A Metro on the Mount

The Underground as a Church of Soviet Civilization

Bibliographic Data

ID4021186
AuthorsAndrew L Jenks, Andrew Jenks (corresponding author)
Year2000
Volume41
Issue4
Pages697-724
Publication date2000-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueTechnology and Culture (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0040-165X • E-ISSN: 1097-3729
PublisherProject MUSE (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1353/tech.2000.0160
OpenAlexW2008615610
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited15

In 1938 the chief artist for Moscow's Mayakovski metro station urged Muscovites, "Raise your head, citizens, and you will see the sky." Forty meters below the surface, Soviets would find images "preparing them for labor and defense." Nearly three dozen cupolas crowned the top of a 155-meter-long platform dressed in stainless steel, Stalin's favorite material. Each tile mosaic (fig. 1) showed idealized scenes from a day in Soviet life: blast furnaces belched flames and carbon gases into the night sky, Red Army planes rumbled in formation, lithe athletes leaped into action, a parachutist tumbled down toward the viewer. To see the mosaics a passenger had to stand directly underneath them and gaze skyward. Heads permanently cocked back and eyes fixed on a heaven of Soviet power: this was the preferred pose for a citizen in Stalinist society, a pose inscribed in the design of the Moscow metro. 1

Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Art history · Civilization · Dome (geology) · Front (military) · Heaven · Inscribed figure · Mount · Physics · Political science · Power (physics) · Diverse Education and Engineering Focus · Engineering · Geology · History · Information Society and Technology Trends · Law

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