canopy tour new zoo

The Canopy Tour

The Canopy Tour is now open!

The Neil Anderson Canopy Tour was made possible by the fundraising efforts of the  NEW Zoological Society . The experience includes over a dozen suspension bridges stretched between trees and posts, as well as several platforms that will feature educational graphics. The graphics share stories about the history of the NEW Zoo & Adventure Park, as well as encourage guests to immerse themselves into the sights and sounds of the natural spaces around them. For more information, or to buy tickets, please visit https://newzoo.org/canopytour

Thank you to the following for making the Canopy Tour a reality!

Nature’s Way The David L. & Rita E. Nelson Family Fund Cornerstone Foundation of NE WI KC Stock Foundation WPS Foundation Schneider Foundation Insight Wayne & Barbara Mohr Hank & Diane Wallace Roger Huitbrgtse & Linda Curl Skyline Exhibits

Support the Health of our Animals

Annual reports.

View & Download the Annual Reports

Quick Links

'You'll be walking next to the snow leopard or snow monkey': NEW Zoo to add a 'Canopy Tour' this summer

GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — There's a brand new addition coming to the NEW Zoo & Adventure Park and it is expected to provide families with a new perspective of animals.

"You will purchase your tickets here and suspend yourself like Gary said, 16 feet off the ground all the way through parts of the reforestation camp,” said Nathaniel Wagner, NEW Zoo Adventure Park Supervisor.

The zoo is constructing what they're calling “The Canopy Tour” and it will consist of elevated platforms and bridges throughout the property.

"You'll have the opportunity to go over some of the enclosures, around some of the enclosures and get to know those animals in a different light that you would have not normally seen,” Wagner said.

The zoo will also have animal walkways, another way to get up close and personal with some of these animals.

“NWTC is constructing some chutes for the snow leopards and for the snow monkeys, so that at some point during the walkway there's a chute that will come up and you'll be walking next to the snow leopard or snow monkey,” said Gary Ehrbar, NEW Zoological Society Board of Directors.

So as families make their way through the zoo, side by side with the animals officials explain the experience is safe.

"Basically a deck with a safety railing all around. Some netting, so no kids would be able to go through and on the bridges we put the railings higher so nobody can go over the rail,” said Maxime Risch, Tree House Experts General Manager.

The canopy tour is expected to open to the public this July and it will be a separate admission to the zoo.

Pictured below is what the first platform at the entrance will look like:

Sign up for the Breaking News Newsletter and receive up to date information.

Now signed up to receive the breaking news newsletter..

NBC 26 is in your neighborhood!

NEW Zoo opens new Canopy Tour dedicated to former director

by Molly Ruffing, FOX 11 News

GREEN BAY (WLUK) -- The NEW Zoo is opening up a new experience for the public.

The NEW Zoological Society officially opened the new Canopy Tour at 4 p.m. Friday.

The Canopy Tour is dedicated to former NEW Zoo Director Neil Anderson .

The tour is almost a half-mile long, allowing visitors to walk among the treetops to look at the animals in their habitats.

This weekend, the first 500 children to walk the Canopy Tour will get free admission when accompanied by a paid adult.

NEW Zoo & Adventure Park

« All Events

All events for Merry & Bright Canopy Lights

Events list navigation.

• « Previous Events

Merry & Bright Canopy Lights

Update: due to popular demand, another date has been added! Join us on December 23rd The Neil Anderson Canopy Tour will be open for extended evening hours from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Saturdays, December 2nd, 9th, 16th and 23rd. Experience the quiet calm of a winter’s night at the Zoo, and see the sights lit by moonlight and festive, holiday lights strung through the treetops. Tickets for these “Merry & Bright Canopy Lights” events will be available at the Adventure Park’s…

Get in touch

• 920-434-7841
• [email protected]
• 4378 Reforestation Rd, Green Bay, WI 54313

Feed the Giraffes

The Giraffe Feeding Experience occurs daily, with some flexibility in the schedule. We do our best to offer the Feeding Experience whenever possible, typically from 10:30am to 12:30pm and/or from 1:30pm to 3:30pm.

Stay Connected

Enter your email below *

Example: Yes, I would like to receive emails from NEW Zoo. (You can unsubscribe anytime)

Upcoming Events

Mother’s day at the zoo.

View More…

Quick Links

• Know Before You Go
• Mayan Restaurant
• Memberships
• Parties, Rentals, Etc.
• The Neil Anderson Canopy Tour
• Adopt an Animal
• Zoo Memberships
• Adventure Camps
• Equipment Rentals
• Behind the Scenes Programs
• Giraffe Feeding Experience
• Scout Programs
• Bike Rentals
• Cross Country Ski Rentals
• Snowshoe Rentals
• Conservation Initiatives
• Employment Opportunities
• Internships

CLASSIFIEDS Search For and Place Classifieds

SUBSCRIBE TODAY $59 Annually

Ground broken for NEW Zoo treetop canopy tour

By Kat Halfman Staff Intern

SUAMICO – The NEW Zoo and Adventure Park will soon offer visitors a different view of many of its animals – from 20 feet in the air.

Gary Ehrbar, president of NEW Zoological Society Board of Directors, kicked off a June 2 press conference officially breaking ground for the new canopy tour with a warm welcome.

“I think we’re really fortunate to live in a community where donors give back to the community – they gave to this project (the canopy tour) and obviously they give back to the zoo, so thank you all very much for that,” he said.

Nathaniel Wagner, the adventure park supervisor, will also be in charge of the zoo’s new canopy tour.

He said when the tour is completed in mid-July, there will be a total of 10, 8-foot by 8-foot platforms, lofted between 16-20 feet above the ground, with 17 connecting bridges and five additional platforms specially dedicated to education.

Wagner said guests will purchase tickets in the same area they would for the adventure park, and then begin their journey above the Brown County Reforestation Camp .

From there, the canopy walk will pass over and around some animal exhibits – stretching almost a half-mile through the NEW Zoo & Adventure Park.

There will also be additional enclosure space added – chutes built by Northeast Wisconsin Technical College – so snow leopards and snow monkeys can walk alongside the guests.

“What’s really unique about this canopy tour is the ability to get face-to-face with some of the animals that are going to be up high with people,” Angela Kawski-Kroening, education coordinator at NEW Zoo, said. “It allows guests to connect with those animals in a whole new way.”

She said the main goal of the new canopy walk experience is to connect with and educate guests, as well as to provide an engaging new experience.

“It’s not often that a zoo of our size is surrounded by nature the way we are,” Kawski-Kroening said.

Education and history Kawski-Kroening said the tour will include two different series of educational graphics for guests to follow.

The first series, she said, is nature-inspired, and features information about plants and animals native to the area.

Kawski-Kroening said the signs will encourage readers to look at what’s around them, and fully immerse themselves in the tour.

The second series of graphics, she said, is based on the zoo’s history, and will share the story of how it came to be.

“I hope everyone doesn’t mind me speaking for them and saying that we’re all really proud of our story,” Kawski-Kroening said.

She said the NEW Zoo started 70 years ago as nothing more than a dream thought up by Harry Barth, who envisioned a space surrounded by nature that people could come from all over the community to enjoy.

Unfortunately, Kawski-Kroening said Barth passed away shortly after the Reforestation Camp came to be, but his wife Arelia took the reins and rallied the community to see the camp become something even greater.

Kawski-Kroening said the historical graphics aim to help visitors connect with the zoo in a new way, by seeing how it began and how it has changed and grown over the years.

It will also share a sneak peek of the vision the NEW Zoo has for its future – Ehrbar hinted at two new projects coming to the zoo the community should keep an eye and ear out for.

Kawski-Kroening said the canopy tour will be a family-friendly experience with something for the little ones and the adults, too.

She said the canopy tour will not be wheelchair or stroller accessible.

Donor acknowledgments Kawski-Kroening said the canopy tour wouldn’t have been possible without donor support.

“We’re so excited to share these stories with our guests,” she said. “We’re grateful for the help we received from Insight Creative, as well as Skyline, as they really helped us with the design of these graphics. Of course, there are many other sponsors and donors that have helped us as well.”

Ehrbar echoed the appreciation.

“None of this would be possible without them,” he said. Wagner said the partnership between the NEW Zoo and the Zoological society made it possible for many of the zoo’s attractions to be built through donations.

Though the zoo is county-owned, it doesn’t receive any tax funding, so it relies on the generosity of donors.

New Zoo in Green Bay offers half-price admissions during winter months

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) -

The Brown County New Zoo & Adventure Park is once again offering special admission rates for the winter season.

This year, all New Zoo and Canopy Tour admission rates will be half-off regular prices for the months of January and February. The winter season is great time to visit and enjoy a “zoo-to-yourself” feeling. Many animals are active in cold weather and even prefer the snow over the heat of summer! Although a few temperature-sensitive critters are currently behind-the-scenes, most of the animals can be seen within their usual habitats.

Throughout your walk around the Zoo, stop in to warm up inside the Giraffe Discovery Center, the Education & Conservation Center, or in the Mayan Restaurant, which is open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Discounted tickets for the Neil Anderson Canopy Tour are available online for purchase at newzoo.org/canopytour.

Canopy Tour tickets are also available during regular hours at the Adventure Park Base Camp building. For discounted Zoo tickets, guests must purchase in person at the main entrance, through the Zoo’s Paws & Claws Gift Shop. Online zoo admission ticket sales will resume in March.

The NEW Zoo is open seven days per week, 365 days a year. Hours of operations are 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. daily throughout the winter season. The Neil Anderson Canopy Tour opens daily at 9:00 a.m. with the final tour departing at 3:30 p.m. Additional information can be found online at www.newzoo.org.

The NEW Zoo’s regular admission fees are: Adults $11; Children (ages 3-15) & Seniors (62+): $8; and Children under 3: Free. Canopy Tour regular admission fees are: Adults $8; Children’ (ages 3-15) & Seniors (62+): $6; Children under 3: Free. *Please note: half-off pricing does not apply to the purchase of Zoo or Adventure Park Memberships, advance zoo ticket sales, trail passes, or winter equipment rentals .

Copyright 2023 WBAY. All rights reserved.

The best counties for living in Wisconsin

The best pizza places in Green Bay, Oshkosh, Sheboygan and Wausau, according to diners

Wisconsin Department of Justice investigating officer-involved shooting in Grand Chute

13-year-old girl remains in critical condition following crash in Appleton on Wednesday night

Brown County teen sentenced for fatal high-speed crash on West Mason Street

Latest news.

One injured in Waupaca County after motorcycle crash involving a deer

WPS files proposals for increased customer rates for electricity, natural gas

High-speed chase that started in Dodge County ends in arrest

'Like one of my kids': For director Neil Anderson, leaving NEW Zoo after nearly 30 years comes with endless memories, difficult goodbyes

SUAMICO - Neil Anderson has been soaking up these final days at NEW Zoo & Adventure Park, spending as much time as he can out on the grounds in the company of visitors and animals.

Everywhere he looks or walks, he bumps into a memory.

He was there when Tootie and Al got a one-of-a-kind home made to look like the shells the Aldabra giant tortoises carry on their backs, when the lions roared with approval of their new, sprawling habitat after years of cramped concrete, when giraffes Zuri and Hodari stepped off the trailer for the first time and into northeast Wisconsin history.

“This has kind of been to me like one of my kids. When you think about it, 30 years, half your life,” Anderson said on a recent morning as a buoyant soundtrack of excited children and creature noises swept through the zoo on a summer breeze.

“There isn’t a place out here that I do not really have a memory, either with staff, volunteers, the board, the animals, the public. It’s just been built on that. The support here has been phenomenal.”

Almost on cue, a woman from Manitowoc approaches with her husband and grandson and asks to get a picture. A tan and smiling Anderson, with his unmistakable Yooper accent, a wad of keys and a lanyard around his neck with a Brown County ID that identifies him simply as “N Anderson,” is happy to oblige.

“So you’re retiring?” the woman says. “Good for you.”

At 61, Anderson is retiring as director of NEW Zoo & Adventure Park. His final day on Friday will cap a career at the zoo that started in 1992 when he was hired as curator of animals. Thirty years later — minus a six-month departure in 1997 to work at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, Oregon, and help care for  “Free Willy” star Keiko — he has become as much a face of the zoo as the penguins or the lions.

He’s Green Bay's version of celebrity zookeeper Jack Hanna , right down to the TV presence.

Hanna was a frequent and favorite guest on “The Late Show with David Letterman”; same for Anderson on WLUK-TV’s “Good Day Wisconsin” with Rachel Manek and Pete Petoniak. He’s done more than 5,000 segments on the Fox 11 morning show in the last 28 years. His weekly check-ins on Wednesday mornings to show viewers what’s new at the zoo made him a TV personality.

He remembers when the idea was first pitched. The station wondered if it was the kind of thing that could happen each month.

“I said, ‘Sure. We could do something once a week. We can talk about a feather for a month if you want,’” Anderson said, laughing. “Literally, we must’ve, right?”

He signed off for the last time on Wednesday.

When it comes to his love for the zoo, Anderson is never at a loss for words, no matter if the subject is its history dating back to the 1950s, a quarter-century of coveted accreditation by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums or the finer points of porcupine quills.

He’s seen animals born at the zoo, live their entire lives there and die. It was Anderson who sat with beloved lion Kitty when he was sick with cancer and died in 2005. He knows — and appreciates — every inch of the place, from the nooks and crannies of exhibits to the countless bricks with donor names.

“There really isn’t a spot, whether it’s above ground or below ground or up in the sky right now that I don’t know,” he said, looking up at the canopy tree walk that will give visitors a chance to see the NEW Zoo & Adventure Park from a series of bridges and platforms 16 feet in the air.

He’ll just miss the new experience’s grand opening on Aug. 6 and 7, but he got a surprise during a celebration earlier this month with staff and the NEW Zoological Society . They named it the Neil Anderson Canopy Tour.

“That was an unbelievable honor,” he said. “Staff said now I’ll always be looking over them.”

Memories of a lion that roared and the larger-than-life 'Giraffic Park' days

At a destination that attracts an average of 205,000 people annually with more than 300 animals and approximately 20 acres for exploring, the special moments for Anderson during the last three decades are many.

It was still what he calls “a roadside zoo” when he arrived in 1992, just a quarter of the size it is now. The original loop of the zoo was at the center, and two very small exhibits for bears and lions were nothing but concrete and bars.

At the top of the to-do list was to work toward getting the facility accredited by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, a badge of excellence considered “the gold standard” in the industry. The evaluation process looks at things like animal care, conservation involvement, education programs, security, safety, facilities, guest services and finances.

NEW Zoo achieved accreditation in 1996 and has maintained it ever since. It’s one of just 214 zoos and aquariums in the country to have such status. Without it, Anderson said, the zoo would not be able to have African penguins, red pandas, red wolves and other endangered species in its collection.

The NEW Zoological Society, the nonprofit group founded in 1985, has been invaluable in raising funds necessary to renovate and replace animal habitats through the decades. A zookeeper's best friend, Anderson says.

During those early years of his career, the lion and lioness were the last animals to get an upgraded home. The new habitat was built around the existing one and was 30 times bigger. Anderson will never forget the day the lions were released into it.

“That male lion came out, looked up, didn’t see any bars over the top of his head. It was the first time he stepped on grass. He roared and roared. I don’t know how long he roared for, but it seemed like an eternity,” Anderson said.

Then came opportunities to add new habitats, like the penguins. Anderson had previously worked at SeaWorld in Florida and Ohio and had helped to bring the animals to the Indianapolis Zoo. “Wouldn’t it be neat,” he thought, “if we could have penguins in Green Bay?”

The roughly $450,000 it cost to build their habitat was significantly more than anything the zoo had previously spent — quite a leap from the $50,000 to $125,000 price tag of others. It opened in 1996 and is the first exhibit visitors see when they come through the doors.

“You’ve got the best-dressed birds right here waiting to greet you. Who doesn’t have a smile when you see penguins?” Anderson said.

It has quite literally been all up from there, including the introduction of giraffes in 2005. Anderson recalls marveling at the construction of the exhibit’s building with its 18-foot high doors and a showerhead mounted 20 feet off the ground.

“We called it Giraffic Park at the time. It was like Jurassic Park because you’re in there and everything is so huge.”

Key to the zoo’s growth has been the balancing act of making sure it fits the size of the community while still being sustainable, Anderson said. NEW Zoo is owned and operated by Brown County but does not receive any funds from property tax dollars. It counts on donors, members and visitors.

“I would say zoos are a reflection of the community, and I’m so proud of this community,” Anderson said. “The zoo business is as much a people business, if not more than an animal business. Having the ability to connect people with the animals and having that meaningful thing happen with them, where they’ll hopefully be better conservation stewards by the experience they have, that’s a special thing.”

From 'Wild Kingdom' in Ishpeming to so many turkey hot dogs in Jacksonville

Anderson was the kid who grew up watching “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom” with original host Marlin Perkins on Sunday nights and oceanographer Jacques Cousteau’s TV adventures. He had ferrets and raised pheasants as a boy in Ishpeming in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Still, when he told his dad, who was superintendent of the Tilden iron ore mine, he planned to go into zoology, he never saw it coming.

“I thought how great would it be if you could really do what you wanted to do and make a living at it?” Anderson said.

With his zoology degree in hand, he sent out hundreds of resumes across the country. Nothing.

Just when he was about to start student teaching at Westwood High School, the Ishpeming school where he coached the Patriots football team, he got a call from the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens in Florida. They had a seasonal zookeeper opening. There was no guarantee it would turn full-time, but the curator of animals who was doing the hiring also happened to be from Michigan and loved football. Anderson is sure that connection is the break that set him on his career path.

It was a bumpy road in the beginning.

He and his wife, Beth, and their two sons at the time moved to Florida not knowing a soul. His starting wage of $4.35 an hour meant living in a trailer on the west side of the city, without power for the first month. They couldn’t afford a phone, so every Friday night they would go to a nearby gas station to call their parents back home. Beth worked nights at Burger King to help make ends meet.

“We had turkey hot dogs any way that you could have them — sliced, diced, you name it.” Anderson said, adding he’s never been able to eat “tuna surprise” (a can of tuna mixed with mac and cheese) since, either.

But for all the struggles, it was also an exhilarating time in his life.

“Here’s a kid from the U.P., and I’m down there taking care of chimpanzees,” he said.

The position never became full-time, but it got him to SeaWorld in Florida, and with a couple of career stops along the way, eventually to Wisconsin, where his kids could be closer to their grandparents.

For many years, he and Beth and their three sons lived in the small residence on the grounds of the NEW Zoo, in what is now the curator and animal care offices. The boys grew up with peacocks and the roar of lions, and sometimes knocks on the door at all hours.

For the Andersons, life was indeed a zoo. 

A new adventure awaits at The Wonder Gardens as a career comes full circle

Anderson knows his long tenure at the NEW Zoo makes him something of an endangered species himself. The days of anyone working at the same place for 30 years are fast becoming a thing of the past.

“It really shows the connection I had with the community over the years. If that wasn’t special, it wouldn’t have been 30 years,” he said. “It’s been an incredible chapter.”

He and Beth knew they always wanted to move back to Florida one day, but then the opportunity came calling this year. The Wonder Gardens in Bonita Springs was looking for an executive director to help get the historical botanical gardens and wildlife refuge accredited. It was a chance for Anderson to bring his career full circle.

“I think it was coach (Bill) Parcells who said, ‘We all get on the bus and then eventually you’ve got to get off the bus,’” he said. “You hope you stayed long enough and you hope you didn’t overstay, but that you got off at your stop. It just felt like this was the time.”

Retirement from the NEW Zoo doesn’t mean he’ll be sliding into Jimmy Buffett "It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere" mode down in Florida. His father worked until he was 81. He inherited the same work ethic. He’s a man who likes to be busy.

It’s why, on top of his zoo career, he coached high school football for 25 years, including nearly 20 at Bay Port High School in Suamico, where the first day of practice each season inevitably came with “Aren’t you the zoo guy?” from new players.

“If you’re blessed to find your passion, because there’s so many people who don’t, I think then you need to try to make a difference,” Anderson said. “I always told my kids, ‘Whatever you do, try to make a difference. If you do, you do, but at least you tried. And then give back to the community.’ I still feel I have those opportunities.”

The goodbyes won’t be easy, both to animals and people. Zuri the giraffe has never known life at the zoo without Anderson. It doesn’t matter where he’s walking on the property, she always knows where he is.

Nobody on staff has been there as long as he has, but Carmen Murach, curator of animals, is just a couple of years shy. She’ll be interim director. He’s made sure staff knows they can call him anytime.

“There’s never enough goodbyes, right?” he said. “It’s just, ‘we’re going to see you later.’”

He and Beth plan to split their time between Green Bay and Florida. Youngest son Zack is employed at the Lake Superior Zoo in Duluth, Minnesota, and one day hopes to work at the NEW Zoo. Oldest son Neil is a doctor in St. Louis, and middle son Brandon works in Green Bay for the state of Wisconsin.

The Andersons have two granddaughters in town. If there was any doubt what big animal lovers they are, Neil Anderson was reminded the other day when it came time to cut a cake decorated with an image of him and a penguin. Everybody wanted the portion with the penguin. So much for Grandpa.

“It’s just been a great community. It’s a community that fit us,” Anderson said. “Next thing you know you’ve become woven into the fabric of it. It’s going to be tough to leave. I couldn’t have asked for a better place to raise a family.”

Somewhere along the way, Anderson became not just the face of the zoo but a good chunk of its heart. You won't catch him talking much about it, but strangers have been coming up to him long before the retirement announcement to tell him what the zoo means to them or ask to get a photo.

“Yesterday I stopped by CVS in Howard. I got out and somebody was yelling at me. I had no idea who the individual was. He just wanted to thank me,” Anderson said. “It’s a special thing. I’ve been blessed so many times over.”

Contact Kendra Meinert at 920-431-8347 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @KendraMeinert . 

A few parting words from Fox 11's Rachel Manek and Pete Petoniak

“Good Day Wisconsin” hosts Rachel Manek and Pete Petoniak had the pleasure of  talking a lot with Neil Anderson during his weekly appearances on the station over the last 28 years.

Before she was co-host, Manek was the reporter out at the zoo live with him every Wednesday for the segments.

“We had so much fun. Some of my favorite memories are from way back then when we were live together,” she said. “He took me into the zoo kitchen once and we whipped up a fish smoothie. It was disgusting! Oh, it was so funny. Then there’s a moment with the lions that I can’t really talk about that almost happened on live TV but fortunately, it happened just a minute before. It was a male and female lion.”

Petoniak said Anderson was so popular on the program even his wife would ask, “Why don’t you have Neil on more?” 

“When you talk to him when he’s not on the air, he’s the same guy. That’s why I think he’s so successful," Petoniak said. "He talks to the camera just like he would talk to you and me.”

Komsomolskaya metro station looks like a museum. It has vaulted ceilings and baroque decor.

Hidden underground, in the heart of Moscow, are historical and architectural treasures of Russia. These are Soviet-era creations – the metro stations of Moscow.

Our guide Maria introduced these elaborate metro stations as “the palaces for the people.” Built between 1937 and 1955, each station holds its own history and stories. Stalin had the idea of building beautiful underground spaces that the masses could enjoy. They would look like museums, art centers, concert halls, palaces and churches. Each would have a different theme. None would be alike.

The two-hour private tour was with a former Intourist tour guide named Maria. Maria lived in Moscow all her life and through the communist era of 60s to 90s. She has been a tour guide for more than 30 years. Being in her 60s, she moved rather quickly for her age. We traveled and crammed with Maria and other Muscovites on the metro to visit 10 different metro stations.

Arrow showing the direction of metro line 1 and 2

Moscow subways are very clean

To Maria, every street, metro and building told a story. I couldn’t keep up with her stories. I don’t remember most of what she said because I was just thrilled being in Moscow.   Added to that, she spilled out so many Russian words and names, which to one who can’t read Cyrillic, sounded so foreign and could be easily forgotten.

The metro tour was the first part of our all day tour of Moscow with Maria. Here are the stations we visited:

1. Komsomolskaya Metro Station  is the most beautiful of them all. Painted yellow and decorated with chandeliers, gold leaves and semi precious stones, the station looks like a stately museum. And possibly decorated like a palace. I saw Komsomolskaya first, before the rest of the stations upon arrival in Moscow by train from St. Petersburg.

2. Revolution Square Metro Station (Ploshchad Revolyutsii) has marble arches and 72 bronze sculptures designed by Alexey Dushkin. The marble arches are flanked by the bronze sculptures. If you look closely you will see passersby touching the bronze dog's nose. Legend has it that good luck comes to those who touch the dog's nose.

Touch the dog's nose for good luck. At the Revolution Square station

Revolution Square Metro Station

3. Arbatskaya Metro Station served as a shelter during the Soviet-era. It is one of the largest and the deepest metro stations in Moscow.

Arbatskaya Metro Station

4. Biblioteka Imeni Lenina Metro Station was built in 1935 and named after the Russian State Library. It is located near the library and has a big mosaic portrait of Lenin and yellow ceramic tiles on the track walls.

Lenin's portrait at the Biblioteka Imeni Lenina Metro Station

5. Kievskaya Metro Station was one of the first to be completed in Moscow. Named after the capital city of Ukraine by Kiev-born, Nikita Khruschev, Stalin's successor.

Kievskaya Metro Station

6. Novoslobodskaya Metro Station  was built in 1952. It has 32 stained glass murals with brass borders.

Novoslobodskaya metro station

7. Kurskaya Metro Station was one of the first few to be built in Moscow in 1938. It has ceiling panels and artwork showing Soviet leadership, Soviet lifestyle and political power. It has a dome with patriotic slogans decorated with red stars representing the Soviet's World War II Hall of Fame. Kurskaya Metro Station is a must-visit station in Moscow.

Ceiling panel and artworks at Kurskaya Metro Station

8. Mayakovskaya Metro Station built in 1938. It was named after Russian poet Vladmir Mayakovsky. This is one of the most beautiful metro stations in the world with 34 mosaics painted by Alexander Deyneka.

Mayakovskaya station

One of the over 30 ceiling mosaics in Mayakovskaya metro station

9. Belorusskaya Metro Station is named after the people of Belarus. In the picture below, there are statues of 3 members of the Partisan Resistance in Belarus during World War II. The statues were sculpted by Sergei Orlov, S. Rabinovich and I. Slonim.

10. Teatralnaya Metro Station (Theatre Metro Station) is located near the Bolshoi Theatre.

Teatralnaya Metro Station decorated with porcelain figures .

Taking the metro's escalator at the end of the tour with Maria the tour guide.

Have you visited the Moscow Metro? Leave your comment below.

January 15, 2017 at 8:17 am

An excellent read! Thanks for much for sharing the Russian metro system with us. We're heading to Moscow in April and exploring the metro stations were on our list and after reading your post, I'm even more excited to go visit them. Thanks again 🙂

December 6, 2017 at 10:45 pm

Hi, do you remember which tour company you contacted for this tour?

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Please go to the Instagram Feed settings page to create a feed.