The Moskovsky Railway Station in the St. Petersburg city which is the terminal in Moscow Leningradsky station is one of the oldest stations that built in St. Petersburg. These twin sister stations are identical in terms of architecture and representation. This line transfers more than hundreds of people daily from one of the exceptional touristic city of Russia to the other one.
The Moskovsky railway station is the oldest train station that built in Russia which its construction started in 1844 and completed in 1851. The railway built in the Nicholas I’s reign. He was one of the greatest patrons of this project. He passionately wanted a reliable railway between the two great cities of Russia, Moscow and Saint Petersburg. He was one of the first passengers of this line that traveled to Moscow with his family.
The station was named Nicholaevsky after Nicholas I because of all the efforts he made to make the railway happen. In the beginning, there weren’t enough passengers for this line because of the difficulties such as the tickets’ prices and security problems. There were some problems with the St. Petersburg police when anyone wanted to travel with these trains, people must’ve got permission from the police before they could purchase the ticket for the train and their passports were also seized until they come back to St. Petersburg. These problems made the train only available for upper classes and nobles at first, but after some time the problems solved and people gave more attention to the newly established railway between St. Petersburg and Moscow and turned it to become one of the busiest railway lines of Russia.
The station’s name changed once after the revolution in 1924 to Oktyabrsky in honor of the October Revolution, and the station didn’t get its current name, not until 1930. The line got more attention from the people and got more popular among passengers throughout the time, and soon after that, the administrators of the station realized that the station needs to be enlarged. The station reconstructed in 1868 to increase its capacity which wasn’t enough at all, but the administrators only realized that afterward. Following the competition that held in 1912 in which Vladimir Shchuko won, it was decided that he reconstructs the building completely; Though following the event of the First World War, Shchuko only managed to complete one the wings of the building before the war began which made the original façade of the station remain intact.
The current modern hall was attached to the station in the 1960s alongside the sculpture of Vladimir Lenin, however, the Lenin's sculpture was replaced by a statue of Peter the Great following the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990s.
The Moskovsky station is quite attractive for those who love architecture and unusual tastes, and the attraction for those people comes from the other twin sister of this building at the other terminal of the line in Moscow. These both buildings were designed and built by Konstantin Ton and Rudolf Zhelyazevich at the same time. The design of these building with high Venetian windows, the two-story clock tower, and fake entrances on the ground floor resembles the European Town Hall of the 12th and 13th centuries.
Though these characteristics such as Venetian Windows, fake entrances, the tall two-story clock tower, and Corinthian columns were from Italian Renaissance architecture, the designers referenced many more things from different styles of architecture from various times in their design. The good thing that happened to this building was the fact that its façade never changed throughout the time, and even with the three reconstructions that happened to this building, the original façade remained intact. The station electrified in 1962.
Many tourists who travel to Russia take these trains to transport them from one of the two great touristic cities of Russia to another after their journey through the first one. The Moskovsky Station is still one of the greatest arrival points for many tourists who traveled to Moscow first and purchased the tickets to get to the St. Petersburg via the railways. There are many reasons for the trains’ popularity such as the prices which are cheaper than most of the flights and the options to pick how fast does one want to make to the other city. There are also some beautiful landscapes throughout the way which passengers wouldn’t have enjoyed if they went for an air trip.
The Leningradsky and Moskovsky stations aren’t quite attractions in compare to the treasures that both cities have inside, but for those who admire the unusual architecture or a refined Italian Renaissance architecture, these are great examples. Though, unlike the subway stations in both cities, organizers didn’t care enough for the art and history of these places, and only focused on the safety and comforts of the passengers rather than the historical face of these places.
If both St. Petersburg and Moscow are in your Russia tour program, we recommend that if you have enough time and energy, travel to the other cities via the train, if you don’t have the time though, we still recommend you to visit the stations and enjoy the refined Italian Renaissance architecture and the similarities between the two stations.
