Moscow metro through the eyes of a foreigner

London operates the world's oldest underground rail system; the Tokyo subway has special employees who push people onto overcrowded trains; Subway in New York is an ethnic melting pot. Hidden under the streets of the Russian capital, the Moscow metro is something completely different.

Entering the Moscow metro is like taking a step back in time and finding yourself in an amazing museum of architecture and history.

(Total 17 photos)

Source: Journal/aleks1780

1. The ceiling of the Mayakovskaya metro station. Moscow, August 17, 2013. Photo: REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

2. Girls at the Turgenevskaya metro station. Moscow, August 16, 2013.

Opened in 1935, the Moscow Metro is an extravagant gallery of communist design, showcasing Soviet art, the then-popular Art Deco style, monumental statues, sumptuous chandeliers, marble columns and mosaic ceilings.

3. Entrance to the metro station Arbatskaya. Moscow, August 17, 2013.

Built under Stalin by the best Soviet artists and architects, the Moscow Underground carries 7-9 million people a day - more than the London and New York subways combined. The price of a single ticket is 30 rubles (about $1). When we arrived in Moscow to cover the IAAF World Championships in Athletics, we were given metro passes along with other documents. On the first day, I used this mode of transport, returning to the hotel with a group of photographers from the Reuters agency after we missed the last service bus.

4. At the Mayakovskaya metro station. Moscow, August 17, 2013.

5. A couple kisses in front of a stained-glass window at the Novoslobodskaya metro station. Moscow, August 17, 2013.

We were amazed by the architecture and from now on we continued to move around Moscow only in such a way as to capture in the photo both the metro itself and its passengers: kissing couples, late drunks and ordinary Muscovites, for some reason trying in every possible way to avoid direct eye contact.

6. At the Novoslobodskaya metro station. Moscow, August 17, 2013.

Trains rushed with incredible noise, so it was quite difficult to communicate in the car. But their speed was incredible. If we missed a train, we rarely had to wait more than a minute for the next one. And when the train approached the station, it was necessary to hurry in order to avoid the moment of closing the doors in front of the gaping ones. I only made this mistake once, and the heavy doors bounced off my forearm and slammed shut aggressively.

7. A woman smokes at the Rizhskaya metro station. Moscow, August 15, 2013.

8. At the metro station Prospekt Mira. Moscow, August 14, 2013.

Local residents claim that we were lucky: at this time of the year the metro is relatively deserted - the month of August, many Muscovites are on vacation. One Russian photographer told me that even in post-Soviet times, people still tend to be wary and wary of attempts to photograph them.

9. At the metro station Prospekt Mira. Moscow, August 14, 2013.

But with our backpacks emblazoned with World Championships in Athletics, we clearly looked like tourists, so no one paid much attention to us. Some fellow travelers smiled at us, a couple of children, having borrowed an iPhone from their mother, tried to take a picture of us in return. Only the driver for some reason angrily reacted with a deafening howl of a siren when I pointed my camera at him. This howl boomed through the deserted station.

10. At the metro station Prospekt Mira. Moscow, August 16, 2013.

Subway thefts still happen quite often, despite the ubiquitous presence of surveillance cameras and the police, so we always stuck together as a group, fearing for our camera equipment.

11. Mosaic panel depicting Vladimir Lenin at the Komsomolskaya metro station. Moscow, August 14, 2013.

One of the most beautiful metro stations is Mayakovskaya, which is famous for its ceiling with 34 mosaics depicting “24 hours in the Land of the Soviets”. During the Second World War, this station was used as the command post of the anti-aircraft regiment of Moscow.

12. A girl rubs her nose on a bronze sculpture of a Happy Dog at the Revolution Square metro station. Moscow, August 14, 2013.

At the Ploshchad Revolutsii station, when crowds of people leave the cars, many hands reach out to rub the nose of a bronze dog: it is said to bring good luck. The nose of the dog is polished to a shine and stands out in the twilight of the station among 76 life-size bronze sculptures.

13. Reading girl at the Chistye Prudy metro station. Moscow, August 16, 2013.

14. Mosaic panel with the image of Vladimir Lenin at the metro station Biblioteka im. Vladimir Lenin. Moscow, August 13, 2013.

During the Cold War, the stations on the Arbat Line, with their slow wooden escalators, were deepened to provide shelter in the event of a nuclear attack. Rumor has it that in 1950, on Stalin's orders, a top-secret line was excavated that was deeper than the rest of the metro lines and connected the Kremlin with the airport and a complex of protective bunkers.

15. At the Mayakovskaya metro station. Moscow, August 17, 2013.

Portraits of Lenin are still everywhere. Stalin was removed in 1956, three years after his death. The de-Stalinization program of Nikita Khrushchev was aimed at nullifying the mention of the dictator responsible for the deaths of millions of Soviet citizens through forced collectivization, deportation of ethnic groups, the Gulag and party purges. The ceiling panel at Belorusskaya station, which depicts three women carrying a hammer and sickle wearing a wreath with the letters CCCP, originally depicted women touching a bust of Stalin.

16. At the Belorusskaya metro station. Moscow, August 17, 2013.

Only recently, under Putin, have more favorable reviews of Stalin begun to be heard again in the context of World War II patriotic lore. After the reconstruction of the Kurskaya station in 2009, many were surprised by the inscription, which included the original text of the Soviet anthem: “Stalin raised us to be loyal to the people, inspired us to work and to exploits.” In a corner of Red Square stands the beautiful Kazan Cathedral, which was rebuilt in 1993 after the fall of communism. This cathedral was destroyed by order of Stalin.

17. At the Mayakovskaya metro station. Moscow, August 17, 2013.

In a country whose recent history is so rife with violence, wars and revolutions, there is a fine line between reconstructing and actualizing the political overtones of its rich architectural heritage. “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past,” says George Orwell in 1984.