Susan's Shanghai Blog - Week 47

This week's blog is all about the Moscow Metro system. I took the metro every day to and from the office in Moscow, and I somewhat have a facination with metro systems and trams.

The Moscow Metro opened in 1935 with one 7 miles long line and 13 stations and, as expected, was the first underground railway system in the Soviet Union. By 2012, it had grown to 186 stations and close to 200 miles long. It is the world's third most heavily used rapid transit system after Tokyo subway and Seoul Metropolitan Subway, and right before Beijing and Shanghai's metro systems. In 2011 (the last year with the data published), close to 2.4 billion riders used the Moscow Metro system compared to, say, New York City which comes in at 7th place with 1.64 billion riders.

The average ridership is over 7 million passengers per day on weekdays, and slightly less on weekends. I was lucky in that I commuted to the office on one of the less busy lines, and going towards the terminal station so it wasn't totally packed. We also started our 1 month business there the first week of August when alot of Russians are on holiday. You could tell that the number of people on the metro grew substantially after the first 2 weeks. There are a couple of interesting tidbits of information ...a male voice announces the next station when traveling towards the centre of the city, and a female voice when going away from it. On the circle line the clockwise direction has a male announcer for the stations, while the counter-clockwise direction has a female announcer. Also, they say that it was designed so that you can get from one station to another in a maximum of 2 changes because every line is intersected by the brown "circle" line. So from any line you travel to the circle line, 1 change onto the circle line, then your 2nd change to whatever your final line is. It is not always the fastest time-wise, but no more than 2 changes.

As you'll see with a few stations, they are VERY deep. During the Siege of Moscow in the fall and winter of 1941, Metro stations were used as air-raid shelters.

The Moscow Metro was one of the USSR's most extravagant architectural projects. With their reflective marble walls, high ceilings and grandiose chandeliers, many Moscow Metro stations have been likened to an 'artificial underground sun'. This underground communist paradise reminded its riders that Stalin and his party had delivered something substantial to the people in return for their sacrifices. Stalin directed the architects to design structures which would encourage citizens to look up, admiring the station's art (as if they were looking up to admire the sun and'by extension'him as a god. Another aspect of the propaganda was the metro's electrification; the Moscow Metro's chandeliers are one of the most beautiful and technologically advanced aspects of the project.

Another kinda cool feature: Since 2006, several banks have issued credit cards which double as metro cards and are accepted at entry gates. The fare is passed to the bank and the payment is withdrawn from the owner's bank account at the end of the calendar month, using a discount rate based on the number of trips that month. There are a set of partner banks that offer this service. In addition, in 2010 the metro launched a mobile ticketing service using near field communication-enabled SIM cards from a mobile phone, so that your mobile phone could double as your metro card.

One of the things that I think was fabulous about the metro is how easy it is to figure out where you need to go. On the walls at every station, behind where the trains come in, there will be a "map" per se. Here is the example ... the station in red on the right-hand side is where you are, and then going left are the names of each of the stations that the train on that track will go to.

Then below the station name is a listing of each connecting line (you can see here the 2 or green line, and the 7 or pink line, where they connect to the stations above). And then it lists every station on that colored line.

During the 5 weeks I spent there, I went through multiple stations, some more beautiful than others, and some with a history behind it. Hopefully you'll enjoy the beauty and splendor of the stations.

The nearest station to where I was staying was Smolenskaya, and there were actually 2 different stations with the same name, on two different lines. Unfortunately, they didn't connect so you had to be sure you went to the correct station. The original Smolenskya station (the one on the Filyovskaya or light blue line) was opened in 1935 but then closed in 1953 when the "new" Smolenskaya station (dark blue or Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line), was opened. It reopened later and now both stations are active. The new Smolenskaya station has some interesting decorations that have alot of the soviet character. These are pictures of the vestible when you enter, prior to going down the escalator to the platform. As with many built in that era, you enter into a circular vestible or rotunda which is heavily decorated. Then down the escalators and into the main corridor. The last picture is a bas-relief by G.I. Motovilov entitled "The Defenders of Russia," which depicts soldiers of the Red Army in battle, which is at the end of the platform.

Arbatskaya was built to serve as a bunker as is the second largest station in the subway system, and is the deepest. It has a unique elliptical design and a series of overwhelming Stalinist Baroque decorations. Most metro stations that I was in have a central corridor with the tracks on both sides, and this corridor in many cases is also heavily decorated, here with lovely plaster motifs and chandaliers.

Ploshchad Revolyutsii, or Revolution Square, is one of the most famous stations of the Moscow Metro, opened in 1938. The station features red and yellow marble arches resting on low pylons faced with black Armenian marble. Each arch is flanked by a pair of bronze sculptures by Matvey Manizer depicting the people of the Soviet Union, including soldiers, farmers, athletes, writers, aviators, industrial workers, and schoolchildren. There are a total of 76 sculptures in the station. The last picture in this group shows a dog that accompanies a frontier guard and it is believed to bring good luck if you rub its nose, hence you can see that alot of people have been rubbing the nose.

Not that I remember which metro station this is, but you can see that many of them have these wonderful rounded ceilings that are decorated, and here you can see one of the many marble carvings that commemorates Soviet or Russian history, here in 1946. The second is a bronze plaque in one of the stations.

Krasnopresnenskaya station was opened in 1954. The station has red granite pylons with white marble cornices and 14 bas-reliefs. Eight of the bas-reliefs depict the events of the Russian Revolution of 1905 and the other six show scenes from the Russian Revolution of 1917. The station's round vestibule has a sculpture by A. Zelinsky entitled "Combatant" is located in front.

Kievskaya, named after the capital of Ukraine, was the first station to be completed after the reign of Stalin. Nikita Khruschev, who succeeded Stalin at the helm of the Soviet Union, was born in Kiev. He didn't feel that his homeland's contribution to the creation of the USSR was being properly recognized, so he decided to use this station as a tribute. Along the main corridor are colorful mosaics depicting scenes from Soviet history.

Also Kievskaya but outside .. this is the only one I saw in all of Moscow (not that I went to every station entrance in Moscow!). The entrance laps and sign are from Paris.

This is Novoslobodskaya station, which was designed by Alexey Dushkin, and is famous for the 32 stained glass panels along the main corridor. Interesting fact ... Russia didn't really do stained glass, so the panels were made in Latvia. At the end of the platform is a mosaic by Pavel Korin entitled "Peace Throughout the World."

Mayakovskaya is named after the Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovsky and some consider it one of the most beautiful subway stations in the world (although I'm not a huge fan personally) for it's wonderful art deco design. Surrounded by filament lights there are a total of 34 ceiling mosaics by Alexander Deyneka with the theme "24-Hour Soviet Sky." A passenger can look up and see the bright Soviet future right above him.

Park Kultury first it started servicing Sokolnicheskaya Line in 1935 while Koltsevaya Line opened in 1950. Architect Igor Rozhin applied a classic sport recreational theme to match the connotation with the ancient-Greek inspired transfer station. The walls are faced with white marble and labrodite. Decoratively the station contains 26 circular bas-reliefs by Iosif Rabinovich which depict sporting and other leisure activities of the Soviet youth.

This is from Kropotkinskaya station. The station was originally planned to serve the enormous Palace of the Soviets (Dvorets Sovetov), which was to rise nearby on the former site of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. However, the project was canceled by Khrushchev and only the metro station was actually built. The station was named Dvorets Sovetov until 1957, when it was renamed in honour of Peter Kropotkin. It opened with only one entrance vestibule, located at the end of Gogolevskiy Boulevard. This U-shaped structure was designed by S.M. Kravets and features two separate pavilions joined by a central arch. It is designed in an Egyptian style, using lotus-shaped columns.

The Kurskaya station lobby was designed as the temple of victory. Once you enter, you go into Column Hall, surrounded by statues and citations from the Anthem of the Soviet Union once contained a large statue of Joseph Stalin (sculptor Nikolai Tomsky). The verse and the sculpture were removed in 1961. However, in 2009 the verse was restored. They also have these great laps with the red star in the middle.

This is widely regarded as the most beautiful station in the system, and I may actually have to agree with this one. Leaning heavily on Baroque decor, the stations boasts elaborate chandeliers and grand vaulted ceilings. Komsomolskaya was designed as an illustration of a historical speech given by Joseph Stalin November 7, 1941. In this speech, Stalin evoked the memories of Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy and other military leaders of the past, and all these historical figures eventually appeared on the mosaics of Komsomolskaya. This station you'll get a LOT of information on :-)

The theme of the design, the Historical Russian fight for freedom and independence, is expressed in eight large ceiling mosaics by Pavel Korin. Korin said that the inspiration came from Joseph Stalin's speech at the Moscow Parade of 1941, where he inspired the soldiers amid the catastrophic losses in the early period of World War II to remember the historical heroics of their Russian forefathers. Chronologically the mosaics are as following:

1242: Alexander Nevsky after the Battle on the Ice.

1380: Dmitry Donskoy after the Battle of Kulikovo.

1612: Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky after the end of the Time of Troubles.

1799: Alexander Suvorov after the Crossing of the Alps.

1812: Mikhail Kutuzov after the Battle of Borodino.

This one in interesting, since it is Vladimir Lenin addressing a meeting in Red Square, thus moving the date of the artwork to a period between 1917 and 1922. It was originally a mosaic from 1945 of Red Army troops on Red Square receiving the Guards banner from Soviet army command. It was replaced since it contained images of some commanders whose careers and legacy would later be re-evaluated (including Joseph Stalin).

1945: Soviet Troops on the Reichstag building after the Battle of Berlin (according to some, the original banner had superimposed profiles of Lenin and Stalin: the latter was removed to leave just Lenin remaining).

1945: The original image was of a Victory parade with Soviet soldiers throwing captured Nazi banners in front of Lenin's mausoleum. However for the same reason as the sixth image, this image would hold the record for retouchings. First when Lavrenty Beria was arrested in 1953, his glasses were erased and then the whole figure was removed. Then in 1957, after the political crisis saw the end of the careers of Vyacheslav Molotov and Lazar Kaganovich, their images followed suit. Finally, after 1961 brought the end of Stalin's personality cult, in early 1963 the whole panel was taken down and Korin re-designed it by placing a maiden (symbolising Mother Russia) standing on the Nazi banners in front of the same mausoleum, holding a hammer and sickle in one hand and a palm branch in the other.

In between each of the mosaics there are further ones made of gilded smalt depicting various weaponry and armour: one set is focused on ancient Russian equipment, a second on the Napoleonic era, the third on WWII.

At the end of the platform is a bust of Vladimir Lenin under an arch decorated with gilt floral designs and the Coat of arms of the Soviet Union.

Prospekt Mir was designed by architects Vladimir Gelfreyech and Mikhail Minkus, the station's decor was greatly inspired by the nearby Botanical Gardens of Moscow State University. Prospekt Mira's pillars are covered in white marble and intricate bas-reliefs.

Belorusskaya is the station basically for Belarus, and it is decorated with a variety of decorations based on Belarusian themes. Overhead, twelve octagonal mosaics by G. Opryshko, S. Volkov, and I. Morozov depict Belarusian daily life. A sculpture entitled "Belarusian Partisans," by S.M. Orlov, S. M. Rabinovich, and I. A. Slonim, is located in the passage between this station and Belorusskaya-Radialnaya.