Moscow Metro Tour: Green Line
A Self-Guided Tour of Russia's Famous Underground
A tour of the Green Line of the Moscow Metropolitan, focusing on the art, architecture and hostory of the most famous stations.
Construction of the Green Line began, along with the Dark Blue Line, in 1935. The Green Line opened for service on September 11, 1938, originally extending from Teatralnaya, (which was at the time called Ploshad Sverdlova) to Sokol. In 1943, during the height of the Great Patriotic War, the line was extended to Avtozavodkaya.
Sokol, meaning “Falcon,” takes its name from one of the first communal Russian settlements in the Soviet Union, which existed from 1923 to 1930, and counted a number of famous artist, scientists, and educators among its ranks. The construction of Sokol is atypical for the Moscow Metro, with a central platform divided by a single row of graceful, arced columns and a “double-vault” construction.
Aeroport, next along the line as we head south, is a beautiful early example of Moscow Art Deco design, with an airy architecture that suits its name. This was the first “single vault” station to be constructed, with a network of intersecting lines, like the contrails of planes overhead, originating from fan-shaped limestone panels alternated with red and brown marble. Also notable is the beautiful metalwork over the arches leading to the platform on either end. The vault of the station was assembled above ground in sections and then lowered to its present location just beneath Leningradskiy Prospekt.
Dinamo, which serves the eponymous sports complex and stadium, is one of the most cave-like of Moscow’s Metro stations, with pylons dimly lit by backlit onyx panels from Armenia in honeyed tones. The pylons are topped with ceramic medallions allegorizing numerous Soviet-era sports, a total of 60 medallions immortalizing 21 sports, for the entire length of the central hall and both platforms.
Belorusskaya serves the eponymous train station, with trains heading west for Minsk and points beyond. However, the station is clad with pink marble from Birobizhan, ironically one of the easternmost points of the Soviet Union and a failed attempt by Stalin at establishing a “Soviet Zion” while protecting European Russia from the “scourge” of Judaism. At the blind end of the station, almost hidden in the shadows, is a bust of Vladimir Lenin.
Mayakovskaya is considered by many to be the most beautiful of the stations on the Moscow Metro. The Light, Art-Deco pylons are built not of concrete, but of marble-clad steel, a new technique in the 1930s and one that had the architect, Dushkin, labeled as a lunatic by many of his colleagues. The construction of the station in muddy, water-saturated ground appeared to be a disaster from the beginning, with failures of initial phases, and even a recommendation by foreign consultants who recommended scrapping the entire station design, building it deeper underground and in a style similar to Krasnaya Vorota. But the project pushed forward, and the station was completed without a single accident. From its very opening, a game that youths would play at Mayakovskaya (and one you can still see played today) is to press a ruble coin against the grooved stainless steel pylon and push it upwards. If done correctly, the coin will travel up the arch and over, following the steel track all the way down the opposite pylon. The 35 steel pylons are clad in pink rhodonite, and in the lighted niches created by each vault, 34 mosaic panels by the artist Aleksandr Deyneka, depict 24 hours in the Soviet Sky, with each Mosaic beautifully illustrating an aerial theme celebrating Soviet advancement.
Teatralnaya, the original southern terminus of the green line, started its life as Ploshad Sverdlova. The shadows left behind by the original name can still clearly be seen on the walls of the station behind the current Teatralnaya letters. Additionally, there is a plinth at one end of the platform where a bust of Sverdlov stood, though the bust is now gone and Sverdlov’s name clumsily chiseled away. The white marble of Teatralnaya was taken from the destroyed Cathedral of Christ the Savior, making this a Metro station of many ghosts.
Novokuznetskaya, opened during the Great Patriot War, is suitably laden with panels of the Red Army in combat. Seven hexagonal ceiling mosaics celebrate wartime industry, bas reliefs of a combative Red Army line the ceiling’s base, and bronze portraits of wartime heroes such as Aleksandr Nevsky and Kutuzov decorate the pylons of this station. The ornamented marble benches lining the platform were removed from the Cathedral of Christ the Savior before its demolition. Unlike other metro stations, which have had their old lighting systems replaced with fluorescent lights, the floor lamps of Novokuznetskaya give the station a shadowy feel.
Paveletskaya is a high-traffic station serving the Paveletskiy train station, with trains departing to the southeast of Moscow. The platform has a series of high white columns decorated with the Hammer-and-Sickle, and a soaringly high ceiling, echoing, in a bombastic style, the much cleaner lines of Mayakovskaya. This station has been drastically rebuilt twice, originally opening as a London Tube-type station, then in 1953 being redesigned as a column-type station. In 1987 the station had to be rebuilt once again following a devastating train fire, during which parts of the station were heavily damaged.
Avtozavodskaya is another station designed by Dushkin, who was responsible for Mayakovskaya. Originally named “Zavod Imeni Stalina,” The station’s ceiling soars above you, supported by gracefully widening columns clad in light pink Oraktuoy marble. The walls are clad with the same marble, and decorated with enormous mosaic panels of wartime production, including a tank assembly line with a female worker in kerchief, more than vaguely reminiscent of the “We Can Do It” posters circulating in the United States at the same period of time.
here is a tour of the Dark Blue Line, if you want to explore the Moscow Metro further.
here is a more general tour of the stations.
And of course, for interested parties, here is some more history on the Metro.
