Moscow Metro
Let’s face the truth. The Moscow Metro is overcrowded. And it is not as clean as the Shanghai Metro. Moreover, changing stations in the morning rush-hours looks like a sad penguin march. Nevertheless, the Moscow Metro is one of the most beautiful subways I have ever seen. So if you want to have a tour of the most adorable stations, join us!
The first thing I would like to notice is that every station of the Moscow Metro is unique. Each station has its own history, design and architecture, as the construction started in the 30s to 50s. Architecture under Khrushchev turned to minimalism, and all stations that were built later became plain, simple and similar. Fortunately, in the 21st century everything changed and the metro got new unique stations. It is wonderful!
A Day of Moscow Metro
1. Let's start our journey with Elektrozavodskaya station. It was opened on the 15 of May 1944. It would be an ordinary station, if not for its 318 stunning lightings! They are amazing!
2. The next stop on the blue line is the station Ploshchad Revolyutsii, which was opened in March 13 1938. It is very famous for the sculpture of a frontier guard with a dog. If you will rub the dog's nose, it will bring you luck. The legend is very popular, so the nose is polished very well.
3. Other statues, such as the golden chicken, the flag of a signalman and the revolver of a sailorman are also very popular. Olimpy Rudakov, the student of a Naval Academy, posed for the second statue. Later, in 1953, he danced the waltz with the Queen Elizabeth the II on the day of her coronation.
4. Arbatskaya station was opened on April 5 1953. Earlier the line Ploshchad Revolutsii – Kievskaya lied higher, but since the bomb had destroyed it, the line was rebuilt deeper in the ground. In 1976 a musical video of famous Russian singer Alla Pugacheva was filmed here.
5. The last station on this line that is worth to be mentioned is Slavyansky Bulvar. This is one of the most beautiful stations that were opened in the 21 century, it is the second breath of the underground architecture! It was opened on the 7th of September 2008.
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8. Now let's change the line. You may find a beauty even in its interchanges if it is not a rush-hour.
9. Well, it is a matter of taste, but I like Trubnaya station, which is also relatively new. It was opened on August 30 2007. Its stained glasses are decorated with pictures of churches and cathedrals, which were painted with out сrosses on its domes. Passengers have tacked small crosses to the pictures by themselves.
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11. Well, you must be surprised with a picture of a plain station Rimskaya. I lived next to this station and I like the photo.
12. Now we will move to the Koltsevaya line with the most beautiful stations, which keep a lot of secrets and stories. Here is one of them. According to the documents, Joseph Stalin ordered to base the Moscow subway on an astrologic map of the sorcerer Jacov Bruice. For that reason there are 12 stations on the Koltsevaya line, since there are 12 Zodiac Signs. Station Prospect Mira was opened on January 30 1952.
13. Komsomolskaya station is an apotheosis of the Stalin's empire style. It should have been the busiest in the city, and function as Moscow's gates. So it was a grandiose building. Komsomolskaya was to amaze tourists, who visited the Soviet Union's capital. It was constructed by A. V. Shchusev and opened on January 30 1952.
14. Now we will move to Kievskaya station, which was opened on March 14 1954. By the way, if the train moves in a clockwise direction, a man's voice announces stations. If it moves in a contraclockwise direction, you will hear a woman's voice. It helps visually impaired passangers to orientate.
15. Both Kievskaya stations, on the Koltsevaya and Radialnaya lines, are incredible beautiful.
16. Nikita Khrushchev did not like the projects of those stations in 1953, and architects had to redo them. The station was opened on April 5 1953.
17. In the morning of October 2 2010 the fresco "Selebration in Kiev" has crashed, and it took three years to restore it.
18. The most beautiful station on the Koltsevaya line, Novoslobodskaya, which was opened on January 30 1952.
19. It was planned to make its stained glasses of uranium glass. But they were made of a colored glass by Latvian artists.
20. Architects have created a station-grotto with a mild illumination.
21. The first place goes to Mayakovskaya station, which was opened on September 11 1938. It is not grandiose, but in my opinion this station is the most beautiful. I have never seen such an amazing interior.
22. It is decorated with a panel at the top.
23. The project won the grand prize at the New York world fair in 1938. It was a shelter during the Great Patriotic War.
