Moscow Metro History
A Short History of the Russian Capitol's Famous Underground
The Moscow Metro is one the busiest subway systems in the world, and features beautiful, ornate stations full of mosaics, murals, and art from classical to art deco.
Construction of the Moscow Metro began the 1930s. The first line opened on 15 May 1935 between Sokolniki and Park Kultury with a branch to Smolenskaya which reached Kievskaya in April 1937. Construction of the metro continued throughout the 1930s and even throughout World War II (known to Russians as the “Great Patriotic War,”)
During the Siege of Moscow, in the autumn and winter of 1941, the metro stations were used as air-raid shelters. The Council of Ministers moved its offices to the platforms of Mayakovskaya station, where Stalin made several public speeches during the siege.
The Koltsevaya, or ring, Line was planned first as a line running under the Garden Ring, a wide avenue encircling the borders of Moscow's city centre. The first part of the line - from Park Kultury to Kurskaya (1950) - follows this avenue, but the rest of the ring line was modified to connect to nine intercity train stations in Moscow.
One urban legend about the origin of the ring line alleges that a group of engineers approached Stalin with plans for the Metro, to inform him of current progress. As he looked at the drawings, Stalin poured a cup of coffee and spilt a small amount over the edge of the cup. When asked whether or not he liked the project so far, he put his cup down on the centre of the Metro blueprints and left the room without a word. The bottom of the cup left a brown circle on the drawings. The planners looked at it and realized that it was exactly what they had been missing. Taking it as a sign of Stalin's genius, they gave orders for the building of the ring line, which on the plans was always printed in brown. This legend, of course, may be attributed to Stalin's cult of personality.
The stations on the Arbatsky (or Arbat) line, constructed during the Cold War, are very deep and were planned as shelters in the event of nuclear war with the United States.
During the late 1950s, the architectural extravagance of new metro stations was significantly reduced, under the orders of Nikita Khrushchev. He championed a simple, standard layout, which quickly became known as "Sorokonozhka" or “Centipede” due to the columns aligned in rows down either side of the platform. During this period, stations differed from one another only in the color and design of tiles used. Most of these stations were very poorly built.
In the mid-1970s, architectural extravagance was restored, and original designs once again became popular.
Construction of new stations continues to this day, as does restoration of the original stations, such as Mayakovskaya.
The Moscow Metro train is identical to those used in all other ex-Soviet Metro cities (St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Minsk, Kiev, Kharkov, etc.) and in Budapest, Prague, Sofia and Warsaw.
Here's an article suggesting more ways to tour Moscow
And here is a self-guided tour of the Moscow Metro.
