera.

This project is a personal exploration of the dissonance between Soviet monumental architecture — once a symbol of power and ideology — and the quiet, vastly transformed cultural and emotional landscape of contemporary Uzbekistan.

Yangiyabad is a small, remote town located in the mountains of eastern Uzbekistan, about 70 km from Tashkent. It sits high in the Chatkal mountain range, at an altitude of over 1500 meters.

The town was built in the 1950s, during the Soviet era, as a closed settlement—one of many so-called “postal code” towns that were restricted and often didn’t appear on maps.
 

The town showcases Soviet monumental architecture, a striking contrast to the wild mountainous surroundings.
You can find cultural centers, schools, residential buildings with neoclassical details, grand staircases, pillars, and socialist-modernist symmetry.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the shutdown of the uranium mines, the town experienced a dramatic decline. 

Today, it remains partially inhabited, quiet, and somewhat frozen in time.

Yangiyabad’s distinctive three-story buildings reflect a unique blend of seismic safety, harsh mountain climate, and Soviet-era planning—making its architectural scale both practical and culturally specific.

This project was created in collaboration with Victoria Yarofeeva.
Thank you for watching.