Moscow Metro
Background
Locale	Moscow Krasnogorsk, Moscow Oblast
Transit type	Metro
Number of lines	12
Number of stations	185
Daily ridership	6.55 million (average, 2009), 9.0 million (highest in 2009) [1]
Chief executive	Ivan Besedin
Website	engl.mosmetro.ru
Operation
Began operation	15 May 1935
Operator(s)	Moskovsky Metropoliten
Technical
System length	305.7 kilometres (190.0 mi)[1]
Track gauge	1,520 mm (4 ft 11 5⁄6 in)
Electrification	825 V DC third rail
Average speed	41.55 kilometres per hour (25.82 mph)

The Moscow Metro (Russian: Моско́вский метрополите́н, tr. Moskovsky metropoliten; IPA: [mɐˈskofskʲɪj mʲɪtrəpəlʲɪˈtɛn]) is a rapid transit system serving Moscow and the neighbouring town of Krasnogorsk. Opened in 1935 with one 11-kilometre (6.8 mi) line and 13 stations, it was the first underground railway system in the Soviet Union. As of 2011, the Moscow Metro has 185 stations and its route length is 305.7 kilometres (190.0 mi). The system is mostly underground, with the deepest section 84 metres (276 ft) below ground at the Park Pobedy station. The Moscow Metro is the world's second most heavily used rapid transit system after Tokyo's twin subway.^[2]

[edit] Overview

2011 Moscow Metro Map

The Moscow Metro is a state-owned enterprise.^[3] Its total length is 305.5 km (189.8 mi) and consists of 12 lines and 185 stations. The average daily passenger traffic is 6.6 million. Ridership is highest on weekdays (when the Metro carries over 7 million passengers per day) and lower on weekends. Each line is identified according to an alphanumeric index (usually consisting of a number), a name and a colour. Voice announcements refer to the lines by name. A male voice announces the next station when traveling towards the centre of the city, and a female voice when going away from it. On the circle line the clockwise direction has a male announcer for the stations, while the counter-clockwise direction has a female announcer. The lines are also assigned specific colours for maps and signs. Naming by colour is frequent in colloquial usage, except for the very similar shades of green assigned to the Kakhovskaya Line (route 11), the Zamoskvoretskaya Line (route 2), the Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya Line (route 10) and the Butovskaya Line (route L1).

The system operates in an enhanced spoke-hub distribution paradigm, with the majority of rail lines running radially from the centre of Moscow to the outlying areas. The Koltsevaya Line (route 5) forms a 20-kilometre (12 mi)long ring which enables passenger travel between these spokes. Signs showing the stations that can be reached in a given direction are in each station.^[4] A complete map is also on each station both inside and outside, and in the trains, but not on the platforms. Most of the stations and lines are underground, but some lines have at-grade and elevated sections. The Filyovskaya Line is notable for being the only line with most of its route at grade.

The Moscow Metro is open from about 05:30 until 01:00. The precise opening time varies at different stations according to the arrival of the first train, but all stations close their entrances simultaneously at 01:00 for maintenance. The minimum interval between trains is 90 seconds, during the morning and evening rush hours.^[1]

[edit] Lines

The colours in the table below correspond with the colours of the lines in the map above:

Index & colour	Name transliterated into Latin script	Name in Cyrillic script	First opened	Latest extension	Length	Stations
01	Sokolnicheskaya	Сокольническая	1935	1990	26.1 km	19
02	Zamoskvoretskaya	Замоскворецкая	1938	1985	36.9 km	20
03	Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya	Арбатско-Покровская	1938	2009	43.5 km	21
04	Filyovskaya	Филёвская	19581	2006	14.9 km	13
05	Koltsevaya	Кольцевая ("Circle")	1950	1954	19.3 km	12
06	Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya	Калужско-Рижская	1958	1990	37.6 km	24
07	Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya	Таганско-Краснопресненская	1966	1975	35.9 km	19
08	Kalininskaya	Калининская	1979	1986	13.1 km	7
09	Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya	Серпуховско-Тимирязевская	1983	2002	41.2 km	25
10	Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya	Люблинско-Дмитровская	1995	2011	28.2 km	17
11	Kakhovskaya	Каховская	19952		3.3 km	3
123	Butovskaya	Бутовская	2003		5.5 km	5
Total:					305.7 km	185

Notes

A Moscow Metro train passes through Begovaya station. View from the driver's cabin

¹ – Four central stations of the Filyovskaya Line – Alexandrovsky Sad (formerly Imeni Kominterna), Arbatskaya, Smolenskaya and Kiyevskaya – were originally opened in 1935–1937, when they were a branch of the Sokolnicheskaya Line. Between 1938 and 1953, they were part of the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line. The stations were closed between 1953 and 1958 and then reopened as part of the (new) Filyovskaya Line.

A branch line from the Filyovskaya is in operation (as of July 2009) starting from the Alexsandrovsky Sad Station and continuing on the Filyovskaya Line to Kiyevskaya Station, where it departs to stop at the (new) Vystavochnaya and Mezhdunarodnaya Stations.

² – All three stations of the Kakhovskaya Line were built in 1969. They were an integral part of the Zamoskovoretskaya Line until 1983, becoming a branch of that line until 1995. In 1995, they were split off from the Zamoskovoretskaya Line to form the Kakhovskaya Line.

³ – The "L" in "L1" does not stand for "Light rail" but (somewhat confusingly) for "Light Metro"—lines which are mainly elevated, with shorter platforms. These lines, as a result, do not need expensive tunnelling and are supposed to be financially "light". However, "light" and "normal" metro lines use the same rolling stock. See Butovskaya Light Metro Line for further explanation.

The Moscow Monorail is a 4.7 km, six-station monorail line between Timiryazevskaya and VDNKh which opened in January 2008. Prior to the official opening, the monorail had operated in "excursion mode" since 2004. Trains departed every 20 minutes between 8:00 and 20:05, and tickets cost four times the normal price (50 rubles, ~$2.10). Since 2008, train intervals have been shortened and the price is equal to the Metro ticket price.

History[link]

Soviet government resolution to construct the Moscow Metro

The first plans for a metro system in Moscow date back to the Russian Empire but were postponed by World War I, the October Revolution and the Russian Civil War. In 1923, the Moscow City Council formed the Underground Railway Design Office at the Moscow Board of Urban Railways. It carried out preliminary studies, and by 1928 had developed a project for the first route from Sokolniki to the city centre. At the same time, an offer was made to German company Siemens Bauunion to submit its own project for the same route. In June 1931, the decision to begin construction of the Moscow Metro was made by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In January 1932 the plan for the first lines was approved, and on March 21, 1933 the Soviet government approved a plan for 10 lines with a total route length of 80 km.

The first lines were built using the Moscow general plan designed by Lazar Kaganovich in the 1930s, and the Metro was named after him until 1955 named after him (Metropoliten im. L.M. Kaganovicha).^[5] The Moscow Metro construction engineers consulted with their counterparts from the London Underground, the world's oldest metro system. Partly because of this connection, the design of Gants Hill tube station (although not completed until much later) is reminiscent of a Moscow Metro Station.^[6][7]

First stage[link]

The first line, from Okhotny Ryad to Smolenskaya, was opened to the public on 15 May 1935 at 07:00.^[8] It was 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) long and included 13 stations. The line connected Sokolniki and Park Kultury.^[9] The latter branch was extended westwards to a new station (Kiyevskaya) in March 1937, the first Metro line crossing the Moskva River over the Smolensky Metro Bridge.

Second stage[link]

The second stage was completed before the war. In March 1938, the Arbatskaya branch was split and extended to the Kurskaya station (now the dark-blue Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line). In September 1938, the Gorkovskaya Line opened between Sokol and Teatralnaya. Here the architecture was based on that of the most popular stations in existence (Krasniye Vorota, Okhotnyi Ryad and Kropotkinskaya); while following the popular art-deco style, it was merged with socialist themes. The first deep-level column station Mayakovskaya was built at the same time.

Third stage[link]

Building work on the third stage was delayed (but not interrupted) during World War II, and two Metro sections were put into service; Teatralnaya–Avtozavodskaya (three stations, crossing the Moskva River through a deep tunnel) and Kurskaya–Partizanskaya (four stations) were inaugurated in 1943 and 1944 respectively. War motifs replaced socialist visions in the architectural design of these stations. During the Siege of Moscow in the fall and winter of 1941, Metro stations were used as air-raid shelters; the Council of Ministers moved its offices to the Mayakovskaya platforms, where Stalin made public speeches on several occasions. The Chistiye Prudy station was also walled off, and the headquarters of the Air Defence established there.

Fourth stage[link]

After the war construction began on the fourth stage of the Metro, which included the Koltsevaya Line, a deep part of the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line from Ploshchad Revolyutsii to Kievskaya and a surface extension to Pervomaiskaya during the early 1950s. The decoration and design characteristic of the Moscow Metro is considered to have reached its zenith in these stations. The Koltsevaya Line was first planned as a line running under the Garden Ring, a wide avenue encircling the borders of Moscow's city centre. The first part of the line – from Park Kultury to Kurskaya (1950) – follows this avenue. Plans were later changed and the northern part of the ring line runs 1–1.5 kilometres (0.62–0.93 mi) outside the Sadovoye Koltso, thus providing service for seven (out of nine) rail terminals. The next part of the Koltsevaya Line opened in 1952 (Kurskaya–Belorusskaya), and in 1954 the ring line was completed.

[edit] Cold War era

The beginning of the Cold War led to the construction of a deep section of the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line. The stations on this line were planned as shelters in the event of nuclear war. After finishing the line in 1953 the upper tracks between Ploshchad Revolyutsii and Kiyevskaya were closed, and later reopened in 1958 as a part of the Filyovskaya Line. In the further development of the Metro the term "stages" was not used any more, although sometimes the stations opened in 1957–1959 are referred to as the "fifth stage".

During the late 1950s the architectural extravagance of new Metro stations was toned down, and decorations at some stations (such as VDNKh and Alexeyevskaya) were simplified by comparison with the original plans. This was done on the orders of Nikita Khrushchev, who favoured more spartan decoration. A typical layout (which quickly became known as Sorokonozhka–"centipede", from early designs with 40 concrete columns in two rows) was developed for all new stations and the stations were built to look almost identical, differing from each other only in colours of the marble and ceramic tiles. Most stations were built with simpler, less-costly technology; this was not always appropriate, and resulted in utilitarian design. For example, walls with cheap ceramic tiles were susceptible to train vibration and some tiles eventually fell off. It was not always possible to replace the missing tiles with the ones of the same color, which eventually led to variegated parts of the walls. Not until the mid-1970s was the architectural extravagance restored and original designs again popular. However, the newer design of "centipede" stations (with 26 more-widely-spaced columns) continued to dominate.

[edit] Moscow Metro and Stalinism

[edit] Glorification

The Moscow Metro was one of the USSR’s most extravagant architectural projects. Stalin ordered the metro’s artists and architects to design a structure that embodied svet (radiance or brilliance) and svetloe budushchee (a radiant future).^[10] With their reflective marble walls, high ceilings and grandiose chandeliers, many Moscow Metro stations have been likened to an “artificial underground sun”.^[11] This underground communist paradise^[11] reminded its riders that Stalin and his party had delivered something substantial to the people in return for their sacrifices. Most importantly, proletarian labor produced this svetloe budushchee.

The metro design’s emphasis on verticality was a reinforcement of Stalin's deification^{[citation needed]}. He directed his architects to design structures which would encourage citizens to look up, admiring the station’s art (as if they were looking up to admire the sun and—by extension—him as a god.^[12] Another aspect of the apotheosis propaganda was the metro’s electrification; the Moscow Metro's chandeliers are one of the most beautiful and technologically-advanced aspects of the project.

The chief lighting engineer was Abram Damsky, a graduate of the Higher State Art-Technical Institute in Moscow. By 1930 he was a chief designer in Moscow’s Elektrosvet Factory, and during World War II was sent to the Metrostroi (Metro Construction) Factory as head of the lighting shop.^[13] Damsky recognized the importance of efficiency, as well as the potential for light as an expressive form. His team experimented with different materials (most often cast bronze, aluminum, sheet brass, steel, and milk glass) and methods to optimize the technology.^[13] Damsky’s discourse on “Lamps and Architecture 1930–1950” describes in detail the epic chandeliers installed in the Kaluzhskaia (now called the Oktiabrskaia) Station and the Taganskaia Station:

The Kaluzhskaya Station was designed by the architect [Leonid] Poliakov. Poliakov’s decision to base his design on a reinterpretation of Russian classical architecture clearly influenced the concept of the lamps, some of which I planned in collaboration with the architect himself. The shape of the lamps was a torch – the torch of victory, as Poliakov put it... The artistic quality and stylistic unity of all the lamps throughout the station’s interior made them perhaps the most successful element of the architectural composition. All were made of cast aluminum decorated in a black and gold anodized coating, a technique which the Metrostroi factory had only just mastered. The Taganskaia Metro Station on the Ring Line was designed in...quite another style by the architects K.S. Ryzhkov and A. Medvedev... Their subject matter dealt with images of war and victory...The overall effect was one of ceremony, perhaps even lavish to excess. In the platform halls the blue ceramic bodies of the chandeliers played a more modest role, but still emphasised the overall expressiveness of the lamp.”^[13]

—Abram Damsky, Lamps and Architecture 1930–1950

This is an example of how the artistic composition of the Moscow Metro incorporated the Communist Party’s propaganda messages. The work of Abram Damsky facilitated the dissemination of this propaganda, so the people would associate the party with svetloe budushchee.

[edit] Industrialization

Stalin's First Five-Year Plan (1928–1932) facilitated rapid industrialization to build a socialist motherland. The plan was ambitious, seeking to reorient an agrarian society towards industrialism. It was Stalin's fanatical energy, large-scale planning, and smart resource allocation that kept up industrialization's punishing pace. The First Five-Year Plan was instrumental in the completion of the Moscow Metro; without industrialization, the Soviet Union would not have had the raw materials necessary for the project. For example, steel was a main component of many subway stations. Before industrialization, it would have been impossible for the Soviet Union to produce enough steel to incorporate it into the metro's design; in addition, a steel shortage would have limited the size of the subway system and its technological advancement.

The Moscow Metro furthered the construction of a socialist Soviet Union because the project accorded with Stalin's Second Five-Year Plan. The Second Plan focused on urbanization and the development of social services. The Moscow Metro was necessary to cope with the influx of peasants who migrated to the city during the 1930s; Moscow's population grew to 3.6 million in 1933 from 2.16 million in 1928. The Metro also bolstered Moscow's shaky infrastructure and its communal services, which hitherto were nearly nonexistent.^[14]

[edit] Mobilization

The Communist Party had the power to mobilize; because the party was a single source of control, it could focus its resources and inspire its people. The most notable example of mobilization in the Soviet Union occurred during World War II. The country also mobilised in order to complete the Moscow Metro with unprecedented speed. A main motivation of the mobilization was to overtake the West and prove that a socialist metro could surpass capitalist designs. It was especially important to the Soviet Union that socialism succeed industrially, technologically, and artistically in the 1930s, since capitalism was at a low ebb during the Great Depression.

The person in charge of Metro mobilization was Lazar Kaganovich. A prominent Party member, he assumed control of the project as chief overseer. Kaganovich was nicknamed the "Iron Commissar"; he shared Stalin's fanatical energy, dramatic oratory flare, and ability to keep workers building quickly with threats and punishment.^[14] He was determined to realise the Moscow Metro, regardless of cost. Without Kaganovich's managerial ability, the Moscow Metro might have met the same fate as the Palace of the Soviets: failure.

This was a comprehensive mobilization; the project drew resources and workers from the entire Soviet Union. In his article, archeologist Mike O'Mahoney describes the scope of Metro mobilization:

A specialist workforce had been drawn from many different regions, including miners from the Ukrainian and Siberian coalfields and construction workers from the iron and steel mills of Magnitogorsk, the Dniepr hydroelectric power station, and the Turkestan-Siberian railway... materials used in the construction of the metro included iron from Siberian Kuznetsk, timber from northern Russia, cement from the Volga region and the norther Caucasus, bitumen from Baku, and marble and granite from quarries in Karelia, the Crimea, the Caucasus, the Urals, and the Soviet Far East^[15]

—Mike O'Mahoney, Archeological Fantasies: Constructing History on the Moscow Metro

Skilled engineers were scarce, and unskilled workers were instrumental to the realization of the metro. The Metrostroi (the organization responsible for the Metro's construction) conducted massive recruitment campaigns. It printed 15,000 copies of Udarnik metrostroia (Metrostroi Shock Worker, its daily newspaper) and 700 other newsletters (some in different languages) to attract unskilled laborers. Kaganovich was closely involved in the recruitment campaign, targeting the Komsomol generation because of its strength and youth.

[edit] Social engineering

The completion of the Moscow Metro was important, because the party used it as a means to build a socialist society. The Metro was perhaps the Soviet Union’s most effective social-engineering tool^[12] not only due to the project’s scale, but also because Socialist Realism (the movement according to which the Metro was designed and built) was an instrument for such experimentation. Socialist Realism was in fact a method, not a style.^[10] This method was influenced by Nikolay Chernyshevsky, Lenin’s favorite 19th-century nihilist, who stated that “art is no use unless it serves politics”.^[12] This maxim explains why the stations combined aesthetics, technology and ideology. Any plan which did not incorporate all three areas cohesively was rejected. Without this cohesion, the Metro would not reflect Socialist Realism. If the Metro did not utilize Socialist Realism, it would fail to illustrate Stalinist values and transform Soviet citizens into socialists. Anything less than Socialist Realism’s grand artistic complexity would fail to inspire a long-lasting, nationalistic attachment to Stalin’s new society.^[16]

[edit] Propaganda value

The first 13 stations of the Moscow Metro opened on May 15, 1935, a day which was celebrated as a technological and ideological victory for socialism (and, by extension, Stalinism). 285,000 people rode the Metro at its debut, and its design was greeted with pride; street celebrations included parades, plays and concerts. The Bolshoi Theatre presented a choral performance by 2,200 Metro workers; 55,000 colored posters (lauding the Metro as the busiest and fastest in the world) and 25,000 copies of "Songs of the Joyous Metro Conquerors" were distributed.^[12] This publicity barrage, produced by the Soviet government, stressed the superiority of the Moscow Metro over all other metros in capitalist societies and the Metro's role as a prototype for the Soviet future. The Moscow Metro averaged 29 miles per hour (47 km/h) and had a top speed of 50 miles per hour (80 km/h).^[17] In comparison, New York City Subway trains averaged a slower 25 miles per hour (40 km/h) and had a top speed of 45 miles per hour (72 km/h).^[12] While the celebration was an expression of popular joy it was also an effective propaganda display, legitimizing the Metro and declaring it a success.

Metro 2[link]

Yauza train (operates on the Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya and Kakhovskaya lines)

It has been alleged that a second and deeper metro system code-named "D-6",^[18] designed for emergency evacuation of key city personnel in case of nuclear attack during the Cold War, exists under military jurisdiction. It is believed that it consists of a single track connecting the Kremlin, chief HQ (General Staff–Genshtab), Lubyanka (FSB Headquarters), the Ministry of Defence and several other secret installations.^{[citation needed]} There are alleged to be entrances to the system from several civilian buildings, such as the Russian State Library, Moscow State University (MSU) and at least two stations of the regular Metro. It is speculated that these would allow for the evacuation of a small number of randomly chosen civilians, in addition to most of the elite military personnel. A suspected junction between the secret system and the regular Metro is behind the Sportivnaya station on the Sokolnicheskaya Line. The final section of this system was completed in 1997.^[19]

[edit] Specifications

Ulitsa Gorchakova station on the Butovskaya Line

The Moscow Metro uses the Russian gauge of 1,520 millimetres (60 in), like other Russian railways, and an underrunning third rail with a supply of 825 V DC. The average distance between stations is 1.7 kilometres (1.1 mi); the shortest (502 metres (1,647 ft) long) section is between Vystavochnaya and Mezhdunarodnaya and the longest (6,627 metres (21,742 ft) long) is between Krylatskoye and Strogino. Long distances between stations have the positive effect of a high cruising speed of 41.7 kilometres per hour (25.9 mph). Since the beginning, platforms have been at least 155 metres (509 ft) long to accommodate eight-car trains. The only exceptions are on the Filyovskaya Line: Vystavochnaya, Mezhdunarodnaya, Studencheskaya, Kutuzovskaya, Fili, Bagrationovskaya, Filyovsky Park and Pionerskaya, which only allow six-car trains (note that this list includes all ground-level stations on the line, except Kuntsevskaya).

Trains on the Zamoskovretskaya, Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya, Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya, Kalininskaya, Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya and Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya lines have eight cars, on the Sokolnicheskaya line seven cars and on the Koltsevaya and Kakhovskaya lines six cars. The Filyovskaya and Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya lines had six- and seven-car trains as well, but now use four- and five-car trains of another type. Rolling stock on the Koltsevaya line is being replaced with these articulated 81-740/741 «Rusich» four-car trains. The Butovskaya Line light metro was designed by different standards, and has shorter (96-metre (315 ft)long) platforms. It employs articulated 81-740/741 trains, which consist of three cars (although the line can also use traditional four-car trains).

The 81-740/741 (left) is the newest Metro train.

The Moscow Metro encompasses 182 stations, of which 73 are deep below ground and 88 shallower. Of the deep stations 52 are pylon-type, 18 are column-type and one is "single-vault" (Leningrad technology). The shallow stations comprise 63 pillar-type (a large portion of them following the "centipede" design), 20 single-vaults (Kharkov technology) and three single-decked. In addition, there are 11 ground-level stations and four above ground. Two of the stations exist as double halls, and two have three tracks. Five of the stations have side platforms (only one subterranean; that station Vorobyovy Gory is on a bridge). Three other metro bridges exist, but are covered or hidden. In addition, there are two closed stations and one that is in disrepair. Four stations are reserved for future service: Volokolamskaya on the Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya line, Delovoy Tsentr stations on the Kalininskaya and Solntsevskaya lines and Park Pobedy on the Solntsevskaya line.

Expansion plans[link]

Current[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

The Moscow Metro has a set of expansion plans which are due to be achieved by 2020. Major projects include:

• Strogino-Mitino extension: One of the largest undertakings since 1990s, the project involved bringing the Metro into two dense, but remote districts of Moscow. The first stage opened in January 2008, which opened the new station of Strogino and expanded Kuntsevskaya. Slavyansky Bulvar followed in September. Altogether the new stretch contained 11.7 kilometres (7.3 mi). The second stage continued the Metro into Mitino, with three stations opening in December 2011: Myakinino, Volokolamskaya and Mitino, that included a new bridge over the Moskva River. Under construction is the final section, Pyatnitskoye Shosse that's due to open in December 2012. Afterwards, construction will continue of the new train yard, and potentially of a surface station, Rozhdestveno, on its premesis.

• Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya Line: Following the long-awaited conclusion of the line's central third stage (Sretensky Bulvar and Trubnaya in 2007 and Dostoyevskaya and Maryina Roshcha in 2010) and the southern fourth stage (Borisovo, Shipilovskaya and Zyablikovo construction is now underway of the line's fifth stage, that will add six stations, and 9.5 km (5.9 mi) of track bringing the northern terminus to Beskudnikovsky District. The extension may involve building of a new train yard in Likhobory, although this may be delayed until a later date. Afterwards, the line will continue northwards, likely into the Severny District beyond the MKAD and potentially into the adjacent city of Dolgoprudny in 2020-2025.

• Zamoskvoretskaya Line: Following the completion of the Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya's fourth stage in 2011, construction resumed on a frozen, since the 1990s, extension of the Zamoskvoretskaya's terminus to Brateyevo, along with a new train yard in the same area. The station, Alma-Atinskaya is due to open in late 2012/early 2013.

• Zhulebino-Kosino extension: Originally reserved for light Metro lines, the questionable success of the Butovskaya Line meant that, relieving one of the busiest terminus stations of Moscow (Novogireyevo and Vykhino) the first line would extend by one station beyond the Moscow Ring Road: Kalininskaya Line to Novokosino in 2012 (3.2 kilometres (2.0 mi)) and Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya Line to Zhulebino and Lermontovsky prospect in 2013 (5.1 kilometres (3.2 mi)). Both areas are within the city of Moscow, but lie outside the MKAD.
• Light Metro lines: Originally developed as a way of reducing costs by building an elevated Metro line to distant regions of Moscow, the only one of these (the Butovskaya Line) has been the subject of criticism. The fate of the L1 expansion remains questionable, while the Solntsevskaya Light Metro Line planned to begin construction in 2004 and open in 2006 with eight stations. In 2005 the project was altered; two stations were dropped, and the opening was delayed until 2010. In 2008 the line was cancelled in favour of the underground Solntsevskaya Metro Line (see below). The L1 extension (which has been revised and postponed) includes an underground extension 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) northwards to Bitsevsky Park (which will offer a transfer to the Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya Line) and a southwards three-station extension (also 5 km in length) including a new depot: Ulitsa Staropotapovskaya, Ulitsa Ostafyevskya and Novokuryanovo. All the listed light-metro work has been removed from Moscow Metro's expansion programme until 2015, and Moscow Metro may dismantle the system in favour of a conventional two- or three-station replacement on the Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya Line.^{[citation needed]}
• Solntsevskaya Line: Following cancellation of the L2 the Moscow Metro revived an old project, bringing the Metro to the Solntsevo District outside Moscow. Initially foreseen as part of a major Solntsevo-Mytischinskaya chordial line, the current stretch suggests using the second set of tracks at Park Pobedy and having the line curve out along Michurin Avenue with four stations: Mosfilmovskaya, Lomonosovsky Prospekt, Michurinsky Prospekt and Olimpiyskaya Derevnya. This is planned for 2014, and would be the first stage of the line; the second stage would reach Solntsevo. In the original chordial project this included three stations, although the present plan still calls for the line to follow the Light Metro path. The project would also permit expansion of the line in the other direction, with a junction at the Delovoy Tsentr station in Moscow City. The fate of this project is unclear, since another project has replaced it.
• The Kalininskaya Line's western extension has the best chance of being realized. The line is planned to extend from Tretyakovskaya to Ostozhenka, Kadashevskaya and Smolenskaya (where it will unite nearby stations into one transfer unit) and continue westwards through the Moscow International Business Centre (where platforms have already been built) and along the Khoroshovo Highway. The project has not been finalized but it will eventually reach Strogino, where a second (parallel) station is under construction; an extension to Mitino is planned.
• Ghost stations: Moscow Metro does not have ghost stations in the conventional sense; of the three stations that were closed, two—Pervomayskaya (1954–61) and Kaluzhskaya (1964–74)—were temporary; one (Leninskiye Gory) was built on a bridge closed due to faulty construction; it was rebuilt and opened in 2002 as Vorobyovy Gory. Several planned stations were omitted; some were later completed, but some exist only on paper. The best-known was Volokolamskaya, which was built but never opened due to low ridership; it may open between 2015–2020, after the Tushino airfield is redeveloped. Other stations which may open are Maroseyka on the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line, which will offer a transfer to Kitay-gorod; Yakimanka on the Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya Line (transfer to Polyanka) and Suvorovskaya on the Koltsevaya Line, which was to be built with Dostoyevskaya but has since been postponed until the third stage of the LDL is complete. An exception is Tekhnopark, which will be built on the Zamoskvoretskaya Line's surface stretch in 2012 (the first station wholly sponsored by private investors).

According to plans by the Moscow city government and Russia's transport ministry (announced in September 2008), by 2015 79 kilometres (49 mi) of new lines, 43 new underground stations and 7 metro depots should be added to the system.

Recent developments[link]

Graph showing growth in number of stations

Since the turn of the 21st century several projects have been completed, and more are underway. The first was the Annino-Butovo extension, which extended the Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya Line from Prazhskaya to Ulitsa Akademika Yangelya in 2000, Annino in 2001 and Bulvar Dmitriya Donskogo in 2002. A new, elevated Butovskaya Light Metro Line was inaugurated in 2003. Another major project was the reconstruction of the Vorobyovy Gory station, which initially opened in 1959 and was forced to close in 1983 after the concrete used to build the bridge was found to be defective. After many years the station was rebuilt, and reopened in 2002.

Another recent project included building a branch off the Filyovskaya Line to the Moscow International Business Center. This included Delovoy Tsentr (opened in 2005) and Mezhdunarodnaya (opened in 2006). After many years of construction, the long-awaited Lyublinskaya Line extension was inaugurated with Trubnaya in August 2007 and Sretensky Bulvar in December of that year.

The Strogino-Mitino extension began with Park Pobedy in 2003. Its first stations (an expanded Kuntsevskaya and Strogino) opened in January 2008, and Slavyansky Bulvar followed in September. Myakinino, Volokolamskaya and Mitino opened in December 2009. Myakinino station was built by a state-private financial partnership, unique in Moscow Metro history.^[20] In June 2010, the Lyublinskaya Line was extended with the Dostoyevskaya and Maryina Roscha stations, and in December 2011, it was expanded south by three stations and connected to the Zamoskvoretskaya Line.^[21]

[edit] Future proposals

Plans exist for the following projects:

• Chordial Lines: Projects for these appeared in the mid-1980s; they called for conventional radial lines but instead of passing through the city centre within the Koltsevaya Line, they would bypass them on the outside.^[22] After four of these are completed, they will be used to form the new Second Ring service (see below). Construction began only on the Mitino-Butovskaya Line during the early 1980s. In the wake of the 1990s crises these projects were abandoned, replaced by more cost-effective means (including the Light Metro lines) and using existent segments. However (despite the Mitino-Butovo chord replacement), the Solntsevsky radius of the Solntsevo-Mytishchinskaya line has been regenerated in its original path. It is unknown whether it would cross all the northern radii before travelling to the adjacent city of Mytishchi along the Yaroslav Highway, since there is now a fast connection to Mytishchi via the Sputnik rail link from the Yaroslavsky Rail Terminal and a new plan to build a line from Delovoy Tsentr to Savyolovskaya would effectively duplicate the path. The fates of the Balashikha-Troparevskaya (southwest bypass) and the Khimsko-Lyuberetskaya (northeast bypass) chordial lines are unknown.
• Second (large) Ring: This well-known plan for a second ring line dates back to the 1960s.
  • The original 1960s project called for a ring of 3–6 stations on the radius; several provisions for the future line were built (including transfer space at Bratislavskaya), the Kakhovskaya Line and the Cherkizovskaya–Ulitsa Podbelskogo section of the Sokolnicheskaya Line (allowing it to expand westwards into Izmaylovo).^[23]
  • During the 1980s chordial-line proposals the ring was to be formed out of the space enclosed by it, with a circular service operating at off-peak hours.^[24]
  • In 2006 Moscow Metro announced plans for a second transfer contour, which would build a line from Delovoy Tsentr to Savyolovskaya on a large diameter; this would in the future become enclosed into a ring, one to three stations along the radius.

However, this project is questionable and the second ring is as distant today as it looked 40 years ago.

[edit] Fares

From the 1970s to the 1990s, the cost of a ride was five kopecks (1/20 of a Soviet ruble). The fare has been steadily rising since 1991, hastened by inflation (taking into account the 1998 revaluation of the ruble by a factor of 1000). Effective January 2011, one ride (or one item of oversize luggage) costs 28 rubles (94 US cents). Discounts (up to 40 percent) are available when buying a multiple-trip ticket (starting with five-trip cards), and children under age seven can travel free with their parents.

Tickets are available for a fixed number of trips, regardless of distance traveled or number of transfers. Monthly and yearly passes are also available. Fare enforcement takes place at the points of entry. Once a passenger has entered the Metro system, there are no further ticket checks – one can ride to any number of stations and make transfers within the system freely. Transfers to other public-transport systems (such as bus, tram, trolleybus, or monorail) are not covered by the ticket.

Before 1991, turnstiles accepted coins; however, with the start of hyperinflation plastic tokens of various design were used. Disposable magnetic stripe cards were introduced in 1993 on a trial basis, and used as unlimited monthly tickets between 1996 and 1998. The sale of tokens ended on 1 January 1999, and they stopped being accepted in February 1999; from that time, magnetic cards were used as tickets with a fixed number of trips.

On 1 September 1998, the Moscow Metro became the first metro system in Europe to fully implement plastic smart cards, known as Transport Cards. The card has an unlimited number of trips and may be programmed for 30, 90 or 365 days. The first purchase includes a one-time cost of 50 rubles, and its active lifetime is projected as 3½ years; defective cards are exchanged at no cost. Unlimited cards are also available for students at reduced price (as of 2011, 321 rubles—or about $US10—for a calendar month of unlimited usage) for a one-time cost of 70 rubles. Transport Cards impose a delay for each consecutive use; i.e. the card can not be used for seven minutes after the user has passed through the turnstile.

In January 2007, Moscow Metro began replacing magnetic cards with contactless disposable tickets based on NXP's MIFARE Ultralight technology. Ultralight tickets are available for a fixed number of trips in 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 60-trip denominations (valid for 5 or 45 days from the day of purchase) and as a monthly ticket, only valid for a selected calendar month and limited to 70 trips. The sale of magnetic cards stopped January 16, 2008 and magnetic cards stopped being accepted in late 2008, making the Moscow metro the world's first major public-transport system to run exclusively on a contact-less automatic fare-collection system.^[26]

In August 2004, the city government launched the Muscovite's Social Card program. Social Cards are free smart cards issued for the elderly and other groups of citizens officially registered as residents of Moscow or the Moscow region; they offer discounts in shops and pharmacies, and double as credit cards issued by the Bank of Moscow. Social Cards can be used for unlimited free access to the city's public-transport system, including the Moscow Metro; while they do not feature the time delay, they include a photograph and are non-transferable.

Since 2006, several banks have issued credit cards which double as ultralight cards and are accepted at turnstiles. The fare is passed to the bank and the payment is withdrawn from the owner's bank account at the end of the calendar month, using a discount rate based on the number of trips that month (for up to 70 trips, the cost of each trip is prorated from current ultralight rates; each additional trip costs 24.14 rubles).^[25] Partner banks include the Bank of Moscow, CitiBank, Rosbank, Alfa-Bank and Avangard Bank.^[27] In fall 2010, Moscow Metro and Mobile TeleSystems(MTS) launched a mobile ticketing service using near field communication-enabled SIM cards.^[28]

[edit] Single-trip fares, 1935–2010

*Not taking into account 10X denomination of 1947. In fact, the fare increased 10 times.

[edit] Statistics

Moscow Metro is one of the busiest metro systems in the world.

[edit] Incidents

[edit] 1977 bombing

On 8 January 1977, a bomb was reported to have killed 7 and seriously injured 33. It went off in a crowded train between Izmaylovskaya and Pervomayskaya stations.^[30][31] Three Armenians were later arrested, charged and executed in connection with the incident.^[32]

[edit] 1981 station fires

In June 1981, seven bodies were seen being removed from the Oktyabrskaya station during a fire there. A fire was also reported at Prospekt Mira station about that time.^[33]

[edit] 1982 escalator accident

A fatal accident occurred on 17 February 1982 due to an escalator collapse at the Aviamotornaya station on the Kalininskaya Line. 8 people were killed and 30 injured due to a pileup caused by faulty emergency brakes.^[34]

[edit] 2004 bombings

On 6 February 2004, an explosion wrecked a train between the Avtozavodskaya and Paveletskaya stations on the Zamoskvoretskaya Line, killing 39 and wounding over 100.^[35] Chechen terrorists were blamed. A later investigation concluded that a Karachay-Cherkessian resident (an Islamic militant) had carried out a suicide bombing. The same group organized another attack on 31 August 2004.

[edit] 2005 Moscow blackout

On 25 May 2005, a city-wide blackout halted operation on some lines. The following lines, however, continued operations: Sokolnicheskaya, Zamoskvoretskaya from Avtozavodskaya to Rechnoy Vokzal, Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya, Filyovskaya, Koltsevaya, Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya from Bitsevskiy Park to Oktyabrskaya-Radialnaya and from Prospekt Mira-Radialnaya to Medvedkovo, Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya, Kalininskaya, Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya from Serpukhovskaya to Altufyevo and Lyublinskaya from Chkalovskaya to Dubrovka.^[36] There was no service on the Kakhovskaya and Butovskaya lines. The blackout severely affected the Zamoskvoretskaya and Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya lines, where initially all service was disrupted because of trains halted in tunnels in the southern part of city (most affected by the blackout). Later, limited service resumed and passengers stranded in tunnels were evacuated. Some lines were only slightly impacted by the blackout, which mainly affected southern Moscow; the north, east and western parts of the city experienced little or no disruption.^[36]

[edit] 2006 billboard incident

On 19 March 2006 a construction pile from an unauthorized billboard installation was driven through a tunnel roof, hitting a train between the Sokol and Voikovskaya stations on the Zamoskvoretskaya Line. No injuries were reported.^[37]

[edit] 2010 bombing

On 29 March 2010, two bombs exploded on the Sokolnicheskaya Line. The first bomb went off at the Lubyanka station on the Sokolnicheskaya Line at 7:56, during the morning rush hour.^[38] Reports suggested that 39 people were killed and 64 wounded. At least 24 were killed in the first explosion, of which 14 were in the rail car where the explosion took place. A second explosion occurred at the Park Kultury station at 8:38, roughly forty minutes after the first one.^[38] Fourteen people were reported dead in that explosion. An increase in Russian islamophobia occurred following the bombings.^{[39][dead link]}

See also[link]

	Trains portal
	Moscow portal

• List of Moscow metro stations
• Expansion timeline of the Moscow Metro
• List of metro systems
• Moscow Metro ridership statistics (Russian)
• Metro dogs
• Trams in Moscow
• Metro 2033

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Moscow Metro

• Official website
• Way system map of the Moscow Metro
• Moscow Metro 2 – The Dark Legend of Moscow
• Detailed Schema of Metro Stations on Google Map (English)
• Moscow Subway News, Changes in Service (English)
• Moscow Metro Tips with Virtual Tour (English)

v t e Lines of the Moscow Metro Sokolnicheskaya Koltsevaya Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya Zamoskvoretskaya Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya Kakhovskaya Filyovskaya Kalininskaya Butovskaya Lines under construction or proposed [1]      Third Interchange Circuit      Kozhukhovskaya Kalininsko-Solntsevskaya List of Moscow metro stations

Moscow
Москва (Russian)
—  Federal city  —
Top: St. Basil's Cathedral, Spasskaya Clocktower Center: Kotelnicheskaya Embankment building, Monument to Minin and Pozharsky, Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, Worker and Kolkhoz Woman sculpture Bottom: Moscow International Business Center
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: My Moscow
Coordinates: 55°45′N 37°37′E / 55.75°N 37.617°E / 55.75; 37.617Coordinates: 55°45′N 37°37′E / 55.75°N 37.617°E / 55.75; 37.617
Political status
Country	Russia
Federal district	Central[1]
Economic region	Central[2]
Established	Before 1147[3]
Federal city Day	The first Saturday and Sunday of September[4]
Government (as of March 2010)
- Mayor[5]	Sergey Sobyanin[5]
- Legislature	City Duma[6]
Statistics
Area [7]
- Total	1,091 km2 (421.2 sq mi)
Area rank	83rd
Population (2010 Census)[8]
- Total	11,689,048
- Rank	1st
- Density[9]	10,714.07 /km2 (27,749.3 /sq mi)
Population (2011 est.)	11,510,097 inhabitants[10]
Time zone(s)	MSK (UTC+04:00)[11]
ISO 3166-2	RU-MOW
License plates	77, 99, 97, 177, 199, 197
Official languages	Russian[12]
http://www.mos.ru

Moscow ( /ˈmɒskaʊ/ or /ˈmɒskoʊ/; Russian: Москва́, tr. Moskva; IPA: [mɐˈskva] ( listen)) is the capital and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural and scientific center of Russia and the continent. Moscow is the northernmost megacity on Earth, the most populous city in Europe, and the 6th largest city proper in the world. Its population, according to the results of the 2010 Census, is 11,503,501.^[8] Based on Forbes 2011, Moscow has the largest community of billionaires in the world.^[13]

Moscow is situated on the Moskva River in the Central Federal District of European Russia. In the course of its history the city has served as the capital of a progression of states, from the medieval Grand Duchy of Moscow and the subsequent Tsardom of Russia to the Soviet Union. Moscow is the site of the Moscow Kremlin, an ancient fortress that is today the residence of the Russian President and of the executive branch of the Government of Russia. The Kremlin is also one of several World Heritage Sites in the city. Both chambers of the Russian parliament (the State Duma and the Federation Council) also sit in Moscow.

The city is served by an extensive transit network, which includes four international airports, nine railroad terminals, and one of the deepest underground tubes in the world, the Moscow Metro, second only to Tokyo in terms of ridership and recognized as one of the city's landmarks due to the rich and varied architecture of its 185 stations.

Over time, Moscow has acquired a number of epithets, most referring to its size and preeminent status within the nation: The Third Rome (Третий Рим), The Whitestone One (Белокаменная), The First Throne (Первопрестольная), The Forty Forties (Сорок Сороков). In old Russian the word "Сорок" (forty) also meant a church administrative district, which consisted of about forty churches. Since 2011 Moscow Government and NGOs have been trying to promote a new city brand for tourists WowMoscow aimed at demonstrating its openness and friendliness. The demonym for a Moscow resident is Moskvitch, rendered in English as Muscovite.^[14]

History[link]

Moscow (Russian Empire) in 1908

The city is named after the river (old Russian: гра́д Моско́в, literally "the city by the Moskva River"). The first reference to Moscow dates from 1147 when Yuri Dolgorukiy called upon the prince of the Novgorod-Severski to "come to me, brother, to Moscow".^[3]

Nine years later, in 1156, Prince Yuri Dolgorukiy of Rostov ordered the construction of a wooden wall, the Kremlin, which had to be rebuilt multiple times, to surround the emerging city.^[15] After the sacking of 1237–1238, when the Mongols burned the city to the ground and killed its inhabitants, Moscow recovered and became the capital of the independent Vladimir-Suzdal principality in 1327.^[16] Its favorable position on the headwaters of the Volga River contributed to steady expansion. Moscow developed into a stable and prosperous principality, known as Grand Duchy of Moscow, for many years and attracted a large number of refugees from across Russia.

Under Ivan I of Moscow the city replaced Tver as a political center of Vladimir-Suzdal and became the sole collector of taxes for the Mongol-Tatar rulers. By paying high tribute, Ivan won an important concession from the Khan. Unlike other principalities, Moscow was not divided among his sons but was passed intact to his eldest. Moscow's opposition against foreign domination grew. In 1380, prince Dmitry Donskoy of Moscow led a united Russian army to an important victory over the Tatars in the Battle of Kulikovo. The battle, however, was not decisive and only two years later Moscow was sacked by khan Tokhtamysh. Ivan III, in 1480, finally broke the Russians free from Tatar control, allowing Moscow to become the center of power in Russia.^[17] Under Ivan III the city became the capital of an empire that would eventually encompass all of present-day Russia and other lands.

In 1571, the Crimean Tatars attacked and sacked Moscow, burning everything but the Kremlin.^[18]

Kremlevskaya Naberezhnaya and Moscow skyline

In 1609, the Swedish army led by Count Jacob De la Gardie and Evert Horn started their march from Great Novgorod toward Moscow to help Tsar Vasili Shuiski, entered Moscow in 1610 and suppressed the rebellion against the Tsar, but left it early in 1611, following which the Polish–Lithuanian army invaded. During the Polish–Muscovite War (1605–1618) hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski entered Moscow after defeating the Russians in the Battle of Klushino. The 17th century was rich in popular risings, such as the liberation of Moscow from the Polish–Lithuanian invaders (1612), the Salt Riot (1648), the Copper Riot (1662), and the Moscow Uprising of 1682. The plague epidemics ravaged Moscow in 1570–1571, 1592 and 1654–1656.^[19] The city ceased to be Russia’s capital in 1712, after the founding of Saint Petersburg by Peter the Great near the Baltic coast in 1703. The Plague of 1771 was the last massive outbreak of plague in central Russia, claiming up to 100,000 lives in Moscow alone. During the French invasion of Russia in 1812, the Muscovites burned the city and evacuated, as Napoleon’s forces were approaching on 14 September. Napoleon’s Grande Armée, plagued by hunger, cold and poor supply lines, was forced to retreat and was nearly annihilated by the devastating Russian winter and sporadic attacks by Russian military forces. As many as 400,000 died in the adventure and only a few tens of thousands of ravaged troops returned.^[20]

French invasion of Russia in 1812, Fire of Moscow, painting of Smirnov A.F., 1813

In January 1905, the institution of the City Governor, or Mayor, was officially introduced in Moscow, and Alexander Adrianov became Moscow’s first official mayor. Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, on 12 March 1918^[21] Moscow became the capital of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and of the Soviet Union less than five years later.^[22] During World War II (the period from June 22, 1941, to May 9, 1945 known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War), after the German invasion of the USSR, the Soviet State Defense Committee and the General Staff of the Red Army was located in Moscow.

Red Square, painting of Fedor Alekseev, 1802

In 1941, sixteen divisions of the national volunteers (more than 160,000 people), twenty-five battalions (18,500 people) and four engineering regiments were formed among the Muscovites. That November, the German Army Group Center was stopped at the outskirts of the city and then driven off in the Battle of Moscow. Many factories were evacuated, together with much of the government, and from 20 October the city was declared to be under siege. Its remaining inhabitants built and manned antitank defenses, while the city was bombarded from the air. Joseph Stalin refused to leave the city, meaning the general staff and the council of people's commissars remained in the city as well. Despite the siege and the bombings, the construction of Moscow's metro system continued through the war, and by the end of the war several new metro lines were opened.

Map of Moscow, 1784

Both German and Soviet casualties during the battle of Moscow have been a subject of debate, as various sources provide somewhat different estimates. Therefore, total casualties between 30 September 1941, and 7 January 1942, are estimated to be between 248,000 and 400,000 for the Wehrmacht and between 650,000 and 1,280,000 for the Red Army.^[23][24][25]

On 1 May 1944, a medal For the defense of Moscow and in 1947 another medal In memory of the 800th anniversary of Moscow were instituted. In commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany, on May 8, 1965, Moscow became one of twelve Soviet cities awarded the title of Hero City.

In 1980, it hosted the Summer Olympic Games, which was boycotted by the United States and several other Western countries due to the Soviet Union's involvement in Afghanistan in late 1979. In 1991, Moscow was the scene of the failed coup attempt by the government members opposed to the reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev. When the USSR was dissolved in the same year, Moscow continued to be the capital of Russia.

Since then, the emergence of a market economy in Moscow has produced an explosion of Western-style retailing, services, architecture, and lifestyles. In 1998, it hosted the first World Youth Games.

A panoramic view of Moscow in 1867. (Image with notes).

Geography and climate[link]

Location[link]

Satellite image of Moscow and suburbs

Moscow aerial view

Moscow is situated on the banks of the Moskva River, which flows for just over 500 km through the East European Plain in central Russia. 49 bridges span the river and its canals within the city's limits. The elevation of Moscow at the All-Russia Exhibition Center (VVC), where the head Moscow weather station is situated, is 156 m (512 ft). The highest point is Teplostanskaya highland at 255 m (837 ft).^[26] The width of Moscow city (not limiting MKAD) from west to east is 39.7 km (24.7 mi), and the length from north to south is 51.7 km (32.1 mi).

Time[link]

Time zones of Europe

Moscow serves as the reference point for the timezone used in most of Central Russia, including Saint Petersburg. The areas operate in what is referred to as Moscow Standard Time (MSK, мск), which is 4 hours ahead of UTC, or UTC+4. Daylight saving time is no longer observed.

Climate[link]

Moscow has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb) with warm, and sometimes hot, somewhat humid summers and long, cold winters. Typical high temperatures in the warm months of June, July and August are around comfortable 23 °C (73 °F), but during heat waves (which can occur between May and September), daytime high temperatures often top 30 °C (86 °F)—sometimes for a week or a two at a time. In the winter, temperatures normally drop to approximately −10 °C (14 °F), though there can be periods of warmth with temperatures rising above 0 °C (32 °F). The highest temperature ever recorded was 38.2 °C (100.8 °F)^[27] at the VVC weather station and 39.0 °C (102.2 °F) in the center of Moscow and Domodedovo airport on 29 July 2010 during the unusual 2010 Northern Hemisphere summer heat wave. At the new averages 1981–2010 mean temperature of July is 19.2 °C (66.6 °F). The lowest ever recorded was −42.2 °C (−44.0 °F) in January 1940. Snow cover (present for 3–5 months a year) typically begins at the end of November and melts by mid-March.

Monthly rainfall totals vary minimally throughout the year, although the precipitation levels tend to be higher during the summer than during the winter. Due to the significant variation in temperature between the winter and summer months as well as the limited fluctuation in precipitation levels during the summer, Moscow is considered to be within a continental climate zone.

The average annual temperature in Moscow is 5.8 °C (42.4 °F) (1981–2010), but for the last two years (2007–2008) the annual temperature has averaged above 7 °C (45 °F).^[28] In contrast, during the first half of the 20th century, Moscow experienced light frost during the late summer months.^[29]

On average Moscow has 1731 hours of sunshine per year, varying between a low of 8% in December to 52% in May–August.^[30] In 2004–2010, the average was between 1800 and 2000 hours with tends to more sunshine in summer months^[31]

Moscow, being in northern hemisphere middle latitudes, is one of places of a planet with the most expressed signs of global warming. Thus the climate becomes less stable, but the mid-annual temperature is growing. So, the period July – beginning of August has become considerably warmer, during this period in a city the periods of an extreme heat are often observed (2001, 2002, 2003, 2010, 2011), thus in the end of January–February is observed colder (2006, 2010, 2011). Last decade was the warmest in history of meteorological observations of Moscow. Climate changes of Moscow are designated now on the table more low:

Demographics[link]

Population[link]

Population of Moscow (1350–2009)^{[citation needed]}

Red Square has long been one of the city's most important meeting places

According to the results of the 2010 Census, the population of Moscow was 11,503,501;^[8] up from 10,382,754 recorded in the 2002 Census.^[36]

At the time of the official 2010 Census, the ethnic makeup of the city was:^[8]

• 668,409 people were registered from administrative databases, and could not declare an ethnicity. It is estimated that the proportion of ethnicities in this group is the same as that of the declared group.^[37]

The official population of Moscow is taken from those holding "permanent residency." According to Russia's Federal Migration Service, Moscow also contains 1,800,000 official "guests" who have temporary residency on the basis of visas or other documentation. The number of unofficial guests, those without proper documentation, is estimated to be an additional 1,000,000 people.^[38]

Religion[link]

Christianity is the predominant religion in the city, of which the Russian Orthodox Church is the most popular. Moscow is Russia's capital of Orthodox Christianity, which has been the country’s traditional religion and was deemed a part of Russia's "historical heritage" in a law passed in 1997.^[39] Other religions practiced in Moscow include Islam, Protestantism, Old-believers, Buddhism, and Judaism.

The Patriarch of Moscow serves as the head of the church and resides in the Danilov Monastery. Moscow was called the "city of 1600 churches"—"город сорока сороков церквей"—prior to 1917. In 1918 Russia became a secular state and religion lost its position in society. Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991 many of the destroyed churches have been restored and traditional religions are gaining popularity.

While the city's Muslim population is estimated to be 1.2–1.5 million^[40] (out of a total of 10.5 million), there were only four mosques in the city as of 2010. (Note that the 2010 Russian Census counted about 300,000 people from Muslim ethnic groups.) Though one additional mosque has been approved in the southeast, anti-mosque activists have blocked construction.^[41]

Cityscape[link]

View as seen from Sparrow Hills: Moscow-City, Moskva River, Luzhniki Stadium, Luzhnetsky Metro Bridge, Building of Russian Academy of Sciences

View as seen from Sparrow Hills: Moskva River, Luzhniki Stadium, Luzhnetsky Metro Bridge, Building of Russian Academy of Sciences

Architecture[link]