SoCultures Magazine 2018 SoCultures Magazine November 2018 | Page 27

SoCultures November 2018
India & Russia
The planning and ideas about Moscow Metro dates back to the Russian Empire.
The construction started in 1931 and when the stations were opened for the
public to use on a historic day, it was 1935! The first line of the Moscow Metro
was eleven meters long.
Lazar Kaganovich! The man behind the Moscow Metro project! He was a very
prominent Bolshevik Soviet politician, once a very towering personality in
Kremlin politics, and very close to Stalin. He was a staunch Stalinist, his vision
to create metro stations was not only super dynamic transportation system but
also which will showcase the vision of history and development, cities, cultures
all from 1930s to the later times.. He also saw transportation and the
organization of war industries during World War II.
Let’s take a ride
Mayakovskaya station: Stalinist architecture
It’s full of aviation based murals and a perfect example of pre world war II
Stalinist architecture. The design elements covey the Futurism and personality of
famous Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovskya who apart from being a poet and
playwright also become a leader of Russian Futurist movement.
The walls are streaking with murals that have Soviet aircrafts as beautiful
designs. All around it’s the celebration of sky and the aviation and it’s no less
than the mysticism of a star-lit sky or a light blue bright sky with white fluffy
patches of clouds scattered all over.
It was opened in 1938 and had a spectacular treat for the visitors. A total of thirty
four oval niches featuring ceiling mosaics by A. Deineka embellish the walls.
And no wonder the beauty of this station has earned it a reputation of one of the
beautiful museums in the world. It’s a delight for all the creative, cultural
enthusiasts - photographers, artists, sculptors all. The statuesque pillars decked
up with steel and pink rhodonites, these massive structures served other roles
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