Bus-stop mosaic, Corlăteni

A roofed bus stop clad in mosaic on the edge of Corlăteni, in the Rîșcani district of northern Moldova. The symmetrical shelter carries a central panel with a large radial flower medallion — a cruciform palmette and a star of petals in orange, blue and white — flanked by whole walls of tessellated lozenges, each holding a stylized four-petal flower; the palette mixes slate-blue, sage-green, ochre and terracotta. The work belongs to the Soviet tradition of rural mosaic bus stops: through the 1960s–80s, many halts along Moldova's roads were clad in smalt and ceramic, and the country preserves one of the richest surviving concentrations of them. The artist and year are undocumented — like most of these village stops, the panel is unattributed. Corlăteni is a large village (over 5,000 inhabitants), first attested in 1640, in the Răut river basin a few kilometres from Bălți; Bălți International Airport ("Leadoveni") lies on its territory. The photographs come from an openly-licensed Photobank-MD series geotagged at the shelter.

Tracks

Northern Moldova, Roadside Mosaics

Neighborhood

Corlăteni, Rîșcani district

Building

Stație de autobuz, Corlăteni, r. Rîșcani

Photos: photobankmd (CC0)