Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) Metro – Kirovsky Zavod – Line 1

Kirovsky Zavod (Russian: Ки́ровский заво́д) is a station of the Saint Petersburg Metro on the Kirovsko-Vyborgskaya Line 1. It is named after the Kirov Plant which traditionally manufactured armaments – which itself was named after the Leningrad Party leader Sergei Kirov. The station opened on 15 November 1955.

[Limited] text from Wikipedia.

Kirovsky Zavod – 01

The decoration at the top of the pillars on either side of the entrances from the passageway to the platforms are images that represent some of the ‘pillars’ of the Soviet economy, here in 1955. Those aspects of the economy are; oil, electricity, heavy engineering and mining. As in the more elaborate stations of the Moscow Metro not everyone of the images is unique. Here there are four which get repeated along both sides of the central passageway.

Kirovsky Zavod – 03

I don’t know if these are actually made of metal, as they appear, or are, on the other hand, plaster casts which have been painted with a metallic paint. What tends to go against the latter explanation is the almost pristine condition of the cast. There’s no sign whatsoever of any chipping – which does appear in some of the items in the Moscow Metro that are not all what they seem. If I get definitive information about this I’ll update. Unfortunately, to date, I have no information about the artists.

Kirovsky Zavod – 02

At one end of the platform is a bust of VI Lenin, dated 1955 – so presumably commissioned for the station.

Kirovsky Zavod – 04

Sergei Kirov Apartment Museum

SM Kirov House and Museum – Leningrad (Saint Petersburg)

Kirov’s museum is located in the famous ‘House of Three Benois’ on the second entrance of the house number 26/28 on Kamennoostrovsky Prospect, on the 4th and 5th floors.

‘The House of three Benois’ is one of the largest pre-revolutionary St. Petersburg tenement buildings. It was constructed in 1911-1914. for the First Russian Insurance Company, designed by architects L. Benois, A. Benois, J. Benois and A. Gunst.

After the revolution of 1917, many apartments in this house became communal. Some of the apartments have been given to the Party and government leaders.

In April 1926, Kirov started to live in a service apartment number 20 in the house 26/28 on the Krasnyh Zor’ (Red Dawn) street (former Kamennoostrovsky Avenue). Sergei Mironovich Kirov was head of the Communist party organization in Leningrad. There he lived with his wife, Maria Lvovna Marcus until the last day of his life, up to December 1^st 1934. In 1955, the apartment became a museum.

In addition to the memorial five-room apartment (in four of which authentic furniture are fully preserved ) you will see two hallways, bathroom and kitchen (which were renovated in the 2000s.). In the former maids room is an interactive educational game ‘Take what you are given’, which dedicated to the food supply and rationing system in 1920-1930 Leningrad. In another room of the museum is an exposition ‘Kirov’s office in Smolny’.

Text from the museum website.