Watch a YouTuber Find Striking Soviet Architecture and Art in the Longest City in Europe

His mission turns out to be a little more difficult than anticipated, as Kryvyi Rih is a vast city and public transportation isn’t as efficient as he’d like it to be. But after a couple of rides on the electric tramway, the cheap and beautiful metro, and thanks to Viktor, an unexpected guide with a simple but functioning car, Rich manages to find a few matches from the book.

His first find is the Taras Shevchenko Theatre, a municipal concert hall with nearly 650 seats that looks just as good today and it looked under the rule of the USSR.

Photo: Stock Kryvyi Rih/Shutterstock

His second find is a monument announcing the entrance of the Park in the Name of Pravda Newspaper (‘Pravda’ used to be the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union). While in the park, he also stumbles onto the Kryvyi Rih Boat Station, a pretty white building right on the river.

Photo: Sashko Tkachenko/Shutterstock

On his visit, Rich also finds the musical college, the post office (still bearing the hammer and sickle), an old airplane with a USSR stamp on one of its wings, the Circus (a circular building that hosts plays, concerts, and shows), and an uncrewed Soviet monument that looks like a memorial. All look very much the same as they did in 1983 and appear to be still operating.

Check out Rich’s video below and take a Soviet tour of a Ukrainian town you’ve probably never heard of.