Modernism behind Iron Curtain lasted much longer than elsewhere in Europe or North America, practically until 1991. It was modernism without bells and whistles. Today it is fashionable to undervalue and even hate these buildings due to the connection with totalitarian regimes...but ideologies aside many architects of this harsh era greatly reduced the post war housing shortage. Buildings which were intended to function for 50 years or so are still in great shape and when people were moving in after often long waits they weren't enslaved by the crazy mortgages for a shoe box like apartments like today. I love the sight of Paneláki (Plattenbau, Tower Blocks) in picturesque valleys of Slovakia.
Detva, Slovakia February 2019 © Blazej Marczak / www.bmarczak.com
