Moscow Metro

The Moscow metro system is one of the most convenient in the world. It has ten lines which cover the whole city, except its farthest suburbs. Changing lines is easy, as all lines are connected by the circle line, which makes the Moscow metro system one of a kind. As legend goes, when architects brought Stalin the plans for a new metro, it consisted of several straight lines. Stalin was drinking tea while looking at the plans, and put his glass in the middle of the drawing, leaving the ring-shaped mark. Stalin signed the plan, but architects didn’t dare to tell him about the mark. Instead, they thought it was a good idea and added one more circle line that connected all the lines in the middle.

The first line opened on May 15th, 1935 between Sokol'niki and Park Kul'tury with a branch to Smolenskaya which reached Kievskaya in April 1937 (crossing Moscow River on a bridge). Two more lines were opened before World War II. In March 1938 the Arbatskaya line was extended to Kurskaya station (now Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya - dark blue line). In September 1938, the Gorkovsko-Zamoskvoretskaya line opened between Sokol and Teatralnaya (without Tverskaya station which was added in 1979).

The Moscow metro is not just a convenient kind of public transportation. Constructed as Stalin’s grand plan for rebuilding Moscow, it is also a tourist attraction. Its stations are beautifully designed with murals, mosaic, lots of white, pink and black marble and gold.

(From Russian Basic-Intermediate by Lidia McCarthy. Copyright@LidiaMcCarthy2004)