The Soviet Union's Public Art Legacy

A mosaic above the entrance to the Frunzenskaya Metro station, in Moscow, celebrates science and the Soviet space program.

Outside the station, more mosaics sit incongruously above an American fast-food outlet.

An idyllic vision of the future adorns the ceiling of the 1938 Mayakovskaya Metro Station, Moscow.

A detail from a mosaic celebrating the Soviet Union's workers, on Moscow's Oktyabr Theater.

This mosaic in northern Moscow honors firefighters.

At Belorusski Vokzal station, in Moscow, Lenin can still be seen leading the revolution.

A monument to the Internationale -- the communist hymn -- in central Irkutsk.

In Osh, Kyrgyzstan, the mascot for the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan -- celebrating the Soviet mantra "friendship of the peoples."

Above the entrance to a textile factory in Bishkek. At the top, it says, "Our work, Motherland, is for you."

Atomic scientists are featured on the wall of this now-abandoned uranium mill in the southern Kyrgyzstani town of Mailuu-Suu.

Inside the 1970s Nurek Dam, Lenin is at the heart of a mosaic celebrating Soviet Tajikistan's farming and industry.

At a derelect mining operation in Tajikistan's Anzob Pass.

A mosaic celebrating the achievements (chiefly cotton) and exoticism of Soviet Tajikistan.

Tajikistan -- a bus stop in Khorogh, on the Afghan border, honors border guards protecting the Soviet Union's southern frontier.

Kazakhstan -- workers on the walls of Astana's train station.

A mural in praise of local fishermen and their revolutionary zeal, at Aralsk railway station, Kazakhstan.