Moscow, 1st Site: The Metro

The Moscow Metro may not be a site, per se, but it is collectively an extraordinary element of Moscow life and Soviet history rolled into one.

Moscow, the city, is massive and as a result requires a massive system of public transport.  This was particularly true during the Soviet era when private ownership of

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automobiles was rare. Today owning a car is not all that rare. Some families like Zhanna's even have two. That may not sound like a big deal to Californians, but for city folk and especially city folk in a cold climate, owning the car is sometimes more trouble than it is worth. Especially if public transit is good. Downtown traffic and parking pushes people to the metro.

And in Moscow, the Metro responds. Between the nine different metro lines there did not seem there was any where we wanted to go that was far from the metro station. Once at the station the trains came in rapid succession, never more than a minute or two between trains. When the cars arrived it was often packed with passengers. The system is efficient and well used if perhaps, a bit well worn. On one of the lines we encountered the new cars (though never the newest cars pictured on the metro map).  The new cars are a major upgrade over the 90% of the fleet that I suspect dates back to Soviet times. The older cars are functional, but seem to have given little thought to passenger safety or comfort. There's no ventilation and when crowded you're likely to be stuck in the middle with no place to hang on. Muscovites seem to manage. It must be years of practice - they can even do it on 5 inch heels!

A shrine to Lenin

For the Soviets,, the metro was much more than a transit system however, and many of the stations reflect a ceremonial purpose. Those stations are literally works of art. It has been said that because the Soviets had no churches, the Metro filled the need for a place to publicly celebrate society’s deeds.

Moscow’s metro stations rival churches with their mosaic ceilings and marble clad porticos. Though Soviet statuary is not absent from Moscow above ground, below ground the Metro's halls are full of statues of Lenin, larger than life bronze of the victorious proletariat and murals depicting the budding Utopia. If you're not put off by the tragic history of Russian communism, the stations might be Moscow’s most beautiful space.