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Moscow metro |
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Duration: approx 2 hours
| Price per person: |
persons |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
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€ |
100 |
55 |
40 |
35 |
Price includes: English speaking guide, tickets to Moscow metro
Special offer: Book 2 tours per day and get a 20% discount for both
Book 3 tours per day and get a 30% discount for all
Book Moscow metro tour now!
Moscow Metro is a unique place because it is not only the largest and quickest metro in the world, carrying more than 2.5 mln passengers per day. It is a marvelous sample of architecture which combines styles of different art epochs and directions.
The construction of Moscow Metro started in the seventies of the 19th century when the population of Moscow amounted to almost 2 mln people. The idea of the engineering was approved by the imperator Alexander II but due to his death and war against Turkey the project was frozen.
 At the beginning of the 20th century the issue was raised up again. The word “underground” was firstly pronounced in Moscow in 1901, the following year the project was made up. Moscow Metro was supposed to move on the surface, around the city and go underground only occasionally. Still the idea failed to be put into practice as the project was considered to be premature and Moscow City Duma turned it down. Later due to the First World War, October Revolution and Civil War the construction of Moscow Metro was postponed for almost 20 years.
In 1923 the Soviet government having no special knowledge and experience in building underground constructions turned to foreign professionals and placed an order for the project with German company Siemens-Bauunion G.m.b.H. After almost two years in 1925 the project which included 80 km of tunnels and 86 stations was ready. Yet the monies for putting the project into practice were not found and Moscow Metro wasn’t constructed by the drawings of Siemens. Who knows, maybe the Soviet government wanted no more than that design. Together with the German project Moscow City Railroad set up their own Metro subdivision having hired only one person as no more professionals were found. The project of Moscow Metro had been worked on for 7 years and by 1930 it had been presented to the government.
 By that time the population of Moscow had grown up to 4 mln people and public above-ground transport idn’t cope with carrying so many passengers. The problem had to be settled as soon as possible.
In September 1931 the government set up an organization called Mosmetrostroy which was intentioned to deal with underground construction issues. In March 1933 the design of Moscow Metro was approved. The scheme included of 10 lines which total length transcend 80 km. As we said earlier in this article Metro in Moscow was supposed to be surface, only short lines in the city centre were intended to be underground. First Moscow Metro was being built in such a way. The sums spent were enormous: 21% of the annual city budget.
At the beginning of 1931 27-year-old engineer Makovsky offered the idea of building Moscow metro deep underground. All other engineers objected to that as the country had no experience in fulfilling such projects, no qualified staff, no money and no equipment. There was no method of carrying passengers at such a big depth. Still the idea of the deep metro in Moscow was approved by the chiefs of the construction, Koganovich and Khrushchev. In May 1932 the construction of Moscow metro was suspended and Mosmetrostroy was charged with the task of making up a new project of the deep metro. In a week the project was ready and approved by Stalin. The works began.
 Because of ineffable popularization of the grand project volunteers from different corners of The Soviet Union came to participate in the construction. In spite of severe conditions, shortage of equipment and tools people worked hard. In two years thanks to the effort of the workers the first line of Moscow Metro was built. On 15th October, 1934 the first two-van-train ran from Komsomolskaya Station to Sokolniki. In seven months exactly 13 metro stations carried first passengers. In 1939 Moscow metro accounted for 22 stations (4 lines) and carried more than 1 mln passengers per day. More than 50 years later, by 2010, the number of stations had grown up to 180 (12 lines) and the total length of the lines of Moscow metro had been almost 300 km.
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