The first metro line in the USSR was opened on May 15, 1935 in Moscow. It connected the Sokolniki and Park Kultury stations. To mark the metro’s 78th anniversary, the In Moscow website (inmsk.ru) has compiled a gallery of images of the metro throughout its history, from its earliest days to the modern era.
The first metro line in the USSR was opened on May 15, 1935 in Moscow. It connected the Sokolniki and Park Kultury stations. To mark the metro’s 78th anniversary, the In Moscow website (inmsk.ru) has compiled a gallery of images of the metro throughout its history, from its earliest days to the modern era. In the photo: construction of the first station of the Moscow metro. Workers wheel carts, September 10, 1931.
Plans for the construction of the metro were developed much earlier, between 1914 and 1920, but were put on hold due to the outbreak of World War I. Only in 1933 was the official construction project approved, and Metrostroi began construction. In the photo: shallow-level construction of a metro tunnel (October 1, 1933).
High-ranking Soviet officials Lazar Kaganovich (top row, third left) and Nikita Khrushchev (top row, second left) among the metro builders in a tunnel. (February 1, 1934).
The first Moscow metro train makes a trial journey. October 15, 1934.
The Moscow metro was opened on May 15, 1935. The first line connected the Sokolniki and Park Kultury stations, with a branch running to Smolenskaya. In the photo: Senior Soviet officials Nikita Khrushchev (second left) and Lavrenty Beria (second right) ride a metro train on the opening day of the Moscow metro. (May 14, 1935).
The builders of the Moscow metro were its first passengers. (December 10, 1935).
During World War II, the metro was used as a bomb shelter. As many as 217 babies were born in the metro during the war while people were sheltering there from aerial bombings.
Passengers on an escalator in the Moscow metro. (July 12, 1979).
Passengers studying a Moscow metro map on an information stand with illuminated direction signs. The information stand provided train service information in English, French and Russian. (September 23, 1979).
A special phone was installed in station entrances to provide information about the metro service. (January 1, 1980).
An attendant on duty at the Mayakovskaya station. (September 18, 1980).
Lab assistants test the air in the Moscow metro. (August 1, 1985).
Passengers at metro turnstiles the day after the fare was increased three times. (April 2, 1991).
A young man plays gusli, a traditional Russian musical instrument, in an underground passage. (December 1, 1992).
A passenger reads a newspaper while sitting on the steps of a moving escalator at the Frunzenskaya station. (September 10, 1995).
Today, over seven million passengers use the Moscow metro every day. On weekdays, the number of passengers exceeds nine million – the largest passenger flow in the world.
