Solo Skate Mag have put together an incredible short clip with Marek Zaprazny, to coincide with their recent feature which sees Daryl Mersom and Marek exploring the more skateable examples of Soviet architecture littered throughout Slovakia and more specifically Bratislava. With the piece itself examining these Soviet monuments, so often appearing in skate videos in recent years, with recourse to their actual history (an approach all too rarely taken in articles about skate trips), the edit features a few words from Marek as he makes the most of the sometimes dreamily smooth, sometimes cheese grater rough, but always visually mesmerizing architecture which the Soviet era produced.

Press play for an edit beautifully filmed and edited by by Marco Sevino, then start checking flight prices…

“Until 1993 Bratislava was part of Czechoslovakia behind the Iron Curtain. During the Soviet period students and fledgling architects took on the socialist realism style, hoping to get ahead in the new system.”

Check out the full article via the words below, which if you have any curiosity will lead you down a Google rabbit hole of arguments surrounding representations of Soviet architecture which will somehow steal half an afternoon of your time;

“In April, we set off in the first of the two countries confused by Bush; the one that borders the Czech Republic, Austria, Poland, Ukraine, and Hungary, and that until 1993 was a part of Czechoslovakia. Bratislava, Dukla, Prešov, Košice, Liptovský Mikuláš, Zvolen, Banská Bystrica, Lučenec, Komárno, Nitra, Žilina. The names of the Slovakian towns and cities conquered in battle by the Soviet Army are glorified in marble relief on the sides of Bratislava’s Slavín memorial, along with the dates of the victories.”