2314 - Moscow, Russia

Nataliya from Moscow sent me a beautiful card of the Komsomolskaya Комсомо́льская Metro Station. She works as a Russian language teacher.

The Moscow Metro - the official name is State Unitary Enterprise of the City of Moscow "Moscow Order of Lenin and the Order of the Red Banner of Labour named after V.I. Lenin" - was first opened in 1935 and was a single line of 11 km, with 13 stations. 

Stalin wanted the stations designed in socialist classism and they were meant to be "palaces of the people." Komosomolskaya, Kiyevskaya, and Mayakovskaya are three of these stations and are considered tourist attractions, as their photogenic architecture, large chandeliers, and detailed decoration are so unusual for an urban transport system. Stalin wanted a palatial underground environment to remind riders that their tax rubles had been well spent. These stations have reflective marble walls, high ceilings, and grand chandeliers. Some of these stations have been likened to an "artificial underground sun."

Komosomolskaya is one of the busies lines in the Moscow Metro, In opened in 1952. 

Today the Moscow Metro has 241 stations - 88 are deep underground, 123 are shallow underground, 12 are at surface level, and 5 are elevated - and is 412.1 km long. It is the fifth longest system in the world, and the longest one if you don't include China. 

It has been alleged that a second and deeper metro system code-named "D-6," designed for emergency evacuation of key city personnel in case of nuclear attack during the Cold War, exists under military jurisdiction. It is believed that it consists of a single track connecting the Kremlin, chief HQ (General Staff–Genshtab), Lubyanka (FSB Headquarters), the Ministry of Defence and several other secret installations. There are alleged to be entrances to the system from several civilian buildings, such as the Russian State Library, Moscow State University (MSU) and at least two stations of the regular Metro. It is speculated that these would allow for the evacuation of a small number of randomly chosen civilians, in addition to most of the elite military personnel. A suspected junction between the secret system and the regular Metro is supposedly behind the Sportivnaya station on the Sokolnicheskaya Line. The final section of this system was supposedly completed in 1997.