The Moscow metro has become a well-known brand all over the world for a long time. For 86 years, it has reliably served the benefit of Muscovites and has worked exactly like clockwork, transporting up to 9 million people every day! But it also boasts surprisingly elegant and sometimes extremely lush stations. Because of them, the metro is rightfully called the underground palace. See which metro stations in Moscow can capture your imagination.
The most beautiful metro stations in Moscow: Revolution Square
The station can be called the most central in Moscow, because it is closest to Red Square. It got its name from the Revolution Square (formerly Voskresenskaya) located above it, where battles took place in 1917.
The famous sculptures created under the direction of Matvey Manizer make it unique. 76 bronze sculptures embodied 20 images of representatives of the Soviet people: pioneers, students, an engineer, a poultry woman, a football player, a sailor, a border guard and others. It is interesting that the architect Alexei Dushkin himself was not delighted with the idea of placing large volumetric forms at the station, but insisted on bas-reliefs.
However, the sculptures were so fond of the people that they later became one of the city’s attractions and were overgrown with legends. People believe that some of them bring success in different areas of life. So, a dog is responsible for good luck in business (for example, at exams), a rooster is responsible for well-being, a student’s shoe helps to find love, a strong baby’s leg promises health, and a signal flag contributes to the fulfillment of desires.
Kievskaya
The design of “Kievskaya” is dedicated to the Russian-Ukrainian unity in the Soviet state.
The passages between the pylons are decorated with rich stucco moldings with floral ornaments and are framed by 18 panels located on the pylons themselves. The mosaics are made of smalt and valuable rocks and depict scenes illustrating various important milestones in the history and life of Ukraine, its significant role in the USSR: for example, the opening of the Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Station, the picture of friendship between Russian and Ukrainian collective farmers, the liberation of Kiev by the Red Army, the Pereyaslavl Rada, and the Battle of Poltava.
Novokuznetskaya
It is striking that at the height of the Great Patriotic War, the construction of the metro continued in Moscow. This circumstance could not but find reflection in the interior of Novokuznetskaya. The main emphasis in the design of the station is placed on the space between the pylons, where massive benches with curled armrests and high backs in the form of scrolls are installed.
Above them are shields with banners and words addressed to the defenders of the Fatherland. Similar shields, but with the profiles of the great Russian commanders mentioned in Stalin’s speech to the Red Army in 1941, are located on the side of the platform. Along the vault of the central hall, on both sides, there is a frieze depicting Red Army soldiers taking part in military operations. The vault itself is decorated with mosaics based on sketches by Alexander Deineka, depicting scenes from the life of home front workers.
Electrozavodskaya
For some reason, Elektrozavodskaya is less popular than other stations on the Moscow metro. Its creators, architects Vladimir Shchuko, Vladimir Gelfreikh and Igor Rozhin, used a unique technique that fulfills both a technical and a decorative function they placed 318 lamps in the niches (caissons) of the ceiling, thus paying tribute to the nearby Electric Plant, through which the station received its name.
One of the most pressing topics of the war period, when the station was being built, was, of course, heroic labor for the good of the Motherland, which was reflected in the interior: here you can see 12 bas-reliefs depicting builders, blacksmiths, machine builders, agricultural workers, weavers, etc. etc.
Taganskaya
This metro station was added to our list thanks to 32 majolica panels that adorn its pylons. From the side of the hall, they are made in a blue color, unusual for Moscow architecture. Its combination with white gives the station a fresh and even airy look. The panels look delicate thanks to the rich floral ornaments. However, despite the visual lightness, the theme of the station’s decor is military. In the center of each panel there is a medallion with an image of a representative of one or another branch of the Red Army: a tanker, cavalryman, pilot, partisan, railwayman, infantryman, artilleryman and sailor each of them is repeated four times.
Mayakovskaya
Its décor is elegant rather than opulent, incorporating some avant-garde elements that are reminiscent of the Art Deco style. The unique features of the interior are the steel trim of the columns and arches and 34 ceiling niches, framed by lamps, and due to this from a distance they look like chandeliers. However, if you stand under them and look up, you will see panels made of smalt according to the sketches of the famous Alexander Deineka. The plots of the mosaics are united by a common theme “The Day of the Soviet Sky”: on them you can see a pole vaulter, an airship, bombers, a high-altitude installer and even a power transmission line.
Novoslobodskaya
The main and unique accent in the station’s decor is bright stained-glass windows with illumination, placed on the pylons. It is interesting that initially the architect Dushkin, who also designed Novoslobodskaya, planned to make them out of fluorescent uranium glass, but this was refused. On some of the stained-glass windows there are medallions with images of people of peaceful professions: composer, artist, energy engineer, agronomist and others.
The end of the hall is also decorated with a smalt mosaic panel by Pavel Korin. On it, against the background of the symbols of the Soviet state a golden five-pointed star, a sickle, a hammer and a sheaf of ears a monumental woman with a child in her arms is depicted, above which a ribbon with the inscription “World Peace” flies. Initially, in the upper part of the composition there was a medallion with a portrait of Stalin, but during the Khrushchev era it was replaced by soaring white doves.
Prospect Mira
Initially, the station was called “Botanical Garden” (nearby is the famous “Pharmaceutical Garden”, founded by Peter the Great at the beginning of the 18th century). Later it was renamed, but gardening remained the central theme in its design. Flower growers, agronomists, and village workers are depicted on ceramic medallions in the center of the friezes that adorn the upper parts of the marble pylons. Among the decorative elements, the plant theme predominates wreaths, sheaves, fruits, leaves. Gilding gives volume and solemnity to these forms. From the side of the paths, attention is drawn to pompous ventilation grilles with a hammer and sickle against the background of ears, surrounded by cornucopia.
Komsomolskaya
This station is usually more impressive than others for tourists who find themselves in the Moscow metro for the first time. It really demonstrates an example of pompous architecture of the Stalinist era. And this is no coincidence: the station is located under the Komsomolskaya Square, popularly known as the “Square of three stations” Leningradsky, Kazansky and Yaroslavsky. People arriving in Moscow first went down the metro and immediately had to be blinded by the splendor of the capital of the Soviet Union.
The main theme of the design of “Komsomolskaya” is the great history of the triumphant people. The images of the famous Russian commanders, as well as the Red Army men at the time of the capture of the Reichstag, like the Motherland, were embodied in 8 huge (each of them 30 square meters in area!) Panels on the ceiling of the station.
Arbatskaya
The decoration of one of the longest stations of the Moscow metro (the length of the underground hall is 220 m), located near the Kremlin. It is filled with elements characteristic of Russian architecture of the 17th century. And refers to the Moscow Baroque style. The vaulted central hall of “Arbatskaya” resembles a tunnel, decorated with stucco elements and illuminated by a multitude of gilded bronze chandeliers. The lower part of the pylons is trimmed with red Crimean marble, on which, by the way, you can see interesting fossils.