Moscow metro Komsomolskaya Комсомо́льская

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• published: 24 Nov 2009
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SEE MY FACEBOOK HISTORY GROUP : https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alan-Heaths-History-Page/173472422695696 Komsomolskaya is located under Komsomolskaya Square, between the Leningradsky, Yaroslavsky, and Kazansky railway terminals. The station was named for the workers of the Komsomol youth league who helped to construct the first Metro line. Komsomolskaya was built using the cut and cover method, with construction beginning on 3 May 1933. Temporary bridges were built over the construction site to avoid disrupting traffic, especially the numerous tram routes in the area. To counteract the high water table, the station was built on 636 piles which were driven into the saturated soil. Heavy rains in the summer of 1934 threatened the construction site several times, and at one point even the Kazansky terminal was in danger of collapsing. Nevertheless, the concrete structure of the station was completed by 26 August and Komsomolskaya opened on schedule on 15 May 1935. Due to Komsomolskaya's location under a major transit hub, the station was built with an unusual upper gallery above the platform to help handle rush hour crowds. The station has tall pillars faced with pinkish limestone and topped with bronze capitals displaying the emblem of the Komsomol league. The station was designed by D.N. Chechulin, and a model of it was displayed at the 1937 Paris World's Fair. The station's southern entrance vestibule is built into the Kazansky Rail Terminal. The northern vestibule is on the opposite side of the square, between the Leningradsky and Yaroslavsky rail terminals. The latter entrance did not survive in its original form, having been replaced with a massive structure serving both this station and Komsomolskaya-Koltsevaya in 1952. Between Komsomolskaya and Krasnoselskaya is short branch line leading to the Severnoe, or "Northern," Depot (№1). On October 15, 1934, a Metro train left this depot for the Metro's first trial run. A second station, on the brown (ring) line was opened on 30 January 1952. While the first southern segment of the Ring Line were dedicated to the victory over Nazi Germany, the northern segment (Belorusskaya-Koltsevaya to Komsomolskaya) was dedicated to the theme of post-war labour. Komsomolskaya, however, is a clear exception: lead designer Alexey Shchusev designed it as an illustration of a historical speech given by Joseph Stalin November 7, 1941. In this speech, Stalin evoked the memories of Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy and other military leaders of the past, and all these historical figures eventually appeared on the mosaics of Komsomolskaya. Early roots of the station's design can be traced to a 1944 draft by Shchusev executed in pure Petrine baroque, a local adaptation of the 17th century Dutch Golden Age. However, after the end of World War II the drafts of 1944 were discarded and the stations of the Ring Line were completed in the mainstream late stalinist style of the period. Shchusev however, who died in 1949, retained his baroque nonce order. Beginning with the large vestibule located among the former of the two train stations, the building features an immense octagonal dome topped by a cupola, and a spire crowned by a large star and imposing full-height portico with stylised Corinthian columns. Inside amid the Baroque-style ornaments, rich torchères and chandelier lights, two escalators descend, one leading to the old 1935 Komsomolskaya-Radialnaya station, and the second to this one.