Moscow: History in the Train Stations

Moscow has many, many sites to see. Most of them are historical in Nature. Unlike the west there haven’t been many places built just to drive tourism. No big Arch over a river, Mega Mall, rows of tall buildings, or other such draws. Instead there are dozen’s of gold domed churches, a fortress that serves as the center of the Russian Government, many ex-soviet sites for you to look at and wonder what it was like years ago, a river that double back twice in the same city, and the insides of the metro stations. Yes, one of the most interesting places to visit, and you have to a dozen time a day, is the Moscow underground transit system. Call it a subway, call it and underground, or call it as the Russian’s do the Metro. You could easily write a book on all of the museum quality art work and structures that are contained and part of the various metro stations. In fact there have been books written. You could easily take a full day and just visit the 15 or so notable stations and it would be as productive as a day in any art or history museum.

Some basic facts (look on wikipedia for more!): The Moscow metro has 12 lines, 173 stations, 176 miles of routes, and moves 7.2 million people on any work day. When we were there we timed trains coming every 40 seconds on the week days and every 1 minute and 40 seconds on the weekends. Many of the trains are old but they are all pretty clean, almost no graffiti, and function very well. Most trains are 8 cars and each car on a busy day can probably from my estimate mover over a hundred people, so that would be close to a thousand people per trip! The metro started in operation in 1935 and its very creation affected soviet life. I have read in other sources that the 10-15 plans used to create the metro were the basis for the soviet use of 5 year production plans in all other industry. It also allowed the growing population of Moscow an affordable and relatively fast way to move around the city. The longest trips we took from one end of the city to another took around an hour.

As if the functionality of the system isn’t enough to marvel at, the design and form are nothing short of spectacle. Even the newer station that we visited by the University was built to be spacious with high ceilings and grand by anyone’s standards. The older stations are generally built with white, domed ceilings made of plaster. Most walk ways between areas seemed to be arched. The floors and walls were generally build of marble or other expensive stones. Many had very ornate light fixtures or even hanging chandeliers. Each station also was filled from on end to the other and top to bottom with soviet art. The station closest to my sister in-law’s house had murals in the marble walls; one depicting the hammer and sickle with Sputnik and other soviet symbols. Another station we visited had, I kid you not, had 10 foot status on both sides of a dozen archways. Many had images of Lenin or ever marks most had soviet symbols. Other common themes were the revolution, both the Bolshevik and earlier Decemberist (a revolution in the 1800s that help the ground work for the later Bolshevik uprising), and of workers in factories or on farms. All stations also had prominent markings of the year they were built. Each one was different and unique in its own way. All of them were amazing in one way or another.

When you traveled any time, you always had to pay attention. Every place had so much detail and so much to see. Unlike New York or Chicago taking a trip also offered a glimpse back into history. Even if some of this was the soviet view of history at the time the station was built. I was amazed everyday, and jealous. Back home we have a single light rail line that goes 11 miles. Another thing I didn’t mention yet is that it is cheap, around 60 cents each time you enter. Compare that to $1.50 – 2.25 of Minneapolis. I know many people would consider traveling in a new Mecedes or BMW traveling in style, but really look at the photo’s in this link of a hand full of stations and tell that this form of transportation isn’t the real way to travel in style: Moscow Metro