Kropotkinskaya ( rus, Кропо́ткинская, p=krɐˈpotkʲɪnskəjə) is a station on the Sokolnicheskaya Line of the

Moscow Metro The Moscow Metro) is a metro system serving the Russian capital of Moscow as well as the neighbouring cities of Krasnogorsk, Reutov, Lyubertsy and Kotelniki in Moscow Oblast. Opened in 1935 with one line and 13 stations, it was the first unde ...

. One of the oldest Metro stations, it was designed by

Alexey Dushkin Alexey Nikolayevich Dushkin (24 December 1904 – 8 October 1977) was a Soviet architect, best known for his 1930s designs of the Kropotkinskaya and Mayakovskaya stations of the Moscow Metro. He worked primarily for subway and railroads and ...

and Ya. Likhtenberg and opened in 1935 as part of the original Metro line, named after Russian anarchist

Peter Kropotkin Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (; russian: link=no, Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин ; 9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist, socialist, revolutionary, historian, scientist, philosopher, and activis ...

. The station was originally planned to serve the enormous

Palace of the Soviets The Palace of the Soviets (russian: Дворец Советов, ''Dvorets Sovetov'') was a project to construct a political convention center in Moscow on the site of the demolished Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The main function of the p ...

(Dvorets Sovetov), which was to rise nearby on the former site of the

Cathedral of Christ the Saviour The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour ( rus, Храм Христа́ Спаси́теля, r=Khram Khristá Spasítelya, p=xram xrʲɪˈsta spɐˈsʲitʲɪlʲə) is a Russian Orthodox cathedral in Moscow, Russia, on the northern bank of the Moskv ...

. Kropotkinskaya was therefore designed to be the largest and grandest station on the first line. However, the Palace project was cancelled by

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

in 1953, leaving the Metro station as the only part of the complex that was actually built. Kropotkinskaya was constructed in a massive open trench measuring long by wide. The tunnels from

Biblioteka Imeni Lenina Biblioteka Imeni Lenina (russian: Библиоте́ка и́мени Ле́нина, en, Lenin Library) is a station on the Sokolnicheskaya Line of the Moscow Metro. The station was opened on 15 May 1935 as a part of the first stage of the Met ...

were constructed using the

cut and cover A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A Pipeline transport, pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used ...

technique. The combination of unrestricted space and dry soil made for ideal conditions, and construction of the station took only 180 days from start to finish. Kropotkinskaya was completed in January 1935 and opened five months later, on 15 May 1935. The station was named Dvorets Sovetov until 1957, when it was renamed in honour of

, a geographer, philosopher, and anarchist theoretician born in the vicinity. Since it was to serve as the gateway to the Palace of Soviets, great care was taken to make Kropotkinskaya suitably elegant and impressive. The station has flared columns faced with white

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

which are said to have been inspired by the

Temple of Amun The Precinct of Amun-Re, located near Luxor, Egypt, is one of the four main temple enclosures that make up the immense Karnak Temple Complex. The precinct is by far the largest of these and the only one that is open to the general public. The te ...

Karnak The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak (, which was originally derived from ar, خورنق ''Khurnaq'' "fortified village"), comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, pylons, chapels, and other buildings near Luxor, Egypt. Construct ...

. Contrary to popular opinion, the marble used in the station did not come from the demolished Cathedral. The spacious platform is covered with squares of gray and red

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

and the walls, originally tiled, are now faced with white ''Koyelga'' marble. The station is illuminated by concealed lamps set into the tops of the columns. A model of the station won two Grand Prix awards at expositions in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

(1937) and

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

(1958). In 1941 the designers and engineers were also awarded the Stalin prize of the USSR for architecture and construction. Kropotkinskaya opened with only one entrance vestibule, located at the end of Gogolevskiy Boulevard. This U-shaped structure was designed by S.M. Kravets and features two separate pavilions joined by a central arch. In late 1950s the station was given a slight reconstruction replacing the original cast of the upper pillars was replaced by marble and the floor was relayed with granite. The reconstruction finished with a new entrance which faces the Cathedral and

Moskva River The Moskva (russian: река Москва, Москва-река, ''Moskva-reka'') is a river running through western Russia. It rises about west of Moscow and flows roughly east through the Smolensk and Moscow Oblasts, passing through centra ...

which was opened on 16 July 1960. Because of the demise of the Palace of Soviets project, much of Kropotkinskaya's planned ridership never materialized. the station serves about 42,050 passengers daily, many of them tourists visiting the newly rebuilt Cathedral or the

Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (russian: Музей изобразительных искусств имени А. С. Пушкина, abbreviated as ) is the largest museum of European art in Moscow, located in Volkhonka street, just oppo ...

. By 2020, a transfer to the Kalininskaya Line is planned to open. The future station will be called Volkhonka.Перспективы развития
" Moscow Metro. Retrieved 2 Oct 2017.

Image gallery

File:Moscow Kropotkinskaya vestibule 07-2016.jpg, Entrance to Kropotkinskaya File:Kropotkinskaya Moscow Metro.JPG File:Kropotkinskaya Columns Moscow Metro.JPG File:RR5111-0142R.gif, Coin Bank of Russia - Series: "The monuments of Russian architecture," Metro "Kropotkin", Moscow, 3 BR, reverse File:81-740 741 "Aquarel" train (Метропоезд 81-740 741 "Акварель") (5930122770).jpg, Rusich train at the platform File:Kropotkinskaya (Кропоткинская) (4950919050).jpg, Platform view with an

81-717/714 81-717/714 is a metro car designed in the Soviet Union in the mid-1970s. The cars were made from 1976 to 2010 by Metrovagonmash and the I. E. Yegorov Vagonmash factories of Mytishchi and Saint Petersburg, respectively. Production is still ongoing ...

train leaving File:The-Kropotkinskaya-Metro-2.jpg

References

External link

{{Moscow Metro Moscow Metro stations Sokolnicheskaya Line Railway stations in Russia opened in 1935 Railway stations located underground in Russia Khamovniki District Peter Kropotkin Cultural heritage monuments of regional significance in Moscow