The Majesty of Moscow’s Metro

 

I’ve been to metros all around the world, many worthy of praise for their efficiency or quality of service but none worthy of visiting in their own right. Moscow’s metro is not just of historical interest but artistic. Many stations are of either artistic merit in their own right or at least contain art of of interest, even if not necessarily to everyone’s taste. Art was an essential element from its inception. Berthold Brecht was there for the opening and was even commissioned to write a poem for the occasion, the delightfully titled, The Moscow Workers Take Possession Of The Great Metro. I’m guessing it’s not one of his most treasured works.

First established under Stalin in 1935, successive generations have charted the evolution of Soviet artistic stylings and beyond up to the present day. The more recent stations are mostly, with the occasional exception purely functional but there’s plenty of earlier examples worth a visit.

Some falsely associate Stalinesque design with the raw concrete of European brutalism which was certainly adopted to some extent in the Soviet Union, as I’ve previously discussed on my visits to Central Asia and Ukraine, but was by no means its origin. As the metro system demonstrates, Stalin was clearly a fan of the classical forms of ancient Greece and Rome, even if the above ground work of his era was often rather imposing, some might say intimidating.

The metro under Stalin’s tenure also produced works as diverse as art deco and Russian baroque, who’s excessive ornamentation really isn’t my thing, but there’s something for almost everyone. A megatonnage of marble of every hue was hauled in to cover vast areas of wall and floor. Needless to say there’s plenty of Soviet realism on show in the form of mosaics, murals and sculptures, even decorative glazed tiles and stained glass.

Although many stations are just named after their location, the earlier ones in particular were often dedicated to subjects such as regions of the Soviet Union, notably Kievskya station, who’s numerous artworks extol the virtues of Ukraine and it’s people. Unsurprisingly, noble farm workers and the like appear in all their glory, framed in baroque carvings.

Literary figures like poet Mayakovsky and the great Pushkin get a station, no doubt there are others but to be honest Russian literature isn’t my specialist subject. I was more taken by Elektrozavodskya, as just having Elektro in the title makes it cooler than most and being named after a light bulb factory gives it Communist street cred. Needless to say it’s got shit loads of light bulbs on display.

Even mundane features like ventilation grills and inspection hatches are given the full artistic treatment and are different for each station or even vary within a station.

It’s not just for show though, the service it provides is excellent throughout its 297 stations. You’re never waiting long, in fact at one station, from getting off the train I hadn’t even walked to the end of the platform before the next train arrived! There’s free WiFi throughout and some of the more modern carriages have USB charging sockets. In my two weeks in Moscow I didn’t encounter a single delay or even see one light bulb in need of replacement and some stations must have thousands in use. Along with the complete absence of rubbish you certainly can’t fault the authorities for slacking in the maintenance department. All this for only 70 roubles a journey, no matter how far you go. Londoners take note that’s 56p at the current exchange rate! On the subject of London: engineers from the London Underground were employed to help with the design but when the government thought it probably wasn’t a good idea to have such information in the hands of foreigners, they were arrested for espionage and had them deported.

I took most of these pictures on a circular trip on one ticket, which works out as possibly the cheapest art history tour you could ask for anywhere in the world and the price even includes the transport!

For a bit more on the fascinating history of the metro read this article.