Unrecognizable: Grozny Then And Now

In 1995, Prospekt Lenina (Lenin Street) was a scene of destruction and refugees. The white building is a ruined music school. Now, the street is renamed Prospekt Kadyrova (Kadyrov Street), leading to a grand mosque - by some accounts the largest in Europe.

 

January 1995, a Chechen fighter keeps watch as civilians cross the square next to the presidential palace, the gutted building in the background. Today, the huge mosque stands on the site of the palace. A monument has been erected to pro-Kremlin Chechen forces killed fighting Islamist fighters. It is surrounded by old Chechen grave stones, which commemorate Chechens killed by Stalin.
 

Prospekt Mira (Peace Street) in the center of Grozny, looking towards the central market place. No traces now of the devastation visible in 1996.

The market place at the end of Prospekt Mira is bustling amid the ruins in the photo taken in September 1996. Chechen fighters are driving away, with a portrait of their leader, Dzhokar Dudayev, in the windscreen. The market has now been moved elsewhere, the ruins replaced with new housing blocks.

Minutka Square was the scene of some of the bloodiest battles. It has also been completely rebuilt.

A view looking north along Prospekt Mira, from the corner with Krasnoflotskaja (Red Fleet Street).