MOSCOW METRO

Description

Essentials about the Moscow Metro in brief

A subway as a landmark? What seems to be rather absurd in most cities of the world, is completely true for Moscow. A visit to the Russian capital should not end without seeing what is definitely the most magnificent subway in the world. The stations of the Moscow Metro are not known as underground palaces without reason due to their sometimes very sophisticated architecture.

The records of the Moscow Metro

However, the Moscow Metro is not only known worldwide for its beautiful stations. It is also a superlative means of transport in other respects. The metro is the fastest of its kind in the world (with top speeds of up to 100 km/h); it is one of the metro systems with the deepest tunnels and stations in the world; and it is one of the busiest metros in the world, with over 2.5 billion passengers a year.

The Moscow Metro route network

The Moscow Metro currently has a network of lines more than 380 kilometers long and over 220 stations, which is being continuously expanded. There are 12 metro lines running on the routes, which are essentially numbered chronologically according to the date of opening of the first line section in each case.

The history of the Moscow Metro

The first ideas and plans for the Moscow Metro

The first ideas regarding an underground railroad in Moscow, modeled on the then newly emerging London Underground, emerged in the 1870s. However, the first concrete design for a subway system was presented only at the beginning of the 20th century. At that time, Moscow already had a population of over one million and public transportation by horse-drawn carriages and streetcars was already overloaded.

In 1902, two engineers, Pyotr Balinsky and Yevgeny Knorre, presented their concept of an electric city railroad. Their design called for the line to be underground in only a few places in the center of the city; the remaining sections were to run on viaducts. However, due to excessive costs, the necessary demolition of private houses and the excavation of sacred earth under the city’s churches, opposition to the project from a wide range of groups was too great.

About ten years later – in the meantime, Moscow’s population had grown to almost two million – the concepts were revised and accepted in principle by the city government. With the outbreak of World War I, however, the plans had to be shelved once again, and in 1917 the October Revolution finally put an end to all previous plans.

It was not until the Russian capital was moved from Petrograd (today’s St. Petersburg) to Moscow in 1918 that the project for an underground rail network was pushed ahead again, albeit only half-heartedly. It took until the 1930s, when Moscow’s population had grown to nearly three million, to make metro construction a reality in Moscow. At any given time, the daily volume of traffic could no longer be handled by streetcars, so in 1931 the decision to build was made by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

The first section of the Moscow Metro

In 1932, construction work began on the first 11-kilometer section of the line. Employing an army of workers (at peak times, over 75,000 people worked on the construction sites), the section was completed within three years. The metro construction is said to have been Stalin’s pet project, with the goal of having the best and most beautiful metro in the world. As a signal of departure into a new future, the underground transportation system became the socialist prestige object of the Soviet Union in general.

In the following years, the route network of the Moscow Metro was continuously expanded due to its great popularity among the population. In contrast to the first section of the line, the further expansion was based on the use of modern technology and renowned specialists. Most of the stations built from the end of the 1930s onwards were accordingly also designed to be more architecturally sophisticated than the oldest 13 stations built in 1935.

The Moscow Metro in the Second World War

During World War II, the metro played an extremely important role in the life of the Russian capital. Thus, from 1941, some stations housed soldiers and government offices. When the German Luftwaffe began bombing Moscow, the metro stations were converted into air raid shelters. Up to 500,000 Muscovites took refuge in the metro every day. In addition to providing basic food and medical assistance, they even set up underground libraries and movie theaters.

When, in the course of the Second World War, there was no longer any danger of the city being captured by the German Wehrmacht, the expansion work continued. The metro expansion was a special prestige object for the Soviet leadership. By putting new metro lines into operation during the war, they wanted to send a clear signal not only in their own country but also to the entire world that the industrial power of the Soviet Union was unbroken despite the war and that no one doubted the coming victory of the country.

The Moscow Metro after the Second World War

Even after the Second World War, the Moscow Metro was continuously expanded. With the death of Stalin in 1953, however, the previous pompous architecture of the metro stations, aimed at extravagance, gave way in the following years to a new functionality aimed at increasing usefulness and safety. Stalin’s successor, Nikita Khrushchev, was known not least for his thriftiness. Also, a uniform decoration scheme was developed for all new stations to be built. As a result, most stations dating from the 1960s were built almost identically, differing only in the marble used and the colors of the ceramic tiles. It was not until around the mid-1970s that the old ostentatious decoration was increasingly used as a model again.

The Moscow Metro in the Present Time

After 1991, the city of Moscow invested more in road infrastructure due to the increase in automobile traffic, which slowed down the expansion of the metro. Many of the expansion projects, which were already overdue at that time, could not be realized, also due to the recurring economic crises in the 1990s and the resulting constant lack of money. It was not until after the turn of the millennium that important expansion projects were pushed ahead again, and in view of the 2018 World Cup and the increasing efforts to cope with the traffic chaos on the roads, the expansion of the metro is once again enjoying a higher priority today. The metro stations opened in recent years have nothing in common with the former ostentatious “palaces for the people” of the Soviet Union. However, they are usually characterized by a modern and individual design, which is often implemented in reference to the name or location of the station.

The most interesting stations of the Moscow Metro

Komsomolskaya

Komsomolskaya station is generally considered to be the most beautiful station in the entire metro network. Opened in 1952, the station consists of 72 octagonal pillars in the platform area, all clad in light marble, with round arches resting on their capitals, giving the metro user the impression of passing through a round gate when walking to the tracks. The ceiling area is decorated with several large chandeliers. Between them, eight monumental mosaics, each consisting of 300,000 individual pieces and framed by stucco, reproduce scenes from Russian history. This creates an almost baroque appearance.

Kiewskaya

The Kievskaya metro station below the eponymous Kiev Train Station is also one of the most magnificent in the Moscow Metro. In the station, mosaics depict the friendship between Russia and Ukraine. The themes include the annexation of Ukraine to Russia and the liberation of Kiev during World War II. In addition to the chandeliers, the sculpted arcades are particularly worth seeing.

Majakowskaya

Named after the Soviet poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, the Mayakovskaya subway station thematizes the aviation of the Soviet Union in its artistic implementation through more than 30 vaulted mosaics. The mosaics, which feature fluorescent materials and are indirectly illuminated, are designed to create an impressive spatial effect. Architect Alexei Dushkin was awarded the Grand Prix at the 1938 New York World’s Fair for the design of this exceptionally elegant metro station.

Kropotkinskaya

The Kropotkinskaya station also won international awards. At the 1937 Paris World’s Fair and at the 1958 Expo in Brussels, the station was awarded the Grand Prix. It is characterized primarily by clean lines and colors. The pink-grey granite floor harmonizes perfectly with the light marble of the walls and indirect lighting gives the station a special atmosphere.

Other stations

Furthermore, the stations Ploschad Revolyutsii (with 76 life-size bronze figures depicting people who made the rise of the Soviet Union possible), Novokuznetskaya (dedicated to the heroes of the Red Army and depicting scenes from the Second World War) and Novoslobodskaya (with 32 artistically illuminated stained glass panels with motifs of Russian Gobelinkust) are also worth seeing.

The Metro Museum

And last but not least, a hint to all true metro fans. If riding the metro and visiting various stations is not enough, you can learn about all the details of the Moscow Metro at the Metro Museum, which opened in 1967. It is located at the Sportivnaya station. The entrance is free of charge.