Of all the major construction projects that graced the decade of the Triumph of Soviet Socialism none, arguably, was a greater success than the Moscow Metropolitan named for Lenin. True, the project was a mass of confusion that fell behind schedule and went over budget while squandering natural resources and human lives, but what else would one expect from the Stalinist thirties? Unlike the Palace of Soviets, the Metro was actually built; unlike the White Sea-Baltic Canal; the Metro actually served a useful purpose; unlike the Dneprostroi Dam…well, you get the idea.

The opening of the Metro’s first line in 1935 was celebrated by state propagandists as a major achievement of Soviet socialism. To a considerable extent, it was. The Metro introduced a new modern form of transportation to Russia, it facilitated the movement of people around the rapidly expanding capital, and it helped bring about Moscow’s transformation from a sprawling and confused nineteenth-century village into a sprawling and confused urban metropolis.

When first unveiled, the Metro’s earliest stations (those constructed under the capital’s central districts) must have been stunning. Decorated with statures, bas-reliefs, and mosaics covering all the usual themes (the unity of workers and peasants, the vigilance of Red Army soldiers, the triumphs of state planning, the heroism of Party leaders, etc.) they functioned as propagandistic set-pieces that advertised the Party’s power while providing citizens with a constant display of iconic Soviet forms. (My favorites, of course, are the ones found in Mayakovsky station which are given over almost entirely to the exploits of aviators).

The well-ordered and rational Metro was a testament to the Soviet leaders’ faith in the transformative power of technology. One contemporary writer went so far as to proclaim the Metro’s subterranean structure to be a new “System of Copernicus:” the hub around which the capital of emerging Soviet civilization (and, in time, the world) would gravitate.

Today, most of the Metro’s Stalinist splendor has been worn away by decades of use as every year the hoards of steaming humanity that shamble their way through the underground grow larger. Although late at night (and throughout the day in the outlying regions of the city), the Metro is still the least inconvenient way to move about the capital, during the morning and evening rush hours when traffic is high, the experience can be less than pleasant.

Efforts are underway to improve the Metro, but it is an expensive and difficult task. New lines are being extended into under-served neighborhoods, new modern trains and passenger cars have been added (though they’re still relatively few), and alternative forms of transportation (such as monorails) are being used to form a second transportation “ring” around the city center. Whether or not these steps will be sufficient to ease the burden on the strained system is anybody’s guess.

In the meantime, for an amazing site containing panoramic and other photos of the Metro’s stations go HERE.