Moscow Metro

The underground stations—the Moscow Metro—are a world unto themselves. The Moscow Metro would retain its appeal even if Moscow above ground were to turn grey again or fall into decay for whatever reason. Memories of a youth trip in the days of East Germany may slowly fade, but recollections of the Metro and its stations come vividly back as soon as one begins to talk about Moscow. It makes no difference whether one is describing the brilliance of the architecture or the feeling of standing before an escalator whose end is nowhere in sight. The Moscow Metro alone makes Moscow a rendezvous, a journey worth taking.

Names such as Ploshchad Revolyutsii station, Komsomolskaya, Mayakovskaya and Novoslobodskaya already offer a glimpse of what to expect from the Moscow Metro and its stations. Moscow underground—the Moscow Metro—is no myth, but a living illusion. Anyone hoping to take in every Moscow Metro station will hardly be able to do so by simply riding the train; they will need time. The Moscow Metro is a gallery of history, expressed through its architecture, scale and grandeur. In the hotels and holiday apartments in Moscow one has already stepped into the land of the tsars; during the day, one can experience Moscow’s attractions, unique in the world and representative of Russian culture and history as a whole. Yet the Moscow Metro is in a class of its own worldwide. According to the first 2003 issue of Merian magazine devoted to Moscow, work on the first tunnel began in November 1931, and the Metro first began running on 15 May 1935. Today, it is the red line on the multicoloured map of the underground network. According to Wikipedia, the Moscow Metro carries around 2.4 billion passengers a year. Some entrances to the Moscow Metro look like the entrance to Movie Park in Bottrop-Kirchhellen. But every time you descend, you enter a world filled with light, glamour and elegant architecture. Doric columns, chandeliers, red and white marble, wall reliefs, stucco-framed mosaics and Baroque features almost make you forget that every one or two minutes another wave of people disappears into the depths—or is brought back up into daylight—aboard the Metro. The most magnificent station in the Moscow Metro is said to be Komsomolskaya. Here, 72 marble-clad pillars, chandeliers and some 300,000 individual mosaic tiles await the visitor seeking calm amid the hustle and bustle. Near Red Square, the October Revolution is commemorated in grand style, and the longest escalator stretches 75 metres down—or up.

But the history of the Moscow Metro also tells a story of suffering. During the Second World War, its stations were used as air-raid shelters. Around 200 children are said to have been born here in the underground of Moscow during that period alone. One station became a camp for forced labourers, and the most recent attack on the Moscow Metro took place as recently as March 2010. These were undoubtedly exceptional circumstances, and they should not be underestimated. On your next trip to Moscow, hopefully there will be plenty of time to experience the Moscow Metro in all its splendour and brilliance, and to appreciate it as one of the city’s attractions.