Metro Museum: A History of the Kingdom of Hades

Having built the first metro station, a man tried to subjugate the underworld. But since the time of Antiquity, this world was tabooed, dangerous, inaccessible to mere mortals by the gods - the kingdom of Hades. The first subway appeared, as is known, in London in 1863. Its passengers got out of the cars, covered with a layer of soot and soot. Descent into the London "Trumpet" the British quickly dubbed "the road to hell."

Today there are more than one and a half hundred subways in the world, which carry millions of passengers daily, but the attitude to the metro as to mystical transport continues to live in the subconscious of the inhabitants of the Earth. Most people are convinced: the metro is a special world, living its own life, possessing a rich history and overgrown with myths and legends. Because, probably, the world's leading subways have their own metro museum. Moscow is no exception.

The metro museum in the capital has been operating for more than forty years. Ironically, many Muscovites have not only never been there, but do not even have a clue about the existence of this institution. The metro museum in Moscow is located ... in the metro. To get acquainted with its exposition, it is necessary to reach the station "Sportivnaya" and in the southern lobby next to the police station to find an inconspicuous entrance with a golden plate "People's Museum".

The museum was created in 1967 by the efforts of veterans-metrostroytsev. In a small area there are more than 8 thousand exhibits, of which almost 2.5 thousand are genuine. Among the museum items are archival documents, photos, models of cars, tools of first builders, a stand with tickets and tokens used in the metro at different periods of time, a collection of minerals that were clad with the stations.

Many exhibits are interactive. Schoolchildren like the current model of the escalator, the opportunity to go through the old turnstile, leaving the Soviet "penny", acquaintance with the cab of the electric train. According to the computer scheme, you can watch online for the movement of the train, its transfer to the siding and the movement in the opposite direction. The staff showcases themed cartoons and films.

Visitors will be told how the metro was built and why it appeared much later than European subways, get acquainted with the traffic signal system, the arrangement of rails and wagons. Guests who have come to the metro museum will be interested to learn that at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War the Moscow subway was planned to explode, but then it was actively used as a bomb shelter, and metro construction workers continued their work building new stations.

The Metro Museum is a place where guests can ask questions of interest to them. Why in recent years has the flow of passengers decreased? Are the metro ghosts inhabited? What underground sculptures will help to successfully pass the exam or get rich?

You can visit the metro museum for free, but on excursions it is necessary to register in advance and not be late. Unfortunately, the institution is closed on weekends, but one of the working days should be allocated 2-3 hours, in order to learn together with the children how the underground kingdom was subdued.