Moscow’s Metro – Underground Railway
Moscow’s metro was opened in 1935, it contains outstanding examples of socialist realist art. In my opinion the metro is a really good reason itself to visit the Russian capital.
Maybe it’s a bit overcrowded, maybe a bit old, but whenever I’m there I have a feeling it gives me the summary of the whole massive city. I wouldn’t say Russia, as Moscow is almost a country on its own!
The first plans for a rapid transit system in Moscow date back in the times of the Russian Empire, however were postponed by the I World War, October Revolution and the Russian Civil War. The construction started in June 1931 and the Central Committee of the USSR Communist Party had taken advice from the London Underground, the world’s oldest metro system. By the end of the II World War lots of stations were completed and Moscow’s metro was functional.
There is an interesting urban legend about the origin of the ring line. A group of engineers approached Stalin with plans for the Metro, to inform him of current progress and of what was being done at that moment. As he looked at the drawings, Stalin poured himself some coffee and spilt a small amount over the edge of the cup. When he was asked whether or not he liked the project so far, he put his cup down on the centre of the Metro blueprints and left in silence. The bottom of the cup left a brown circle on the drawings. The planners looked at it and realised that it was exactly what they had been missing. Taking it as a sign of Stalin’s genius, they gave orders for the building of the ring line, which on the plans was always printed in brown. This legend, of course, may be attributed to Stalin’s cult of personality. In fact the line was never shown as a circle on the Metro map until 1980, long after Stalin’s death. Prior to this time, the line was depicted much closer to the shape of the actual route.
In 1950s – 1970s some architects decided to build new stations in a more spartan decoration scheme. A typical layout was developed for all new stations, and the stations were built to look almost identical, differing from each other only in colours of the marble and ceramic tiles. Most of these stations were built with simplified, cheaper technologies which were not always quite suitable and resulted in extremely utilitarian design. For example, walls paved with cheap and simplistic ceramic tiles proved to be susceptible to vibrations caused by trains, with some tiles eventually falling off. It was not always possible to replace the missing tiles with the ones of the same colour, which eventually led to infamous “variegated” parts of the paving.
Anyway, the Moscow metro is really deep (84m), really busy (max 9,555,000 passengers a day), really long (292.9km) and REALLY beautiful! AND very punctual 99.96% on time.
I’ve visited Moscow twice, spending there about 3 months in total. I have my best friend living there, great memories and lots of reasons to go back.
Photo of Novoslobodskaya Metro Station thanks to Andrew
Comment by B&B Blackpool on 29 November 2009:
The Moscow underground also acts/acted as shelters in case of Nuclear exchange.
The article points they are amongst the deepest in the world but misses the fact many stations are equipped with huge steel blast doors which can close off the deeper levels from the surface.
Comment by B&B Blackpool on 29 November 2009:
The Moscow underground also acts/acted as shelters in case of Nuclear exchange.
The article points they are amongst the deepest in the world but misses the fact many stations are equipped with huge steel blast doors which can close off the deeper levels from the surface.
Comment by baghsarai on 31 July 2010:
nice post thanks for sharing such information,A typical layout was developed for all new stations, and the stations were built to look almost identical, differing from each other only in colours of the marble and ceramic tiles
Comment by baghsarai on 31 July 2010:
nice post thanks for sharing such information,A typical layout was developed for all new stations, and the stations were built to look almost identical, differing from each other only in colours of the marble and ceramic tiles
Comment by paddedjungle on 7 September 2010:
The Moscow Metro was awesome. I’m from London and so use the London Underground (Tube) pretty much everyday. I am also fascinated by escalators. Moscow has the longest one in Europe, at Park Pobedy. I also liked the punctuality of the trains there…at many stations i noticed a countdown timer for the next train that will arrive. If only London would adopt that system. They probably won’t though, as they don’t want us to know how bad they are!
Comment by Alison Buchanan on 27 January 2016:
I agree with you about posting the arrival time of trains. I’ve been living in the Netherlands, and it happens there also!
Comment by Oksana on 27 May 2011:
Nice post on the Moscow subway! I’ve been in a number of different subways around-the-world, but to this day the one in Moscow is my favorite! The older stations have a museum feel to them and you can easily picture a different era while in there. However, my favorite station is the Victory Park (Park Pobedy)Station. It is just so cool looking with all that stone work! http://postcardvalet.com/?s=park+pobedy
Comment by Danil [Duneel] on 12 February 2012:
I agree that Moscow has a large and beautiful city, but about the nature of this I can not say good things. I am a Russian citizen and would encourage travel to other cities … and if you want to look at the nature and breadth of the country, it is best to visit our villages, to go out of town. Or in the province, for example Siberia – a great place to relax … and remember we Russians do not bite = D
Comment by Stephen Garone on 29 August 2015:
Very nice! It definitely seems like the most beautiful subway I haven’t been on yet!
Comment by Peter Mckenzy on 3 January 2016:
It’s very very overcrowded place:)