"Downers are sneaking around on air slides": Moscow of the XXII-XXIII centuries on postcards of 1914

In 1914, the capital's confectionery factory "Einem" (after the revolution — "Red October") released a series of futuristic postcards "Moscow of the Future". They were put into gift packages of sweets. On the reverse of the first card is the accompanying text: "... we meant to look, to the best of our abilities and the diversity of colorful imagination, into the more or less distant future of our dear and familiar mother Moscow. Anyone who knows and loves Moscow will be interested in taking a mental look at what will happen to Moscow and its inhabitants in about 200-300 years. These are the pictures that open up to our eyes on the basis of more or less accurate logical conclusions."

An envelope for postcards.

The series includes eight postcards depicting Moscow attractions, among which there is the Central Station. It was expected to be built soon, but then they changed their minds. A brief abstract is printed on the back of each postcard. Due to the fact that the series was released during the tsarist regime, there is no pronounced ideological subtext in the annotations. Unlike the Soviet futuristic filmstrip of 1960.

Theater Square. "The pace of life has increased a hundred times. Everywhere there is lightning-fast movement of wheeled, winged, propeller and other vehicles. The trading house "Muir and Merlise", which existed back in 1846, has now grown to fabulous proportions, and its main departments are connected to the air railways. Numerous motors fly out from under the pavement. There's a fire somewhere in the distance. We see a car fire brigade that will stop the disaster in a moment. Biplanes, monoplanes and many aerial carriages are rushing to the fire."

Central Station. "Winter is the same as it was with us 200 years ago. The snow is just as white and cold. The central station of the Earth and air routes. Tens of thousands of people coming and leaving, everything is going extremely quickly, systematically and conveniently. At the service of passengers — land and air. Those who wish can move with the speed of telegrams."