To step onto the Moscow metro is to step back in time and enter a museum of architecture and history. Opened 80 years ago -- on May 15, 1935 -- it is an extravagant gallery of communist design, featuring Soviet artworks, statues, chandeliers, stained glass, and ceiling mosaics. Built under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, the metro now transports 7 million to 9 million people each day.
80th Anniversary: Inside The Moscow Metro, A Collection Of 20th-Century Art
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Men stand in front of a mosaic depicting former Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin at the Biblioteka Imeni Lenina metro station in Moscow.
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A couple kisses in front of a stained-glass panel at the Novoslobodskaya metro station, which was built in 1952.
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People wait for the train at the Mayakovskaya metro station, built in 1938.
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A ceiling panel at the Novoslobodskaya metro station
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A woman touches the nose of the so-called "lucky dog" statue at the Ploshchad Revolyutsii station.
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People walk under a mosaic of Lenin at the Komsomolskaya metro station.
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A couple in front of a stained glass panel at the Novoslobodskaya metro station
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Women walk past a statue at the Belorusskaya metro station.
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The interior of the Prospekt Mira metro station
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The Moscow metro also boasts interesting benches and seats.
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Two men go down an escalator at a Moscow metro station.
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A stained-glass panel inside the Novoslobodskaya station
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Crowds at the Prospekt Mira station
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A map of the Moscow metro system is seen behind a poster warning passengers to avoid the closing doors on the train.
