Travel Notes

Moscow Metro Turns 70

“We want the Metro to cheer people up and make their life easier, to please people and relax them,” said Lazar Kaganovich, one of Josef Stalin’s henchmen and supervisor of the system’s construction. Certainly, Moscow’s Metro does make life easier for the city’s residents, and the architectural wonders of its underground stations are rather pleasing sights to behold (Ploshchad Revolyutsii Station, for example, has walls and columns of red, black and gold marble, along with 76 sculptures). But relax? Not during rush hour, surely.

The Moscow Metro’s first line was completed in May 1935, just four years after a June 15, 1931 Communist Party decision to build it. The line had 12 stations, stretching from Sokolniki to Park Kultury. On May 15, 1935, thousands of Muscovites spent the night waiting in lines outside, hoping to be among the first to ride the subterranean rails. Today, up to 9 million passengers per day ride the capital’s metro, which spans 176 kilometers of rail lines and has 170 stations. The system was designed for a daily capacity of just 6.5 million passengers.

In May of this year, the Metro’s 70th anniversary, the city’s Metro Museum (located in Sportivnaya Station)   reported that all group tours had been reserved through September. Individuals can still get in without a reservation, however, on Thursdays. And admission is free. Finding the museum can be a bit tricky, however. When you arrive at Sportivnaya Station, you enter the door marked with the sign, “Police,” which is the entrance not only for the police station, but also the Metro museum.

Airport Rail Link Set

A rail link between Moscow and Sheremetyevo International Airport will begin operation sometime in early 2007, Transport Minister Igor Levitin said in May, according to ITAR-TASS. Levitin said that the design of the line, which will cost an estimated $100 million, will be ready toward the end of 2005 and that the government will likely seek outside investors to participate in the project. The new railway will connect the airport with Savyolovsky and Leningradsky railway stations, both of which contain metro stations. Levitin also said that the city plans to build a rail link between Sheremetyevo and the new Moscow City high-rise business center.

Next Stop Chukotka

Authorities in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug announced in May that a demonstration flight between Anadyr and Nome, Alaska will take place at the end of July, Regnum reported. Chukotka officials hope to open air service between Anchorage and the villages of Provideniya and Markovo, with continuing service to Magadan and Khabarovsk. According to Regnum, private pilots have expressed great interest in the routes. Repeated attempts in recent years to open regular passenger air service between Chukotka and Alaska have come to nought.

Archaeological Park

An archaeological site in southern Chelyabinsk region, Arkaim National Park, made national headlines in  May when President Putin stopped by. “It must be very interesting to work here,” the president said.

There are more than 70 archeological sites in Arkaim, the most remarkable of which is a fortified settlement and necropolis which dates to 3000-2000 BC. It gives indications of circular and radial streets, a sewage system, solid towers and niches and passageways inside the fort wall. Experts say the site was a settlement for a well-developed Indo-European civilization, perhaps even one of the first Aryan peoples. The park also has sites with remains of Stone Age settlements, burial mounds of 12th-14th century nomads, Bashkir winter camps and an ancient Cossack settlement. For more info, visit the park’s website at arkaim.info.

Bulgakov Bas-relief

A bas-relief based on Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel, The Master and Margarita, was unveiled in Moscow on May 15, lenta.ru reported. The bas-relief is on “Bulgakov’s House” at 60 Bolshaya Sadovaya, where the writer lived from 1921-1924 and which presently houses a museum dedicated to the author. Sculptor Alexander Rukavishnikov created the artwork.

Toward the end of September, 1921, Bulgakov, according to his autobiography, arrived in Moscow “with no money and no belongings, to stay in Moscow forever.” He wanted to write, and he ended up writing most of his novels in the capital, including Notes of a Country Doctor, The White Guard, Days of the Turbins, Heart of a Dog and The Master and Margarita. As a result, the mystery and beauty of Moscow of the 1920 is vividly described in his novels, and there are many city tours of “Bulgakov’s Moscow” available.

Three Stalins

On the eve of May’s Victory Day celebrations, monuments to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin were unveiled in three Russian cities and towns: in Mirny (Republic of Sakha – Yakutia), in Krasnoyarsk and in Moscow.

The first monument, a 1.5 meter bronze bust of Stalin, was unveiled in Mirny on May 8. Sakha President Vyacheslav Shtyrov attended the unveiling. “We are unveiling a monument to a great son of Russia who gave everything to his people,” said Mirny Mayor Anatoly Popov, “his talent, his managerial skills, toughness and demanding character, love and devotion – and he took nothing in return. He died without a ruble in his pocket, without bank accounts and property.” An unnamed source in the town’s administration told ITAR-TASS that the monument had been built at the insistence of local World War II veterans.

Meanwhile, in Krasnoyarsk, a bust of Stalin was unveiled by the city’s Communist Party, only to be removed by city authorities just three hours later. The monument in Moscow was also rather temporary. Depicting Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill and located in the Hermitage garden of Moscow, its lifespan was limited by the fact that it was made of sand.

SMERSH Museum

The FSB – successor to the KGB – in May opened a museum in the Lubyanka devoted to the Soviet wartime military counterintelligence service, SMERSH (an acronym from the Russian phrase, “death to spies”), RTR reported.

SMERSH conducted ruthless counterintelligence operations within the Red Army and also notoriously “debriefed” Russians who were POWs in German camps, sending many to the gulag. During the war, SMERSH was notorious for its “blocking units,” which had orders to shoot soldiers should they decide to retreat.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, SMERSH veteran Major General Leonid Ivanov said he and his group in May 1945 took part in the identification of Adolf Hitler’s corpse, as well as the personal belongings and documents of other leaders of Nazi Germany.