Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Komsomolskaya metro station
SIMEONE HUBER / GETTY IMAGES ©
Prospekt Mira
Originally named for the nearby MGU Botanical Garden, Prospekt Mira features elegant,
white-porcelain depictions of figures planting trees, bringing in the harvest and generally
living in harmony.
HISTORY OF THE MOSCOW METRO
When Stalin announced plans for Metrostroy(construction of the metro) in the
1930s, loyal communists turned out in droves to lend a hand. Thousands of people
toiled around the clock in dire conditions, using pickaxes and spades and hand-
pulled trolleys. Some 10,000 members of the Moscow Komsomol (Soviet youth
league) contributed their time to building the communist dream.
The first metro line opened on 16 May 1935 at 7am. Thousands of people spent the
night at the doors of the station so they might ride the first train on the red line
(between Park Kultury in the south and Sokolniki in the north). Two additional lines
opened in 1938.
Construction continued during the Great Patriotic War, with the opening of two ad-
ditional lines. Several stations actually served as air-raid shelters during the Siege of
Moscow in 1941. The Ring line (Koltsevaya line) opened in the early 1950s.
Khrushchev's tastes were not as extravagant as Stalin's, so later stations employ a
uniform, utilitarian design. But the metro continued to expand, and still continues
today (as does Moscow itself).
Novoslobodskaya
Thirty-two stained-glass panels envelop this station in art nouveau artistry. Six windows de-
pict the so-called intellectual professions: architect, geographer, agronomist, engineer, artist
and musician. At one end of the central hall is the mosaic
Peace in the Whole World
. The
pair of white doves was a later addition to the mosaic, replacing a portrait of Stalin.
Belorusskaya
The ceiling mosaics celebrate the culture, economy and history of Russia's neighbour to the
west. The 12 ceiling panels illustrate different aspects of their culture, while the floor pattern
reproduces traditional Belarusian ornamentation.
