mikitacurve comments on Why did the USSR build such grandiose designs and ornate decorations in the Moscow Metro stations as opposed to the usual bland brutalism of Soviet architecture?
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Why did the USSR build such grandiose designs and ornate decorations in the Moscow Metro stations as opposed to the usual bland brutalism of Soviet architecture?Why did the USSR build such grandiose designs and ornate decorations in the Moscow Metro stations as opposed to the usual bland brutalism of Soviet architecture? (self.AskHistorians)
[–]mikitacurve 1937 0 Answer Link1936 points 1937 points 1938 points 2 months ago* 2 10 5 11 5& 21 more (97 children)
First of all, I completely understand where the idea of "bland brutalism" comes from, as well as the idea that the Metro's beauty is entirely separate from that bland brutalism. However, that distinction is not exactly accurate. Stalin was not at all a fan of blandness or Brutalism — his opposition to the former is a large part of the answer, so stay tuned, and he couldn't have been a fan of Brutalism because it didn't exist. But the Metro is not the only piece of architecture that rejects simplicity or blandness in Moscow from Stalin's lifetime. In fact, Stalin is most associated with "Stalinist Classicism", which is very ornate, so it wasn't just restricted to the Metro. Example: MGU, Moscow State University. Commonly cited as the pinnacle of the style, but built from 1949 to 1953, a little after the critical period I will discuss below. I did not study there myself, sadly.
I still have a lot to learn about Khrushchev's and Brezhnev's visions for Moscow, for socialist architecture, and for the Metro, so I will focus on Stalin in this answer, but for now I will say this: Stalin, Khrushchev and Brezhnev (or rather the Soviet state and culture during their tenures as First/General Secretary, because I'm a good post-post-revisionist) envisioned their construction of housing and of the Metro as part of the same ideological project to bring comfort and beauty into the lives of Soviet citizens. The difference is that Khrushchev and Brezhnev focused much more on the utilitarian side of that mission than Stalin. So their Metro station designs see a lot of simplification compared to Stalinist Metro stations just like their residential architecture sees compared to Stalinist residences. Nothing that any of those three built was ever supposed to be bland, or purely functional, though.
