Moscow Underground Without Stalin — See the Gaps

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The Moscow under­ground metro sys­tem, opened in 1935, is well known for its ornate dec­o­ra­tions, out­stand­ing archi­tec­ture and art­work. Most of that art is in the social­ist real­ism style, which has its pur­pose of rein­forc­ing the goals of social­ism and com­mu­nism. In 1932 Joseph Stalin intro­duced the decree “On the Recon­struc­tion of Lit­er­ary and Art Orga­ni­za­tions”, thus mak­ing social­ist real­ism state pol­icy. Under­stand­ably, Stalin became the face of this move­ment — due to strict cen­sor­ship rules,  artists had to obey in order to avoid the pun­ish­ment. So the majes­tic Moscow met­ro­pol­i­tan sys­tem had bear­ings of many stat­ues, por­traits, mosaics of the man himself.

How­ever, after his death, the Thaw and alto­gether the dis­in­te­gra­tion of the cult of his per­sona, images of Stalin were removed — no longer he was the face behind the social­ism goals. Please read on to see the scars on the body of the finest exam­ple of the Soviet archi­tec­ture — the Moscow Under­ground System.

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Kurskaya Cir­cle Sta­tion, 1944. Stalin by Tom­skiy. After the statue was moved, the place was taken by a kiosk.

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A mosaic: three women are embroi­der­ing a por­trait of Stalin. Belorusskaja Station.

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Later Stalin was replaced by the Emblem of the Red Labour Flag.

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Later Stalin was replaced by the Emblem of the Red Labour Flag.

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The trum­pets are prais­ing noone: the part of the mosaic with the face of Stalin was removed. Pavelet­skaya Station

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This sta­tion, opened in 1944, was ini­tially called Stal­in­skaya. In 1961 it was renamed as Semenovskaya.

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Semen­ovskaya Sta­tion nowadays.

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Semen­ovskaya, inside. Another por­trait gone, not much pol­ish­ing given.

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Dobrynin­skaya Sta­tion, open in 1950 — Yuri Gararin was a teenager then and could not be por­trayed as yet. How­ever he replaced Stalin in mid196s there.

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Elek­troza­vod­skaya Sta­tion: at the back wall there used to be an orna­ment with a por­trait of Stalin.

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Elek­troza­vod­skaya Sta­tion, nowadays.

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Par­ti­zan­skaya Sta­ton. Above the statue is Stalin’s por­trait and a quote “To defend our coun­try is the most sacred duty of every citizen”.

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Par­ti­zan­skaya Sta­ton. Now both the quote and the por­trait have been removed


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