Imperial Pomp

Frank Herfort has been criss-crossing Russia for the last four years photographing his long-term project “Imperial Pomp – Post Soviet Highrise”. His images of monstrously massive buildings with an overwhelming presence seem to come from another time and dimension.

In documenting a unique phenomenon, the German photographer Frank Herfort has journeyed to the most remote areas of the former Soviet Union.

After the collapse of the regime, a strangely pompous architectural style sprung up throughout the new republic. It conflates the aesthetics of monumental Soviet architecture with the Western language of form seen in the twentieth century.

“After exploring Moscow’s structures I realised, that in all cities and former Soviet countries you can find such buildings,” says Herfort. “So, I travelled to Vladivostok, to Blagoveshchensk on the Chinese border on River Amur, to Astana in Kazakhstan, to Baku in Azerbaijan, to Sochi and to St Petersburg. And everywhere in between.

I was always impressed by these huge constructions while driving through Moscow. Moscow doesn’t have a big skyline or big houses in the cityscape, and then I was even more impressed when suddenly there appeared one of these big new coloured buildings. They are standing like single flowers cropped in the landscape.

Frank Herfort, Imperial Pomp – Post Soviet High Rise

The strange thing is that these buildings are also used to manipulate the humans and try to make them feel small. I never had the idea, that these buildings are constructed and designed for people. If you go inside or around, you see that there are no infrastructure, no pavements, no real access.

The first building I shot was the Aliye Parusa Tower in Moscow, because I was really impressed with the combination of Soviet elements and decors, which were also used in all of the Stalin-era buildings.”

Herfort’s series “Imperial Pomp: Post-Soviet High-Rise” was published in 2013 by the Kerber Verlag.