Kiyevskaya, Moscow, Russia

With the opening of Russia’s metro stations in 1934 the network, which started with only 11km, has vastly grown into the fourth busiest transit system in the world.

Stalin ordered metro stations to be built as ‘palaces for the people’. This beautiful white marble station opened in 1952 and has since been a home to historic art works, frescoes and mosaics illustrating Ukrainian life during the October Revolution and Civil War.  

The curator, Nikita Kruschevm (a Ukrainian himself), wanted to build a monument as a contribution to Soviet Russia.

Many of Moscow’s Metro stations were built on the idea that people would gaze up as if they were ‘admiring the sun’, and by extension, Stalin as a 'god'. The stations are beautifully embellished with grand chandeliers, gorgeous white marble and high ceilings.

The station is located on the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line.