Welcome Signs

What can tell the history of a town or a city in a nutshell? Not people, not local museums, and not even historical areas with its architecture, but something on the surface; literally at the entrance. Of course, I am speaking about welcome signs. Usually, in North America and Europe, cities are limited to simple, road signs, rarely with a some kind of bas-relief, and even more rarely, the real monuments. However, in the post-Soviet countries the welcome signs have been realized as a full part of monumental art.

The need to define the boundaries of settlements originated with the advent of the first cities, as there is a plenty of archaeological evidence for this. For example, the widely known Boundary Stelae of Akhenaten, a group of stelae carved in the cliffs around the self-titled ancient Egyptian city. Also, one cannot forget to mention the Mayan king Chan Imix Kʼawiil who set up the stelae around the Copán area. It is noteworthy that those structures served not only as markers of borders, but also had a religious purpose.
As for Russia, we began to build such monuments in the second half of the 20th century, due to the intensive construction of railways and highways, as well as the development of communication systems. Indeed, such signs are not just monuments but images of the cities, their "visiting card", in some ways as sacral as those that were built a thousand years ago, serving as a part of the Soviet mythology.

Identification of cities was one of the primary tasks for Soviet architects, and they accomplished it perfectly. The style of stelae was unique for every city and town, as their design was based on historical, cultural, or scientifically technical background of a city. For example, city-forming enterprises played a key role in the development of monocities, which was reflected in the stelae. Ethnic motives, as well as the subject of patriotism, have also found their place in the welcome signs.

Due to such ideological diversity, a variety of forms arose: despite the "classical" stelae and font compositions, there are lots of monumental sculptures and even some experimental works. As for the fonts, the severe restrictions of font standards by the state itself, as well as the Iron Curtain motivated designers to create their own calligraphic sets, which became the prime example of the unique Soviet lettering.

Here are some welcome signs of the post-Soviet space that seemed interesting to me.

Mozhga (Можга). Russia.

Kaspiysk (Каспийск). Russia.

Lida (Лида). Belorussia.

Ivanteevka (Ивантеевка). Russia.

Elista (Элиста). Russia.

Roslavl (Рославль). Russia.

Zapolyarny (Заполярный). Russia.

Kungur (Кунгур). Russia.

Kyshtym (Кыштым). Russia.

Yarishev (Ярышев). Ukraine.

Babayevo (Бабаево). Russia.

Kamensk-Uralsky (Каменск-Уральский). Russia.

Orsk (Орск). Russia.

Sibay (Сибай). Russia.

Solnechnogorsk (Солнечногорск). Russia.

Buren-Hem (Бурен-Хем). Russia.

Ust-Ordynsky (Усть-Ордынский). Russia.

Shu (Шу). Kazakhstan.

Ekibastuz (Экибастуз). Kazakhstan.

Temirtau (Темиртау). Kazakhstan.

Therefore, the welcome signs are truly a unique architecture phenomenon which defined the identity of our country and each city in particular. Thanks to the Soviet architects and their enthusiasm, the spirit of the times is revealed in these monuments. Nowadays, the signs of small provincial towns are of particular value because the most of them have not changed since the moment of construction. They are, in fact, a monumental legacy of that era, the monolithic mark in our history.