Names of Some Moscow Metro Stations Explained

Moscow subway (metro) is one of the places a tourist simply must visit in this wonderful city. But décor is not the only reason to go down there. In Moscow metro is the fastest and easiest way to get around. That is if you either can read Cyrillic or you have excellent eyesight that will allow you to read the tiny light grey signs in English. However even reading the names will help only to a certain point, because all of them are transcribed. To a non-Russian speaker a name like “Biblioteka Imeni Lenina” will not really say anything. I find it unfair. So I decided to provide a translation of some subway stations along with an explanation as to what the name means and what can be found around that station. There is so much more to see in Moscow apart from the Red Square.  

I have numbered the stations going from left to right.

1. Vystavochnaya – It can be translated as the Exhibition station. There you can find the official excursion agency, an exhibition about the history of Moscow Metro, a library and a souvenir shop.

 http://mosmetro.ru/metrotour/en/

2. Park Cultury – Translated as Culture Park. This is Gorky park, the central park of the city. But there are several galleries in there as well. The New Tretyakov gallery is just across the road from the entrance to Gorky park. They have an enormous collection of Russian 20^th century art there.  https://www.tretyakovgallery.ru/en/for-visitors/museums/novaya-tretyakovka/

A huge gallery called the Central House of artists shares the building with The New Tretyakov gallery.

Garage Museum of Modern Art is located at the territory of Gorky Park.

https://garagemca.org/en

3. Aleksandrovsky sad – Translated as Alexander‘s Garden. So there is nothing sad about this place, just pleasant garden close to the Red Square, quite worth visiting.

4. Biblioteka Imeni Lenina – Russian State Library (named after Lenin). https://www.rsl.ru/en

5. Teatralnaya – Rather obvious, but Bolshoy theatre is there

6. Chistye Prudy – Translated as “Clean ponds”. This is a bit of a weird name because there has ever been only one small body of water around there and it has never been particularly clean. Anyway it is a nice boulevard with lots of cafes and a skating rink in winter.

7. VDNH – This is an abbreviation which means The Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy. This place is a must see in Moscow. It is both a park of monumental soviet architecture and a modern exhibition centre. http://vdnh.ru/en/about/

8. Botanichesky Sad – Again, nothing is sad about the place, it is just the central botanical garden