The many faces of Soviet stained-glass windows (PHOTOS) Legion Media; Nikolai Galkin/TASS Even stained-glass windows were used as art propaganda in the Soviet Union. They appealed to the masses for their depictions of down-to-earth subjects: Lenin, Red Army soldiers, Soviet symbols, workers and peasants. It was only in the late 19th century that stained-glass windows became a popular architectural feature in Russia. Multicolored glass ornaments perfectly matched the aesthetics of the new Russian style, later becoming part of Art Nouveau. "Patterned windows" (as stained glass was called until the 1900s) were made by the best glass workshops, which numbered around 20.