Architecturally, the soviets are known for their austere, functional, unelaborate style. For some reason this didn’t apply to the metro stations they began building in 1935.
Until recently, stray dogs were a common sight on the metro. A bunch of dogs learned how to navigate the metro, and were routinely seen riding the train along with commuters. See this New Yorker article about Moscow’s Metro Dogs
Unfortunately, the new head of the metro isn’t a big fan of dogs, and has banned street dogs. Prior to the new rules, when strays still rode on the trains, there was a particularly likable dog named Malchik, who lived at the Mendeleevskaya station. Sadly, he was stabbed and killed by a female model after he barked at her pet dog. A statue has been placed at the station, in his honor.
Muscovites seem to really like their metro dog statues. Malchik’s nose is worn down from being touched by admirers. And, we watched nearly every commuter rub the noses of the hunting dog statues at Ploshchad Revolyutsii station.
Many of the metro stations are so far under ground that they took 7 minutes to exit. This is because they were built to double as bomb shelters. These beautiful stations were very interesting, and made riding the metro quite amusing.
