CARAVANS & COMMISSARS

In each location throughout Ukraine, the removal of tributes to communism was not just an attempt to modernize the new states. It played an important role in forging each country's new national identity. After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, massive statues of revolutionaries were erected throughout the republics of the U.S.S.R., including the land that is now Ukraine. Cities throughout the Ukrainian socialist republic were once filled with monumental portrait statues of V

Rooted in the past, the Heydar Aliyev Center presents the independent nation of Azerbaijan as both modern and forward looking. Completed in 2012, Zaha Hadid’s Heydar Aliyev Center has become a defining symbol of new, independent Azerbaijan. It appears on the 200 Manat banknote, the highest value Azerbaijani bill. Its unique form turns away from the architecture of the Soviet Union to embrace local Azerbaijani culture and geography. The curves of Hadid’s building resemble the

In the Caucasus, it is said that “if the head is intact, a papakha should be on it.” The papakha , or papaq , is a spherical sheepskin hat worn by men across the Turko-Persian world, which spans from the Caucasus mountains through the steppes of Central Asia to Afghanistan. Regional variations in the hats resulted from the distinct coloration and qualities of the sheep native to each region. For example, the shaggy papakhas worn in the Caucasus are most commonly made from the

“The physical education of the rising generation is one of the necessary elements of the system of communist education of youth” -Vladimir Lenin, addressing the Third Congress of the Komosomol, October 1920 Historical Background Sambo is a Soviet sport that emerged in the 1920s and 1930s as a hand‑to‑hand combat system developed for the Red Army and security forces. Its movements are drawn from judo, wrestling, and other fighting arts. Its name comes from the Russian phrase “