Pavel Barinov, known in the city as Frankie the Local Historian, is a Nizhny Novgorod historian and tour guide [1]. He leads his own guided tours, gives lectures, cycles around the city in search of old buildings, and together with an artist working under the pseudonym Max BMS installs handmade memorial plaques on the streets — in places where no official memorial plaques exist and none are expected.
The Plaques
The format is straightforward: a small panel in a street-art style, featuring a portrait or an image of a building and a few lines about what once stood here. The plaques appear not by committee decision but by the decision of two people who believe these things deserve to be remembered.
On 5 May 2026, a plaque in memory of a demolished building appeared on the construction fence surrounding the site where the Lenin Palace of Culture had stood: against a red background, the palace itself and a brief account of its fate [1]. Barinov reminded his followers at the time that the palace had appeared on the city map in 1927, and that the money for its construction had been collected by workers from the factories and plants of Kanavino [1].
On 21 June 2026, a second piece was installed on Lamanov Street — featuring a portrait and an account of Nadezhda Lamanova, the fashion designer whose name the street bears [2].
The Tours
The second part of each session consists of walks. Barinov leads groups through the city along his own routes, with his own selection of subjects: not the grand vistas, but the buildings and places people walk past without a second glance.
He finds the material himself, most often from the saddle of his bicycle: he notices a building, then digs into its history and posts what he discovers to his channels. The Telegram channel "Frankie the Local Historian" is modest — just over four hundred subscribers as of 2 September 2026 — but in the city's conversation about heritage, its voice carries considerably further than that number might suggest.
Why the City Needs This
An official memorial plaque is a years-long process: a resolution, approvals, funding. A handmade plaque can appear within a week and lasts exactly as long as no one removes it. In return, it does something an official plaque cannot: it gives memory back to a specific place while that place can still be recognized.
The case of the Lenin Palace of Culture is telling: the building was a listed heritage site, it was demolished, and the only thing left on the construction site to mark its history was a plaque on a fence [1].
How It Works
The work is divided between the two: Barinov supplies the subject and the text, Max BMS provides the image and the execution [1] [2]. Both plaques produced in 2026 are made in the same style: red background, distinctive graphic design, minimal text.
The location is chosen on the principle of "where no one else will tell this story": a fence around a demolished palace, a street named after someone the passerby knows nothing about [1] [2].
Sources
- GIPERNN — GiperNN — Street art in memory of the Lenin Palace of Culture created in Nizhny Novgorod, 5 May 2026
- lamanova.com — The Legacy of Nadezhda Lamanova — An original street-art plaque on Lamanov Street, 21 June 2026