Kropotkinskaya (until 1957 – Palace of Soviets) is a station of the Moscow Metro on the Sokolnicheskaya line. It is between the stations “Biblioteka imeni Lenina” and “Park Kultury.” Located in the Khamovniki district (CAO, Moscow).
The station was opened on May 15, 1935, as part of the first launch section of the Moscow Metro of 13 stations – Sokolniki – Park Kultury with a branch line Okhotny Ryad – Smolenskaya.
The station was awarded the Grand Prix at international exhibitions in Paris (1937) and Brussels (1958), and the project was awarded the Stalin Prize for Architecture and Construction (1941).
The design name of the station was Kropotkin Gates. However, from its opening until October 8, 1957, it was called the Palace of the Soviets. Next to the station, on the site of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, demolished in 1931, it was planned to erect a grandiose Palace of Soviets. The metro station hall was conceived as an underground vestibule of the palace. The construction of the palace began in 1939. However, before the war, it was interrupted. During the war, the metal frame of the already built seven building floors was used to manufacture anti-tank hedgehogs.
A ground vestibule of a semicircular shape in the form of an arch, designed by the architect S. M. Kravets, is located at the beginning of Gogolevsky Boulevard. Access to Gogolevsky Boulevard, Prechistensky Gate Square and Gagarinsky Lane is obtained through it.
The station’s design is a shallow three-span column (laying depth – 13 m). It was built according to a unique project from monolithic concrete. The station is designed for a large passenger flow, but its vast hall is currently poorly loaded. The station architect is AN Dushkin.
The ten-sided columns of the station and the track walls are finished with grayish-white Ural marble “koelga” (until the end of the 1950s, the track walls were covered with faience tiles). The floor is staggered pink and gray granite (originally, it was asphalt). The lamps are built into the capitals in the upper parts of the columns.
Ground public transport
At this station, you can transfer to the following routes of urban passenger transport:
Buses: m5, m6, s755.
See also Moscow transport system, Moscow railways, Moscow metro.