Vintage Moscow Intourist Travel Poster
Vintage Moscow Intourist Travel Poster
Vintage Moscow Intourist Poster – circa. 1930’s – Intourist was the official state travel agency of the Soviet Union, founded in 1929 by Joseph Stalin and was staffed by NKVD and later KGB officials. In 1933 Aron Sheinman started work for Intourist in London and filled the post of Director from 1937 to 1939. When he was dismissed he refused to return to Moscow, and gained British citizenship later that year.
Intourist was responsible for managing the great majority of foreigners’ access to, and travel within, the Soviet Union.
The vintage posters were designed to advertise flights and train routes to the Soviet Union through the travel company Intourist – founded by Joseph Stalin in 1929.
The posters – commissioned in the 1930s – were designed to encourage visitors to the Communist country, before the Second World War and ensuing Cold War closed off the Soviet Union to westerners.
Moscow is a major political, economic, cultural, and scientific center of Russia and Eastern Europe, as well as the largest city entirely on the European continent.
Moscow is situated on the Moskva River in the Central Federal District of European Russia, making it the world’s most populated inland city. The city is well known for its architecture, particularly its historic buildings such as Saint Basil’s Cathedral with its brightly colored domes. With over 40 percent of its territory covered by greenery, it is one of the greenest capitals and major cities in Europe and the world, having the largest forest in an urban area within its borders—more than any other major city—even before its expansion in 2012.
The city has served as the capital of a progression of states, from the medieval Grand Duchy of Moscow and the subsequent Tsardom of Russia to the Russian Empire to the Soviet Union and the contemporary Russian Federation. Moscow is considered the center of Russian culture, having served as the home of Russian artists, scientists and sports figures and because of the presence of museums, academic and political institutions and theaters.
Moscow is the seat of power of the Government of Russia, being the site of the Moscow Kremlin, a medieval city-fortress that is today the residence for work of the President of Russia. The Moscow Kremlin and Red Square are also one of several World Heritage Sites in the city. Both chambers of the Russian parliament (the State Duma and the Federation Council) also sit in the city.
The city is served by a transit network, which includes four international airports, nine railway terminals, numerous trams, a monorail system and one of the deepest underground rapid transit systems in the world, the Moscow Metro, the fourth-largest in the world and largest outside of Asia in terms of passenger numbers, and the busiest in Europe. It is recognized as one of the city’s landmarks due to the rich architecture of its 200 stations.
