Komsomolskaya Square (Moscow)
Encyclopedia
Town square
A town square is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town used for community gatherings. Other names for town square are civic center, city square, urban square, market square, public square, and town green.Most town squares are hardscapes suitable for open markets,...
in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, noted for its impressive blend of revivalist Tsarist and Stalinist architecture
Stalinist architecture
Stalinist architecture , also referred to as Stalinist Gothic, or Socialist Classicism, is a term given to architecture of the Soviet Union between 1933, when Boris Iofan's draft for Palace of the Soviets was officially approved, and 1955, when Nikita Khrushchev condemned "excesses" of the past...
. It is often referred to informally as Three Station Square or simply Three Stations thanks to three ornate rail termini situated there: Leningradsky, Yaroslavsky
Yaroslavsky Rail Terminal
Yaroslavsky Rail Terminal is one of the nine railway terminals in Moscow, situated on the Komsomolskaya Square. It has the highest passenger throughput of all the nine Moscow rail terminals, serving eastern destinations, including the Russian Far East. It is the terminus of the Trans-Siberian...
, and Kazansky
Kazansky Rail Terminal
Kazansky Rail Terminal is one of nine rail terminals in Moscow, situated on the Komsomolskaya Square, across the square from the Leningradsky and Yaroslavsky terminals....
.
Its origins lay with the construction of the Moscow-Saint Petersburg Railway
Moscow-Saint Petersburg Railway
The Moscow to Saint Petersburg Railway is a railway running between the two largest Russian cities of Moscow and Saint Petersburg, and through four oblasts: Moscow, Tver, Novgorod and Leningrad...
in the 1840s, when Kalanchyovskoye Field outside the Garden Ring
Garden Ring
The Garden Ring, also known as the "B" Ring , is a circular avenue around the central Moscow, its course corresponding to what used to be the city ramparts surrounding Zemlyanoy Gorod in the 17th century....
was selected to allocate the Nicholas Railway Station. In 1862 the Yaroslavsky Rail Terminal, a terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway
Trans-Siberian Railway
The Trans-Siberian Railway is a network of railways connecting Moscow with the Russian Far East and the Sea of Japan. It is the longest railway in the world...
, was constructed nearby. On the opposite side of the field the Kazanskiy Rail Terminal was inaugurated two years later. Until 1909, a railway line leading to Kursky Rail Terminal
Kursky Rail Terminal
Kursky Rail Terminal is one of the nine rail terminals in Moscow. It was built in 1896.There are currently plans in the pipeline to completely rebuild or refurbish the Kursky Rail Terminal.-Long distance from Moscow:-Long distance via Moscow:...
traversed the square; it is now elevated so as not to interfere with street traffic.
During the Soviet period, four other intimidating structures were added. Alexey Shchusev
Alexey Shchusev
Alexey Viktorovich Shchusev ), 1873, Chişinău—24 May 1949, Moscow) was an acclaimed Russian and Soviet architect whose works may be regarded as a bridge connecting Revivalist architecture of Imperial Russia with Stalin's Empire Style....
designed a Constructivist
Constructivist architecture
Constructivist architecture was a form of modern architecture that flourished in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and early 1930s. It combined advanced technology and engineering with an avowedly Communist social purpose. Although it was divided into several competing factions, the movement produced...
edifice, the Central Club of Railway Workers, in 1925–1926. The square received its present name, in the honour of the Komsomol
Komsomol
The Communist Union of Youth , usually known as Komsomol , was the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Komsomol in its earliest form was established in urban centers in 1918. During the early years, it was a Russian organization, known as the Russian Communist Union of...
(Communist Union of Youth) members, in 1932. A Stalinist skyscraper
Seven Sisters (Moscow)
The "Seven Sisters" is the English name given to a group of Moscow skyscrapers designed in the Stalinist style. Muscovites call them Vysotki or Stalinskie Vysotki , " high-rises"...
of the Hotel Leningradskaya
Hotel Leningradskaya
The Hilton Moscow Leningradskaya Hotel is one of Moscow's Seven Sisters, skyscrapers built in the early 1950s in the Stalinist neoclassical style. Stalinist neoclassical architecture mixes the Russian neoclassical style with the style of American skyscrapers of the 1930s. A main element of...
and a Neoclassical
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
vestibule of the Komsomolskaya-Koltsevaya
Komsomolskaya-Koltsevaya
Komsomolskaya is a Moscow Metro station in the Krasnoselsky District, Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow. It is on the Koltsevaya Line, between Prospekt Mira and Kurskaya stations....
metro station
Moscow Metro
The Moscow Metro is a rapid transit system serving Moscow and the neighbouring town of Krasnogorsk. Opened in 1935 with one line and 13 stations, it was the first underground railway system in the Soviet Union. As of 2011, the Moscow Metro has 182 stations and its route length is . The system is...
were completed in the early 1950s. The most recent addition is the Moskovsky department store on the eastern side of the square (1983).
Even in the 21st century, it is this square that greets most visitors arriving to Moscow from Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
and the whole northwestern Russia
Northwestern Federal District
Northwestern Federal District is one of the eight federal districts of Russia. It consists of the northern part of European Russia. Its population was 13,583,800 according to the 2010 Census, living on an area of...
(through Moscow-Saint Petersburg Railway
Moscow-Saint Petersburg Railway
The Moscow to Saint Petersburg Railway is a railway running between the two largest Russian cities of Moscow and Saint Petersburg, and through four oblasts: Moscow, Tver, Novgorod and Leningrad...
), the Volga region, and Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
(through Trans-Siberian Railway
Trans-Siberian Railway
The Trans-Siberian Railway is a network of railways connecting Moscow with the Russian Far East and the Sea of Japan. It is the longest railway in the world...
).
In 2003, on behest of the Ministry of Transportation, a bronze statue of Pavel Melnikov
Pavel Petrovich Melnikov
Pavel Petrovich Melnikov was a Russian engineer and administrator who, in his capacity of Transport Minister, was in a large measure responsible for the introduction of railroad construction in Imperial Russia.In 1825 Melnikov graduated at the head of his class from the Institute of Transport...
(1804–1880) was erected on the square, to commemorate the Russian minister of transportation who superintended the construction of the first railways in Russia.