The Moscow Metro is not only a popular transportation in the large city, but also one of the outstanding monuments of the Stalinist Empire architectural style. The lobbies of the Moscow Metro stations, which were built during the rule of Joseph Stalin, have the most impressive decor.
Almost all the central stations of the Moscow Metro are decorated with marble, many of them are decorated with bas-reliefs. Several stations are decorated with mosaic panels made according to ancient Byzantine technology. There are also stations with stained glass windows and sculptural compositions. At the Mayakovskaya metro station, the floor is lined with marble, and the columns are finished with steel and semi-precious rhodonite stone.
The Moscow metro was opened on May 16, 1935. The first line stretches from Sokolniki to the Park of Culture. By 2022, the Moscow Metro consists of 251 stations on 14 lines. The total length of the Moscow metro reaches 414 kilometers. It is one of the Top5 longest subways in the world.
Unlike most European cities, the Metro in Moscow is located very deep underground. Many stations are located at a depth of 35-45 meters, and the deepest station Victory Park is at a depth of 73 meters. In Russia, there are deeper stations only in the metro of St. Petersburg.
Mayakovskaya Metro Station
Mayakovskaya metro station was opened in 1938. Its decor has great artistic value. Mayakovskaya is a deep-lying station - 34 meters underground, but architect Alexey Dushkin was able to create a very light lobby with columns in the Art Deco style. The station is not typical for the traditional style of the Stalinist Empire.
Mayakovskaya station is the only one in the Moscow metro where marble decoration is made not only on the walls and columns. Even the floor is lined with marble. The columns are finished with steel and semi-precious rhodonite stone. There are also marble inserts of various colors on the walls. On the ceiling, in the depths of the lighting plafonds, you can see mosaic panels in the Byzantine style.
Revolution Square Metro Station
The Revolution Square metro station was opened in 1938. It is located in the very center of the city, near Red Square. The station lobby is decorated in the style of the October Revolution of 1917. Sculptures of Soviet people of the Revolution era are installed under the arches of the arches.
A total of 76 bronze sculptures have been installed at the Revolution Square metro station. The lobby walls are decorated with marble in different colors: pink, yellow, black. From the metro station you can go to Nikolskaya Street, which was the main fan zone in Moscow during the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which was held in Russia. There is a woman with a rooster in the center of the station. French fans rubbed him for good luck, polishing the rooster to a shine. In 2018, the French national team became the World Champion.
Komsomolskaya metro station
Komsomolskaya Ring Metro Station is located near 3 railway stations, so it is one of the most spacious and busiest in Moscow. It was opened in 1952. The station lobby is 190 meters long and 17 meters wide. It is recognized as the apotheosis of the Stalinist Empire style. The architects wanted to admire the beauty of the Moscow metro for people who arrive in the capital by train.
Komsomolskaya station is a column station. With a ceiling height of 9.5 meters, as well as a large depth of the station, this project was difficult to implement technically. The walls of the lobby and columns are decorated with marble of different colors, but the main artistic value is represented by 8 huge mosaic panels made in the Byzantine style. The size of each panel is 30 sq.m., each panel consists of more than 300 thousand pieces of smalt and colored stones.
All mosaic panels are united by a single theme of the victories of Russian commanders: Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, Kuzma Minin, Dmitry Pozharsky, Alexander Suvorov, Mikhail Kutuzov. There used to be mosaics dedicated to Joseph Stalin, but after his death, they were removed.
Kievskaya Metro Station
There are two Kiev stations in the Moscow metro: ring and radial. Both stations have a very rich decor of Byzantine mosaics dedicated to the theme of friendship between the Russian and Ukrainian peoples. The stations were opened in 1954.
The lobbies of both stations are made in the form of pylons with a parabolic ceiling arch. The decor of the station is made by architects from Ukraine. The vaults are richly decorated with a stucco harness, inherent in the Ukrainian architecture of the 17th century. Mosaic panels made of smalt and colored stones are made in strict compliance with the Byzantine canons. At the Kievskaya Radial Station, you can see a huge fresco panel "Folk festivals in Kiev".
Novoslobodskaya Metro Station
The Moscow metro station Novoslobodskaya was opened in 1952. The vaults of the ceilings are supported by pylons. These pylons are decorated with 32 illuminated stained glass windows, which can be seen in Catholic churches in Europe. The subjects of the stained-glass windows are neutral, so the metro station does not look like a temple. The walls of the pylons are decorated with marble of different colors.
Stained glass windows for Novoslobodskaya station were made in Riga, where there were workshops for the manufacture of stained glass windows for churches. There were no such workshops in other cities of Russia. Glass for stained-glass windows was taken from the Riga Dom Cathedral. Initially, the architects wanted to use uranium glass, which did not need to be illuminated, but they were refused to receive such glass. At the end of the lobby, there is a large panel of Byzantine mosaic on the theme "World peace".
