The Irony of Fate is the country's favorite holiday movie.
According to the plot, a group of old friends have a tradition of going to a public bathing house on New Year's eve. Having consumed too much alcohol at one of the eves, the protagonist confuses his own flat in Leningrad with someone's flat in Moscow. The street name, building and apartment number, even the interior are exactly the same.
One might wonder - why is it the most popular film in Russia? The answer is that it reflects the reality of Russian panel buildings. It shows to what extent all of them are similar to each other as well as gives a viewer a grasp of their atmosphere inside.

We think these buildings are a big part of contemporary Russia's culture. So in this video we decided to talk about the way these panel buildings have shaped lives for many generations ahead.

Contents:
0:00 Intro
0:47 What is this episode about?
3:07 Where did the 'panel Russia' begin?
9:37 History of Khruschevkas
11:43 Leonid Parfenov talks about attributes of a Soviet room
14:55 How do people redesign their flats?
16:03 What happened to qualified architects when the panel construction had began?
17:00 Who designed the first series of Khruschevka?
18:40 What makes us feel nostalgic?
20:45 Soviet Colosseum
25:37 Why do we build vertically while the US builds horizontally?
27:45 Commuter towns
29:32 Is Moscow different from other cities?
31:55 Panels in St-Petersburg
33:20 What's wrong with new housing?
34:26 Real estate advice on flats in panel buildings
36:02 The most widespread series of the Soviet panel buildings
38:00 How do some people remodel and redecorate their flats?
40:39 A plumber from YouTube
43:20 What's wrong with urban infill development?
45:21 Modern buildings are 'ant nests'
47:57 A different attitude to renovation
50:17 About private housing
52:47 Why do we love our panel buildings?