Cultuur

Foto’s: de prachtige metrostations van Moskou zijn ‘paleizen voor de gewone mensen’

Door Jeannette Kras

Toen Josef Stalin in de tweede helft van de jaren twintig aan de macht kwam, was er nauwelijks openbaar vervoer in het almaar uitdijende Moskou. In drie jaar tijd werd uiteindelijk een metronetwerk uit de grond gestampt. In het voorjaar van 1935 ging de eerste metro rijden langs dertien stations.

Het metrosysteem was op zichzelf een vorm van communistische propaganda. Overal hingen foto’s van Stalin en de stations waren prachtig verlichte zalen. Het idee was dat de mensen in de ondergrondse stations op keken tegen Stalin boven de grond. Stalin noemde het ‘paleizen voor gewone mensen’. Hij wilde laten zien dat het belastinggeld goed werd besteed.

In 1991 stortte de Sovjet Unie in, maar 9 miljoen Russen maken nog steeds gebruik van de 200 metrostations. Het is een van de drukste netwerken van Europa en het groeit nog steeds. In 2020 moet het metronetwerk van Moskou het grootste ter wereld zijn.

David Burdeny is de eerste die foto’s heeft gemaakt van de metrostations zonder dat er mensen zijn. Hij was een jaar bezig om toestemming te krijgen om ‘s ochtends vroeg vóór de eerste metro vertrekt te mogen fotograferen.

Hieronder een aantal van zijn mooiste foto’s:

Belorusskaya Station

Currently, there are around 200 Metro stations spread out across 12 lines in Moscow. Burdeny picked 30 that he felt were the most visually interesting or historically significant.

Kiyevsskaya Station

Eventually, he worked out an arrangement where he could rent out stations by the hour over the course of two weeks.

Elektrozavodskaya Station

Someone was always watching Burdeny, no matter where he went underground. But as far as he knows, he's the only photographer to ever shoot the stations while they were empty.

Prospekt Mira Station

Every night, each of the stations are cleaned in depth. There were usually maintenance crews waiting beyond the view of the frame while Burdeny was shooting.

Arbatskaya Station

During the time of the Soviet Union, many citizens struggled in communal housing properties above ground. Still, the underground system was spared no expense.

Taganskaya Station

They were designed as Communist propaganda, the brightly lit environments causing people to "look up" at the light of the station — metaphorically looking up to Stalin above ground. Stalin had constructed an idea of himself as God.

Kiyevskaya Station

Stalin also wanted to remind the citizens that their tax money was being well spent.

Avtovo Station

More than 75,000 workers contributed to the stations' design and construction. Their efforts would pay off, as the Metro's beauty was instantly noticed by citizens and visitors alike.

Mayakovskaya Station

The styles of the architecture of the stations ranged from Rococo to Art Deco to constructivism. They are also reminiscent, design-wise, of palaces from the pre-Soviet Russian Empire.

Novoslobodskaya Station

Although it might have been hard to imagine, the second round of stations were even more sophisticated and detailed than the first. New materials were introduced, including gold, mosaics, and 14 different varieties of marble.

Komsomolskaya Station

Certain stations have weathered time better than others. The main ones, however, are given a lot of careful attention and respect by the population.

Novokuznetskaya Station

According to the introduction to Burdeny's book, "A Bright Future," when Sir Ernest Simon, a British politician and industrialist, visited Russia in the year after the underground was unveiled, he said, "In medieval days, the whole people of a town joined together to build a cathedral. So in Moscow the people joined to build the Metro, and regard it today as a thing of beauty, their common achievement, their common possession."

Bron(nen):   Business Insider      

3 Reacties Doe mee met de discussie →

  1. Twan

    Wauw!!! Is niet te bevatten als je bekend bent met de metro stations in Nederland en Londen.

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  2. Jos

    Sociaal-realistische, bombastische kitsch. Maar ja, het mocht wat kosten voor J.V. Nu waarderen we het weer als exotisme.

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