Moscow metros
The metro stations in Moscow are very beautiful and super clean but my first experience with the Moscow metro station was very intimidating. Cold air gushing, huge empty halls, very long industrial escalators descending, stern faces, loud trains, very few signages. Almost bunker like. And I was right. Stalin built them deep underground as bomb-shelters. The metro system has half of the stations deep underground. The deepest section is 84 meters!
The Moscow metro started in 1935 with a single line and few stations but now it has grown huge with 12 lines and nearly 200 stations.
The metro project was a part of big Soviet propaganda by Stalin. Under Stalin’s command, the stations were constructed as luxurious “palaces for the people”. After the fall of the Communist Party, as a part of de-Stalin-ization, most of the reliefs and mosaics having Stalin’s face were changed.
The station walls are adorned with reliefs, marble and bronze statues, stained-glass windows and countless mosaics made with glass, marble and granite. There are images of the former revolutionary and historical characters, their victories, sports, industry, agriculture, and warfare, as well as of common Soviet people such as workers, soldiers, farmers, and students.
