Written by Philipp Zbirun
This summer I had an opportunity to visit my homeland of Moscow, Russia. I have been living in Portland, Oregon for 6 years now and it seems to me like enough time to get used to living in a smaller city, compared to Moscow. While visiting Moscow I was surrounded by much bigger architecture which I couldn’t stop paying attention to. To begin with, I would like to mention the Moscow underground metro. Every day I was a visitor of this very beautiful chain of stations which provided a great way to move through the city. I was born in Moscow, and I was very used to it, but going back now it was different. It was interesting to look around and look at the details and materials. One of my favorite stations is Mayakovskaya. The station has a name of a great Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovsky. I love this station because it always has soft golden light that works perfectly with polished marble which is used in a beautiful mosaic on the floor and metal arcs that form support columns. This station is a perfect example of pre-World War II Stalinist Architecture and one of the most famous Metro stations in the world.
After that, I would like to mention one building that I saw every day from the window of the apartment where I was staying. For me, this building would come to life in the evening because of the light that illuminated it. Also, even from afar, this building would have an impact on me because of its size but until this trip, I didn’t take in the beauty of it. Even though this building was built somewhat recently, it is a tribute to the epoch of Soviet architecture. This elite apartment building was built in 2006. After a year of construction, it was the biggest apartment building in Europe. This building has a whole infrastructure within it. There is a store, gym, medical center, parking, and even a garden. As I mentioned in the beginning, it is very eye-catching; I was always looking at this building because of its size and shape.
If you ever have the opportunity to visit Moscow, I would recommend it. Going back now as an adult, I appreciated the architecture and its distinct style; it is a beautiful city.
