Russia: Soviet architecture and socialist-realist metro in St Petersburg

Hammer-and-sickle ventilation ducts in Narvskaya metro station, St Petersburg, December 2019

Much remains of Soviet architecture in the ex-USSR. St Petersburg is no exception, with its socialist-realist architecture around the city but especially with its metro system. It follows the Soviet architectural philosophy of designing public spaces as palaces for the people. 

House of Soviets, on Moskovskaya Square

The first building we saw in the city after arriving from the airport was the House of Soviets on Moskovskaya Square, completed just before the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War. Its construction was part of a plan to move the city centre from the historic centre to somewhere less flood-prone, with plans for a much bigger square flanked by triumphal arches, but this was stopped by the 1941 invasion of the USSR. This left the House of Soviets on the front line of the Siege of Leningrad, with concrete pillboxes around the square surviving to this day. 

The building itself built from 1936 to 1941, just as the architectural styles in the USSR shifted from the geometric shapes of constructivism into the neoclassical designs of socialist realism. The House of Soviets thus contains aspects of both styles, wrapped up in monumental Stalinist classicism, as an interesting parallel of the shift of power from the people to the bureaucracy, from the organised Soviets to Stalin. The building is crowned by the hammer-and-sickle emblem of the RSFSR above a socialist-realist frieze of workers building the Soviet Union. 

Hero City Obelisk, Vosstaniya Square

As one of the 12+1 Hero Cities of the Soviet Union, St Petersburg proudly hosts a Hero City Obelisk standing just outside Moskovskiy Railway Station. It's topped by the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union medal, along with wreaths around the base commemorating the million dead of the 872 day Siege of Leningrad from 1941 into 1944. 

Destination map in Moskovskiy rail station

Incidentally, Moskovskiy Railway Station contains a few interesting things. Inside the main hall, there is a rail map showing all the places reachable by train from the city, from Berlin in the west to Almaty in the east. It's also one of the termini of the Golden Arrow train between St Petersburg and Moscow, the favoured way of the Soviet top brass to travel between the two cities and important enough that it arrives to its own special fanfare. I'll take it some day. 

Ceiling fresco of Moskovskiy rail station

The station has a pre-revolutionary design, but the roof of one of the halls also has a ceiling fresco of the city landmarks together with pioneers, athletes and the naval heritage of the Kronstadt fortress. It's a shame that it clearly hasn't been maintained for a while, but at least this piece of history hasn't been completely whitewashed or erased. 

Socialist-realist mosaic memorial to the Defence of Leningrad at Avtovo station. 

The metro systems all across the ex-USSR tend to be palatial, following a socialist theme of building palaces for the people to use. Stations all have their own themes; Avtovo station is themed around the Defence of Leningrad and contains a memorial to victory as a mosaic in the socialist-realist style. The ribbon at the top states "World peace", while the ribbon at the bottom states "Our cause is right, we are victorious" from the "For the Victory over Germany" medal. Red flags and Ribbons of St George complete the scene. 

Ornamental glass, marble and metallurgy at Avtovo station

The pillars are lined with ornamental glass designs, with the station lit by blue glass chandeliers and the ceiling plaster reminiscent of stately palaces. Even the ventilation grilles are ornamental with laurel branches and gilded swords. 

Underground hall, Ploschad' Alexandra Nevskogo station

All the stations are built according to a pylon design, with a central underground hall between the platforms giving a palatial feel to the space. 

Sennaya Ploschad' station hall

At Sennaya Ploschad' station, there's also an illustration of the historical names of the city, along with the three architectural styles of classical pillars: Ionic, Doric and Corinthian. 

Chandeliers and hammer-and-sickle ventilation duct covers at Narvskaya station

Narvskaya station is themed around "the valour of labour of the Soviet people". Each entrance to the platforms contains reliefs of different professions, ranging from tube-builders to artists, from collective-farmers to doctors. There's still a hint of Soviet constructivism with the clean lines of the pylons and the floor design.

Narvskaya station red-star frieze and high-reliefs of workers. 

The central hall roof is lined with red-star friezes, with hammer-and-sickle ventilation grilles and high-relief socialist-realist sculptures. 

Narvskaya station underground hall. 

The designs go together remarkably well, with a consistent overall theme. These are only the stations that we went through just to get around the tourist sites - there will be plenty more that I will have missed.