my gateway music festivals and tours

• U.S. Mainland
• Canada & Alaska
• Latin America
• Choir Tours
• Orchestra Tours
• Marching Band Tours
• Concert Band Tours
• Jazz Band Tours
• Dance Group Tours
• Alumni Tours
• All Parades, Festivals and Events
• Request a Custom Tour
• Destinations & Events
• Performances

• Search for:

Search Results for:

Dublin st. patrick’s festival, rose parade, holiday events, rome new year’s parade, san diego st. patrick’s parade.

Get your shamrocks ready and join us on Saturday before St. Patrick’s Day for the biggest St. Patrick’s Parade west of the Mississippi.

Hollywood Christmas Parade

The Hollywood Christmas Parade is an ideal performance event and not just for bands!  We are searching for talent: marching bands, choirs, dance and cheer groups. Let’s see you on the famed red carpet!

Dublin St. Patrick’s Day Parade

Nothing compares to celebrating this quintessential Irish holiday in Ireland. Imagine marching through the center of Dublin, performing for the hundreds of thousands of joyous people along the parade route!

Chicago St. Patrick’s Day Parade

A modern day miracle occurs each year as part of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade celebration when the Chicago River turns an incredible shade of shamrock green. The parade is the centerpiece of the city’s unforgettable St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.

Waikiki Holiday Parade

Marching Bands from the mainland and local schools always bring extraordinary energy to Waikiki! The Waikiki Holiday Parade is FUN, but foremost we honor Pearl Harbor Survivors, service bands, military troops, and veterans by commemorating the attack on Pearl Harbor. 

Prague Christmas Parade

A unique performance opportunity in the Czech Republic taking place over Thanksgiving week, annually.  The Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and the Baltics continue to be strong touring destinations with top value!

Filter our tours:

• Canada & Alaska

Testimonials

Gary Gribble, Pope HS Marching Band

Rebecca Wyffels, Wayzata HS Choir

Reid Atkinson, Grain Valley HS Marching Band

Quick Links

• Destinations

Contact Gateway

© 2016 Gateway Music Festivals & Tours, Inc.

• ALL MOSCOW TOURS
• Getting Russian Visa
• Top 10 Reasons To Go
• Things To Do In Moscow
• Sheremetyevo Airport
• Domodedovo Airport
• Vnukovo Airport
• Airports Transfer
• Layover in Moscow
• Best Moscow Hotels
• Best Moscow Hostels
• Art in Moscow
• Moscow Theatres
• Moscow Parks
• Free Attractions
• Walking Routes
• Sports in Moscow
• Shopping in Moscow
• The Moscow Metro
• Moscow Public Transport
• Taxi in Moscow
• Driving in Moscow
• Moscow Maps & Traffic
• Facts about Moscow – City Factsheet
• Expat Communities
• Groceries in Moscow
• Healthcare in Moscow
• Blogs about Moscow
• Flat Rentals

Moscow theatres

Moscow has always been and still remains the city of theatres. This magnificent capital attracts theatregoers from all over the world. Here are the theatres we like and truly recommend you to visit.

Bolshoi Theatre

The Bolshoi Theatre

On 28 March 1776, Catherine II granted the prosecutor, Prince Pyotr Urusov, the privilege of maintaining theatre performances of all kinds, including masquerades, balls and other forms of entertainment. And that is where Moscow’s Bolshoi ( Big ) Theatre starts its history. The building of the Bolshoi Theatre, one of Moscow’s symbols, was opened on 20 October 1856, on Tsar Alexander II’s coronation day.

The Bolshoi Theatre is a symbol of Russia for all time. It was awarded this honor due to the major contribution it made to the history of the Russian performing arts. This history is on-going and today Bolshoi Theatre artists continue to contribute to it many bright pages.

Visit the theatre to watch the magnificent Russian operas and ballets. Make sure you are going to see the performance on Historic Stage.

Site: http://bolshoi.ru

Maly Theatre

One of the oldest Moscow theatres – the Maly (Small) Theatre – is situated on Teatralnaya Ploschad (Theatre Square) neighboring the famous Bolshoi (Big) Theatre. The history of the theatre dates back to 1756 when the theatre company was founded by Catherine the Great’s will. During the 19th Century the theatre has become a favorite stage for some of the Russian most noted playwrights, in particular Ostrovsky who premiered 40 of his 52 plays here.

If you want to enjoy classical Russian theatre, see plays written by Chekhov, Pushkin, Ostrovsky and Gogol the Maly is probably one of the best choices. The theatre follows Russian drama tradition and makes classical productions. So with a little prior knowledge of the general plot of the play will be able to follow the action quite well without the help of subtitles.

Site: http://www.maly.ru/

Moscow Art Theatre

The theatre was established by K. S. Stanislavsky and V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko in 1898 under the name Moscow Art Theatre (MKhAT). This is the first theatre in Russia, who practiced the real reform and together with young actors created modern repertoire. Nevertheless, in today’s Theatre classic world literature is staged as well as the modern patriotic literature. It is loved by Muscovites and the capitals guests for traditions, wonderful cast and bold experiments.

Site: http://www.mxat.ru/

Sovremennik

Sovremennik Theatre was founded by a group of young Soviet actors during the «Khrushchev Thaw». Among the founders were Oleg Yefremov, Galina Volchek, Igor Kvasha, Liliya Tolmachyova, Yevgeniy Yevstigneyev and Oleg Tabakov, now famous Russian actors. The debut production was Victor Rozov’s play «Forever Alive».

Nowadays it is one of the most popular Moscow theatres, with interesting premiers and wide basic repertoire, involving masters of Moscow stage and talented beginning actors.

Site: http://www.sovremennik.ru/

«Peter Fomenko’s Workshop» Theatre

This is a young and progressive theatre. The troupe consists of actors with innovative way of thinking and staging plays. They unite the passionate desire to experiments and classic Russian theatrical traditions. During 15 years of theatre’s existence there were created 36 plays which were rewarded with national and international theatrical awards.

Site: http://fomenko.theatre.ru/

Theatre of Nations

The fascinating building in pseudo-Russian style has been taken by theaters from 1885. Nowadays, Theatre of Nations, a unique structure that has no analogues in national theatre, is located there. Today Theatre of Nations is one of the most successful producer project with ambitious and realized art plans. The activities of the theater are in many ways exclusive. Thus, it introduces the Russian audiences to outstanding examples of European theater. The Theatre of Nations holds a variety of theatre programs, organizes national and international festivals, presents the best Russian and foreign productions of all genres and trends and produces its own performances. Lack of a constant troupe allows keeping star cast and genre flexibility — from drama and comedy to post-drama and ballet.

Site: http://www.theatreofnations.ru/

Gogol Centre

Recently renovated Gogol Centre is a theatre that seeks a constant dialogue with reality. Debates and conferences on the most current themes in the discussion club «Gogol+», world premieres of the movies that have never been released in Russia in the program «Gogol cinema», rare recordings of the great 20th and 21st centuries theatre performances in the public multimedia library, large music concerts and of course performances on several stages by the most remarkable Russian and foreign directors. All this makes it possible to explore the vast spheres of modern Art while remaining in the same space.

Site: http://gogolcenter.com/

Praktika Theatre

Praktika Theatre is a small theatre venue and company focused on new drama. it was opened in 2005 as a theatre in search of contemporary topics and stories, of the present-day language, a new style and a new generation of playwrights and productions.

Today this is probably the only theatre in Moscow, which sharply addresses political and social issues and is supported by distinguished directors from Russia and Europe. The name of the theatre – «Praktika» means that the theatre offers various practical workshops. Praktika offers yoga seminars, psychology and dance workshops. There is a cinema club which introduces Moscow to recent international film releases.

Site: http://www.praktikatheatre.ru/

The Moscow International House of Music

This gorgeous music center, settled down at the banks of the Moskva River, organizes performances of national and foreign symphony orchestras, chamber ensembles, solo instrumentalists, opera singers, ballet dancers, theatre companies, jazz bands, variety and traditional ensembles.

It accommodates three concert halls placed on three different levels and having separate entrances. Each hall is executed in its own style and special array. The rows of seats ascend up in a form of an amphitheater providing a good view of the stage from every place of the auditorium. There is a summer terrace on the podium of MIPAC designed for different open-air promenade concerts and festive events. It has a common architectural space with the winter garden and the foyer of the Great Hall.

Site: http://www.mmdm.ru/

The Moscow Philharmonic

Created in 1922 on the initiative of Anatoly Lunacharsky, the Moscow Philharmonic was intended to display the vitality of art in the newly formed country, with the capability of making bold experiments and yet profoundly understanding the centuries-old traditions of worldwide musical culture. During its long history the Philharmonic experienced good times and bad.

Today the Moscow Philharmonic has become the country’s leading concert organization, operating both in an artistic capacity and as a producer. It acts as the principal organizer of large-scale international projects involving Russian ensembles. You can come here to enjoy best pieces of classical music performed by world famous musicians.

Site: http://meloman.ru

Our Private Tours in Moscow

Whole day in moscow private tour, all-in-one moscow essential private tour, moscow metro & stalin skyscrapers private tour, moscow art & design private tour, soviet moscow historical & heritage private tour, gastronomic moscow private tour, «day two» moscow private tour, layover in moscow tailor-made private tour, tour guide jobs →.

Every year we host more and more private tours in English, Russian and other languages for travelers from all over the world. They need best service, amazing stories and deep history knowledge. If you want to become our guide, please write us.

Contact Info

+7 495 166-72-69

[email protected]

119019 Moscow, Russia, Filippovskiy per. 7, 1

Mon - Sun 10.00 - 18.00

Exploring Moscow The Kremlin | Red Square | Fine Arts & Museums Theatres of Moscow | Old Moscow | Mementos of the Soviet Moscow's Calendar of Events | Accommodations

International exhibition NEFTEGAZ-2022

Neftegaz (Oil and gas exhibition) is the largest exhibition in Russia, which is one of the ten most significant in the industry. Lots of business meetings. Sighning of contracts. Experience exchange. The exhibition is attended by over 500 companies from around the world.

Moscow International Film Festival

The film festival has been held since 1935. Second oldest after the Venice Film Festival. Moscow International Film Festival is one of the most important events in the film industry. This is not only an influential professional venue, but also an interesting event for muscovites and guest of the city.

Christmas Festival

This is the most favourite festival of Muscovites and guests of the city. Interesting events take place at 80 venues throughout the city. Numerous ice rinks, food zones, hockey courts, slides, a children’s snowboard park are open. Every day, in special chalets around the city, puppet shows and fairy tales are read. Concerts and master classes await visitors, where you can try yourself in Gzhel painting, clay modelling, decoupage. You can make jewellery, toys and gifts to loved ones, as well as send a letter to Santa Claus. On Red Square, everyone is interested in not only skating on the rink themselves, but also enjoying the colourful ice show from the famous Russian skaters.

Festival “Moscow Maslenitsa”

One of the brightest, longest events in Russia, dedicated to the seeing off of winter and the meeting of spring. Everyone will be able to learn how to cook pancakes, attend a lot of creative and craft workshops. Take part in traditional Shrovetide fun. Build a huge stuffed animal from straw and burn it, ride on crusts, take part in a masquerade parade. At numerous venues it will be possible to see street performances and performances by the best vocal ensembles and folk artists.

New Year on Red Square

The festive concert begins at 20.00. Then everyone lights the New Year tree together. At midnight, guests will be surprised by festive fireworks. Tickets are on sale in advance at the expected symbolic price of 2,025 rubles.

Easter Gift Festival

Easter festival is one of the most striking and major events of the city in April. Guests and residents of the city will be able to learn about the traditions of Easter, taste various options for Easter cakes, try other holiday treats. And also take part in charity events.

The solemn ceremony of the changing of the guard at the walls of the Moscow Kremlin

The ceremony is held every on the Cathedral Square of the Kremlin. This is a colourful sight introducing Russian military traditions. Every year, the organizers introduce new elements into the program, preserving the classic part. To enter the territory of the Kremlin, an entrance ticket is required.

Russia Victory Day in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945

In May 9th Russia celebrate the day of victory of Soviet troops over Nazi Germany. On this day, parades, commemorative events, and festive fireworks are held solemnly throughout the country. The main military parade of the country takes place in Moscow on Red Square. Throughout the city, at special concert venues, art groups perform, songs of the war years are heard everywhere. People dance, relax. Many older people cry, remembering the horror of years gone by.

Night of museums

Museum Night is an annual project that will take place in Moscow 15 times. Most of the city’s cultural institutions traditionally take part in it. Most of the city’s museums and exhibitions are free to visit. In parks, country estates, thematic performances and entertainment cultural events are held. About 200 museums, exhibition halls and art spaces take part in the festival. Many sites prepare special projects on the topic for visitors.

Fish Week festival

This year the festival will be held in Moscow for the sixth time. Everyone can taste a variety of seafood dishes, as well as purchase fish, shrimp, caviar «take away”. Every day, gastronomic shows and various master classes for both adults and children will be held at the festival venues.

A cappella Moscow Spring international festival

Bright and talented performers and bands from different countries come to Moscow to demonstrate all their singing a cappella skills. The show takes place at different open-air scenes in the center of Moscow. Everyone can visit any city concerts, creative workshops, music, theatre performances.

Horse racing events

In Moscow, the racing season lasts from May to September. Purebred racehorse competitions are held at the Central Moscow Hippodrome. Throughout the entire period, horses demonstrate all their power, beauty and strength. By tradition, in the spring a big holiday is held, dedicated to the opening of the race.

Day of Russia

On this day, all cities of the country host ceremonies, entertainment programs, holiday concerts with the participation of popular performers. Everyone can participate in sports and youth flash mobs, visit museums and improvised fairs. And the culmination of the holiday will be a big fireworks.

Flower Jam Festival

Within the framework of the festival, the international competition of urban landscape design of the same name takes place. The task of the contestants is to come up with gardens, compositions that will beneficially affect the emotional and physical condition of the city residents. Across the city will appear compositions of fresh flowers. The city is blooming.

International Festival "Russian Cuisine"

This year the festival of Russian cuisine will be held for the forth time. Guests will be able to taste a wide palette of dishes from multinational Russia. Appreciate the skills of the best chefs in Russia. Taste ready-made dishes according to old Russian recipes. The largest outdoor food court in Moscow will open. Performances of famous pop singers and folk artists will complement the holiday atmosphere.

International Fireworks Festival Rostec

The largest festival of pyrotechnic art in Russia. The strongest pyrotechnics from different countries gather to show the audience all their highest skills and compete for the title of best. A diverse program is provided for guests and residents of the city: creative and sporting events, thematic spaces, quests and games, performances by musical groups and much more.

International Military Music Festival Spasskaya Tower

This holiday festival takes place on Red Square. This is one of the most ambitious and vibrant events of the year. Spectators are waiting for the parade of military bands, musical groups from around the world. Music from classical to pop sounds in the city center. Military bands from many countries demonstrate entire dance performances, performances with weapons. Colorful laser and pyrotechnic shows decorate this event. The grand fireworks on the closing day are unforgettable.

Moscow City day

Bright, large-scale and spectacular holiday. In 2022, Muscovites will celebrate the 875th anniversary of their city. Moscow greets this day on a grand scale. The whole city is seething. At various venues there are concerts and live music. Sports competitions for families, fairs for all are held. Everywhere – an atmosphere of joy and emancipation.

Moscow Balloon Festival

The festival will be held at the Expocentre on Krasnaya Presnya. This is the largest festival in Europe in terms of the number of participants, guests and sponsors. The best professional graphic designers from all over the world compete here. The program includes: an air show, master classes, an exhibition of sculptures from balloons, as well as exciting seminars from professional aero designers.

XI Moscow International Festival Circle of Light

One of the largest light festivals in the world. Grand multimedia shows await guests and residents: 3D mapping, pyrotechnic effects using high-altitude fountains, fire flames, laser projections. Many light installations of fireworks with musical accompaniment.

XVIII Moscow Gastronomic Festival

Hundreds of restaurants in Moscow present a signature tasting menu. It offers new tastes, unusual food combinations, bold culinary experiments. Special brunches take place all month. The city has a lot of thematic entertainment, promotions from the partners of the festival. At the end of the festival, a magnificent ball is held at which members of the international jury will choose the winner.

National Unity Day of Russia

In Moscow, the program of this general public holiday is especially solemn and vibrant. A variety of patriotic events, rallies, parades are held. In the evening, festive concerts of pop stars and musical groups will take place.

• Russia DMC about
• Russia tours
• Russia incentive tours
• The best in Russia
• Our tour services

2018 Primetime Emmy & James Beard Award Winner

In Transit: Notes from the Underground

Jun 06 2018.

Spend some time in one of Moscow’s finest museums.

Subterranean commuting might not be anyone’s idea of a good time, but even in a city packing the war-games treasures and priceless bejeweled eggs of the Kremlin Armoury and the colossal Soviet pavilions of the VDNKh , the Metro holds up as one of Moscow’s finest museums. Just avoid rush hour.

The Metro is stunning and provides an unrivaled insight into the city’s psyche, past and present, but it also happens to be the best way to get around. Moscow has Uber, and the Russian version called Yandex Taxi , but also some nasty traffic. Metro trains come around every 90 seconds or so, at a more than 99 percent on-time rate. It’s also reasonably priced, with a single ride at 55 cents (and cheaper in bulk). From history to tickets to rules — official and not — here’s what you need to know to get started.

A Brief Introduction Buying Tickets Know Before You Go (Down) Rules An Easy Tour

A Brief Introduction

Moscow’s Metro was a long time coming. Plans for rapid transit to relieve the city’s beleaguered tram system date back to the Imperial era, but a couple of wars and a revolution held up its development. Stalin revived it as part of his grand plan to modernize the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 30s. The first lines and tunnels were constructed with help from engineers from the London Underground, although Stalin’s secret police decided that they had learned too much about Moscow’s layout and had them arrested on espionage charges and deported.

The beauty of its stations (if not its trains) is well-documented, and certainly no accident. In its illustrious first phases and particularly after the Second World War, the greatest architects of Soviet era were recruited to create gleaming temples celebrating the Revolution, the USSR, and the war triumph. No two stations are exactly alike, and each of the classic showpieces has a theme. There are world-famous shrines to Futurist architecture, a celebration of electricity, tributes to individuals and regions of the former Soviet Union. Each marble slab, mosaic tile, or light fixture was placed with intent, all in service to a station’s aesthetic; each element, f rom the smallest brass ear of corn to a large blood-spattered sword on a World War II mural, is an essential part of the whole.

The Metro is a monument to the Soviet propaganda project it was intended to be when it opened in 1935 with the slogan “Building a Palace for the People”. It brought the grand interiors of Imperial Russia to ordinary Muscovites, celebrated the Soviet Union’s past achievements while promising its citizens a bright Soviet future, and of course, it was a show-piece for the world to witness the might and sophistication of life in the Soviet Union.

It may be a museum, but it’s no relic. U p to nine million people use it daily, more than the London Underground and New York Subway combined. (Along with, at one time, about 20 stray dogs that learned to commute on the Metro.)

In its 80+ year history, the Metro has expanded in phases and fits and starts, in step with the fortunes of Moscow and Russia. Now, partly in preparation for the World Cup 2018, it’s also modernizing. New trains allow passengers to walk the entire length of the train without having to change carriages. The system is becoming more visitor-friendly. (There are helpful stickers on the floor marking out the best selfie spots .) But there’s a price to modernity: it’s phasing out one of its beloved institutions, the escalator attendants. Often they are middle-aged or elderly women—“ escalator grandmas ” in news accounts—who have held the post for decades, sitting in their tiny kiosks, scolding commuters for bad escalator etiquette or even bad posture, or telling jokes . They are slated to be replaced, when at all, by members of the escalator maintenance staff.

For all its achievements, the Metro lags behind Moscow’s above-ground growth, as Russia’s capital sprawls ever outwards, generating some of the world’s worst traffic jams . But since 2011, the Metro has been in the middle of an ambitious and long-overdue enlargement; 60 new stations are opening by 2020. If all goes to plan, the 2011-2020 period will have brought 125 miles of new tracks and over 100 new stations — a 40 percent increase — the fastest and largest expansion phase in any period in the Metro’s history.

Facts: 14 lines Opening hours: 5 a.m-1 a.m. Rush hour(s): 8-10 a.m, 4-8 p.m. Single ride: 55₽ (about 85 cents) Wi-Fi network-wide

Buying Tickets

• Ticket machines have a button to switch to English.
• You can buy specific numbers of rides: 1, 2, 5, 11, 20, or 60. Hold up fingers to show how many rides you want to buy.
• There is also a 90-minute ticket , which gets you 1 trip on the metro plus an unlimited number of transfers on other transport (bus, tram, etc) within 90 minutes.
• Or, you can buy day tickets with unlimited rides: one day (218₽/ US$4), three days (415₽/US$7) or seven days (830₽/US$15). Check the rates here to stay up-to-date.
• If you’re going to be using the Metro regularly over a few days, it’s worth getting a Troika card , a contactless, refillable card you can use on all public transport. Using the Metro is cheaper with one of these: a single ride is 36₽, not 55₽. Buy them and refill them in the Metro stations, and they’re valid for 5 years, so you can keep it for next time. Or, if you have a lot of cash left on it when you leave, you can get it refunded at the Metro Service Centers at Ulitsa 1905 Goda, 25 or at Staraya Basmannaya 20, Building 1.
• You can also buy silicone bracelets and keychains with built-in transport chips that you can use as a Troika card. (A Moscow Metro Fitbit!) So far, you can only get these at the Pushkinskaya metro station Live Helpdesk and souvenir shops in the Mayakovskaya and Trubnaya metro stations. The fare is the same as for the Troika card.
• You can also use Apple Pay and Samsung Pay.

Rules, spoken and unspoken

No smoking, no drinking, no filming, no littering. Photography is allowed, although it used to be banned.

Stand to the right on the escalator. Break this rule and you risk the wrath of the legendary escalator attendants. (No shenanigans on the escalators in general.)

Get out of the way. Find an empty corner to hide in when you get off a train and need to stare at your phone. Watch out getting out of the train in general; when your train doors open, people tend to appear from nowhere or from behind ornate marble columns, walking full-speed.

Always offer your seat to elderly ladies (what are you, a monster?).

An Easy Tour

This is no Metro Marathon ( 199 stations in 20 hours ). It’s an easy tour, taking in most—though not all—of the notable stations, the bulk of it going clockwise along the Circle line, with a couple of short detours. These stations are within minutes of one another, and the whole tour should take about 1-2 hours.

Start at Mayakovskaya Metro station , at the corner of Tverskaya and Garden Ring,  Triumfalnaya Square, Moskva, Russia, 125047.

1. Mayakovskaya.  Named for Russian Futurist Movement poet Vladimir Mayakovsky and an attempt to bring to life the future he imagined in his poems. (The Futurist Movement, natch, was all about a rejecting the past and celebrating all things speed, industry, modern machines, youth, modernity.) The result: an Art Deco masterpiece that won the National Grand Prix for architecture at the New York World’s Fair in 1939. It’s all smooth, rounded shine and light, and gentle arches supported by columns of dark pink marble and stainless aircraft steel. Each of its 34 ceiling niches has a mosaic. During World War II, the station was used as an air-raid shelter and, at one point, a bunker for Stalin. He gave a subdued but rousing speech here in Nov. 6, 1941 as the Nazis bombed the city above.

Take the 3/Green line one station to:

2. Belorusskaya. Opened in 1952, named after the connected Belarussky Rail Terminal, which runs trains between Moscow and Belarus. This is a light marble affair with a white, cake-like ceiling, lined with Belorussian patterns and 12 Florentine ceiling mosaics depicting life in Belarussia when it was built.

Transfer onto the 1/Brown line. Then, one stop (clockwise) t o:

3. Novoslobodskaya.  This station was designed around the stained-glass panels, which were made in Latvia, because Alexey Dushkin, the Soviet starchitect who dreamed it up (and also designed Mayakovskaya station) couldn’t find the glass and craft locally. The stained glass is the same used for Riga’s Cathedral, and the panels feature plants, flowers, members of the Soviet intelligentsia (musician, artist, architect) and geometric shapes.

Go two stops east on the 1/Circle line to:

4. Komsomolskaya. Named after the Komsomol, or the Young Communist League, this might just be peak Stalin Metro style. Underneath the hub for three regional railways, it was intended to be a grand gateway to Moscow and is today its busiest station. It has chandeliers; a yellow ceiling with Baroque embellishments; and in the main hall, a colossal red star overlaid on golden, shimmering tiles. Designer Alexey Shchusev designed it as an homage to the speech Stalin gave at Red Square on Nov. 7, 1941, in which he invoked Russia’s illustrious military leaders as a pep talk to Soviet soldiers through the first catastrophic year of the war.   The station’s eight large mosaics are of the leaders referenced in the speech, such as Alexander Nevsky, a 13th-century prince and military commander who bested German and Swedish invading armies.

One more stop clockwise to Kurskaya station,  and change onto the 3/Blue  line, and go one stop to:

5. Baumanskaya.   Opened in 1944. Named for the Bolshevik Revolutionary Nikolai Bauman , whose monument and namesake district are aboveground here. Though he seemed like a nasty piece of work (he apparently once publicly mocked a woman he had impregnated, who later hung herself), he became a Revolutionary martyr when he was killed in 1905 in a skirmish with a monarchist, who hit him on the head with part of a steel pipe. The station is in Art Deco style with atmospherically dim lighting, and a series of bronze sculptures of soldiers and homefront heroes during the War. At one end, there is a large mosaic portrait of Lenin.

Stay on that train direction one more east to:

6. Elektrozavodskaya. As you may have guessed from the name, this station is the Metro’s tribute to all thing electrical, built in 1944 and named after a nearby lightbulb factory. It has marble bas-relief sculptures of important figures in electrical engineering, and others illustrating the Soviet Union’s war-time struggles at home. The ceiling’s recurring rows of circular lamps give the station’s main tunnel a comforting glow, and a pleasing visual effect.

Double back two stops to Kurskaya station , and change back to the 1/Circle line. Sit tight for six stations to:

7. Kiyevskaya. This was the last station on the Circle line to be built, in 1954, completed under Nikita Khrushchev’ s guidance, as a tribute to his homeland, Ukraine. Its three large station halls feature images celebrating Ukraine’s contributions to the Soviet Union and Russo-Ukrainian unity, depicting musicians, textile-working, soldiers, farmers. (One hall has frescoes, one mosaics, and the third murals.) Shortly after it was completed, Khrushchev condemned the architectural excesses and unnecessary luxury of the Stalin era, which ushered in an epoch of more austere Metro stations. According to the legend at least, he timed the policy in part to ensure no Metro station built after could outshine Kiyevskaya.

Change to the 3/Blue line and go one stop west.

8. Park Pobedy. This is the deepest station on the Metro, with one of the world’s longest escalators, at 413 feet. If you stand still, the escalator ride to the surface takes about three minutes .) Opened in 2003 at Victory Park, the station celebrates two of Russia’s great military victories. Each end has a mural by Georgian artist Zurab Tsereteli, who also designed the “ Good Defeats Evil ” statue at the UN headquarters in New York. One mural depicts the Russian generals’ victory over the French in 1812 and the other, the German surrender of 1945. The latter is particularly striking; equal parts dramatic, triumphant, and gruesome. To the side, Red Army soldiers trample Nazi flags, and if you look closely there’s some blood spatter among the detail. Still, the biggest impressions here are the marble shine of the chessboard floor pattern and the pleasingly geometric effect if you view from one end to the other.

Keep going one more stop west to:

9. Slavyansky Bulvar.  One of the Metro’s youngest stations, it opened in 2008. With far higher ceilings than many other stations—which tend to have covered central tunnels on the platforms—it has an “open-air” feel (or as close to it as you can get, one hundred feet under). It’s an homage to French architect Hector Guimard, he of the Art Nouveau entrances for the Paris M é tro, and that’s precisely what this looks like: A Moscow homage to the Paris M é tro, with an additional forest theme. A Cyrillic twist on Guimard’s Metro-style lettering over the benches, furnished with t rees and branch motifs, including creeping vines as towering lamp-posts.

Stay on the 3/Blue line and double back four stations to:

10. Arbatskaya. Its first iteration, Arbatskaya-Smolenskaya station, was damaged by German bombs in 1941. It was rebuilt in 1953, and designed to double as a bomb shelter in the event of nuclear war, although unusually for stations built in the post-war phase, this one doesn’t have a war theme. It may also be one of the system’s most elegant: Baroque, but toned down a little, with red marble floors and white ceilings with gilded bronze c handeliers.

Jump back on the 3/Blue line  in the same direction and take it one more stop:

11. Ploshchad Revolyutsii (Revolution Square). Opened in 1938, and serving Red Square and the Kremlin . Its renowned central hall has marble columns flanked by 76 bronze statues of Soviet heroes: soldiers, students, farmers, athletes, writers, parents. Some of these statues’ appendages have a yellow sheen from decades of Moscow’s commuters rubbing them for good luck. Among the most popular for a superstitious walk-by rub: the snout of a frontier guard’s dog, a soldier’s gun (where the touch of millions of human hands have tapered the gun barrel into a fine, pointy blade), a baby’s foot, and a woman’s knee. (A brass rooster also sports the telltale gold sheen, though I am told that rubbing the rooster is thought to bring bad luck. )

Now take the escalator up, and get some fresh air.

R&K Insider

Join our newsletter to get exclusives on where our correspondents travel, what they eat, where they stay. Free to sign up.

21 Things to Know Before You Go to Moscow

Featured city guides.