Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
146
Most cities' public transit systems are necessary eyesores. Moscow's is a masterpiece
and worth a mention here. Central planning meant that Stalin was free to pour funds
and artistic energy into creating the metro. Today it's the world's busiest subway system,
yet even trains that run every 90 seconds aren't enough to diffuse crowding. The system
is still cleaner than most other big-city subways. Its oldest stations, dating from the 1930s
and 1940s, are its grandest, particularly those on the Circle Line. The newer stations at
the edges of town are corridors of bland but well-polished white tile. Even if you don't
use the metro to get around, take a peek at one of the following stations:
Ploshchad
Revolutsii,
with its bronze sculptures of Soviet swimmers, mothers, and sailors holding
up the marble columns;
Kievskaya
(Circle Line stop), with its cheerful mosaics portray-
ing Ukrainian-Russian friendship;
Novokuznetskaya,
with its cast-iron streetlights; and
Novoslobodskaya,
with its Art Nouveau stained glass.
For an even closer view of the metro, with models and an avalanche of statistics, visit the
tiny
Metro Museum
atop the Sportivnaya station (
&
495/622-7309;
free admission;
open to individuals Thurs 9am-4pm; open for groups only Mon-Wed and Fri 9am-4pm).
The friendly director is a former metro driver who has a lifetime of stories to share (though
in Russian only). Most stations are quite deep, and all have head-spinningly long escalators;
some of the stations such as the mosaic-ceilinged
Mayakovskaya
were even built as bomb
shelters during World War II. See “Getting Around” in chapter 4 for metro ticket prices.
Revolution Museum
(State Museum of Contemporary Russian History) This
museum officially changed its name in the 1990s but is still commonly referred to as the
Revolution Museum. The thrust of the exhibits is the same, though the moral weight has
been lifted and now much of it appears more kitschy than political. Beyond the excess of
red (banners, carpets, lighting), the museum is a piece of Russian history saved from the
hands of those who would have erased the Soviet era from memory the way the Soviets
tried to erase czarist-era memories. Newer exhibits include labor camp grave posts and
glasnost
-era efforts at a more honest look at history. The museum is housed in an elegant
building on Tverskaya Street that once hosted Masonic meetings. Allow an hour or so.
21 Tverskaya St.
&
495/699-6724.
www.sovr.ru. Admission 100 rubles. Tues-Wed and Fri 10am-6pm;
Thurs and Sat 11am-7pm; Sun 10am-5pm; closed last Fri of each month. Metro: Pushkinskaya, Tverskaya,
or Chekhovskaya.
7
Art MUSEON
Another example of Russia's confused allegiances in the post-Com-
munist era, this park gathers together scores of busts and full-size statues of Lenin and
other now-disgraced Soviet icons. The pieces were torn down in the democratic fervor of
the early 1990s, but not destroyed. Many ended up in a graceless heap in an alley in
nearby Gorky Park before a group of independent artists righted them and gave them a
new home behind the modern art museum. Despite its political overtones, the park is a
peaceful and pleasant place, with wooden bench swings, bird feeders, and a garden of
exotic and Russian pines. The statues of Soviet leaders are interspersed with other icons
such as pianist Van Cliburn, and surrounded by lanes of Avant-Garde sculptures. It's easy
to combine this with a visit to the modern art museum (see review below). Allow a half-
hour or so for exploring and resting in the park.
10 Krymsky Val (behind the Central House of Artists).
&
499/238-5801.
www.muzeon.ru. Admission 100
rubles. Daily 9am-9pm. Metro: Oktyabrskaya or Park Kultury.
Museum of Cosmonautics
(Muzei Kosmonavtiki) Housed beneath
a giant aluminum monument of a rocket soaring into space, this museum is a tribute to
the minds and might that put the Soviet Union head-to-head with the United States in
