Moscow Metro – Park Kultury – Line 5

Park Kultury (Парк культу́ры) is a Moscow Metro station in the Khamovniki District, Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow. It is on the Koltsevaya line (Circle line), between Oktyabrskaya and Kiyevskaya stations. Park Kultury opened on 1 January 1950.

Park Kultury – Line 5 – 02

The station is a standard pylon tri-vault, that was built in the flamboyance of the 1950s. Architect Igor Rozhin (who would then design the Luzhniki Stadium) applied a classic sport recreational theme to match the connotation with the ancient-Greek inspired transfer station. This includes large and imposing pylons faced with grey marble that came directly from Georgia. The floor is laid with black and grey granite tiles imitating a carpet. The walls are faced with white marble and labradorite. Decoratively the station contains 26 circular bas-reliefs by Iosif Rabinovich which depict sporting and other leisure activities of the Soviet youth.

Park Kultury – Line 5 – 03

The white vault of the station contains complex geometry which repeats that of the arches, and along the apex are suspended a set of intricate hexagonal chandeliers. Rozhin later admitted that he made a grave error in choosing to place the chandeliers amid the arches, not between them, that way he would have avoided giving the bas-reliefs a double shadow. At the end of the station is a massive marble wall with a small profile bas-relief of Maxim Gorky. The station was initially called ‘Park Kultury imeni Gorkogo’ (Парк Культуры имени Горького) but during the 1980 Moscow Olympics this was shortened as the Russian announcements were repeated in English and French during the games. After the Olympics, the shorter name was retained. The original long form appears in bronze letters next to Gorky’s image.

Park Kultury – Line 5 – 01

The station has a large imposing vestibule located on the corner of Komsomolsky Avenue and Garden Ring next to the Krymsky Bridge which was co-designed with Rozhin by Yelena Markova. Originally Rozhin planned for an extended arcade modelled after Russian trading rows, but this was rejected in favour of a more traditional design. The large building features a central dome, and inside has four bas-reliefs of sportsmen, and another one on its portico outside (all by G. Motovilov). The vestibule also doubles as a transfer to the Sokolnicheskaya line.

Park Kultury – Line 5 – 04

As the station was initially terminus, a set of reversal sidings exist in front of it, also from them runs a service branch to the Sokolnicheskaya line which was used initially as the primary way of transferring rolling stock to the station before the opening of the Koltsevaya line’s depot in 1954.

Park Kultury – Line 5 – 05

On 14 January 2011, Moscow Metro authorities announced their plans to close the station on 5 February 2011 so as to replace the ageing escalators. Park Kultury was supposed to open in December 2011 but the date was shifted to 30 March 2012 due to delays in shipping new escalators and opened the station on 28 April.

Elektrozavodskaya station

Moscow Metro – Elektrozavodskaya – Line 3

Work on the Moscow metro’s third stage was delayed – but not stopped – by the war. Elektrozavodskaya station, named after a nearby light bulb factory, was opened in 1944.

Elektrozavodskaya – 12 – light bulb factory

Elektrozavodskaya (Электрозаводская) is a Moscow Metro station on the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line. It is one of the most spectacular and better-known stations of the system. Built as part of the third stage of the Moscow Metro and opened on 15 May 1944 during World War II, the station is one of the iconic symbols of the system, famous for its architectural decoration which is work of architects Vladimir Shchuko (who died whilst working on the station’s project in 1939) and Vladimir Gelfreich, along with participation of his student Igor Rozhin.

Elektrozavodskaya – 03 – Hammer and sickle

The station serves the Basmanny district and is located on the Bolshaya Semyonovskaya Street, next to the Yauza River. The railway station Elektrazavodskaya of the Kazan direction is also located nearby. In May 2007, the station was closed for a year during which the escalators were completely replaced, along with the floor panels. Most of the details and finishes including Motovilov’s bas-reliefs were refurbished. The station was reopened on 28 November 2008.

Elektrozavodskaya – 16 – wheat harvesting

Named after the electric light bulb factory nearby, the preliminary layout included Schuko’s idea of making the ceiling covered with six rows of circular incandescent inset lamps (of which there were 318 in total). However the outbreak of World War II halted all works until 1943 when construction resumed. Gelfreich and Rozhin finished the design by adding an additional theme to the station of the struggle of the home front during the war, which is highlighted by the 12 marble bas-reliefs on the pylons done by Georgiy Motovilov. The rest of the station’s interior features most of the 1930s plans including powder-ballada marble on the rectangular pylons (the outside faces have sconces and decorative gilded grilles depicting the hammer and sickle), red salietti marble on the station walls, a dark olive duvalu marble on the socle and a chessboard layout on the main platform floor of granite and labradorite.

Elektrozavodskaya – 21 – aircraft woman

The station’s hexagonal shaped vestibule, features a domed structure on a low drum, on the corner niches of which are six medallions with bas-reliefs of main pioneers in electricity and electrical engineering: William Gilbert, Benjamin Franklin, Mikhail Lomonosov, Michael Faraday, Pavel Yablochkov, and Alexander Popov along with their pioneering apparatus. The interior of the vestibule is further punctuated by the same bright red salietti marble. Outside the vestibule in the archway there is a sculpture to the metro-builders by Matvey Manizer.

Elektrozavodskaya – 19 – road building

The station’s legacy was that it serves as a bridge between the pre-war Art Deco-influenced Stalinist architecture as seen on the second stage stations and their post-war counterparts on the Koltsevaya Line. Both Genrikh and Rozhin were awarded the Stalin Prize in 1946 for their work.