Published on: 2026-09-07
Source: Moscow Government – Правительства Москвы –
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An exhibition titled “The Lady with the Puzzle” has opened in the exhibition space of the Moscow Transport Museum at the Northern River Terminal. The project is dedicated to women engineers whose calculations and unconventional solutions form the basis of iconic architectural designs of the metro. Among the engineering achievements are the dismantling of the shield inside the finished tunnel at the “Okruzhnaya” station and the passages between “Okhotny Ryad” and “Teatralnaya” stations.
“On the instructions of Sergey Sobyanin, we continue to develop
the area of the Northern River Terminal and hold exhibition and educational events there. The Moscow Transport Museum, within the framework of the current exhibition about women engineers, presented unique archival drawings here. They will allow viewers to see how engineering solutions for the Moscow Metro were implemented, Maxim Liksutov.
Moscow metro platforms are recognized architectural masterpieces. Their unique engineering solutions, including ceiling niches, columns at deep-level stations, and convenient transfers, were created using paper, pencil, ruler, and deep scientific knowledge.
The exhibition showcases hidden but important work of designers: finding solutions for wall mounting, revealing station vaults beneath the earth’s surface, and choosing supports. As a result of detailed drawings and communication equipment installation, an entire complex of underground structures is formed.
“We are used to admiring the decoration of Moscow Metro stations: stucco, mosaics, and marble. The exhibition ‘Lady with a Task’ offers to get acquainted with another, technical side: to learn about the engineering techniques that serve as a reliable foundation for architectural decoration, about the female designers who throughout the construction find extraordinary solutions to make the designs real structures. It is precisely thanks to them that the Moscow Metro is one of the most beautiful and functional in the world. We paid special attention to Antonina Pirozhkova — an outstanding innovative engineer, author of one of the first textbooks on subway construction in the world, whose calculation methods became a classic in metro design,” said Oksana Bondarenko, director of the Moscow Transport Museum.
Transfers at the Okhotny Ryad and Teatralnaya metro stations
The growth of Moscow required the construction of new metro lines connecting the remote districts of the capital. When building the “Teatralnaya” station in 1937, engineers had to figure out how passengers would transfer to “Okhotny Ryad.” Initially, it was planned to connect the facilities end-to-end, but the route turned out to be too long and inconvenient.
Antonina Pirozhkova proposed an alternative solution: to connect the hall centers with a passage, which halved the distance for passengers. She also planned a descent, a passage under the active tunnel, and a connection to “Teatralnaya” via a footbridge, taking into account the different depths of the stations. Pirozhkova’s solution proved effective. Subsequently, many transfer stations were designed based on her system.
Dismantling of the panel inside the finished tunnel at the “Okruzhnaya” metro station
Metro design often runs parallel to construction, with engineers conducting architectural supervision. In 2015, at “Okruzhnaia,” it was necessary to extract the shield from the completed dead-end tunnel. Constructing a dismantling chamber was impossible. To preserve the machine, designers engineered a special crane.
At the exhibition “The Lady with the Puzzle,” you can also explore other examples of engineering solutions underlying the capital’s metro system. Archival materials are provided by the Moscow Transport Museum, the A.V. Shchusev State Scientific Research Museum of Architecture, the Museum of Moscow, the Mosmetrostroy Museum, and the Metrogiprotrans Archive.
The exhibition operates daily from 08:00 to 20:00 in the waiting hall of the Northern River Terminal, admission is free.
The Moscow Transport Museum is an open urban space and a research center. Its collections include more than 350 cars, buses, trolleybuses, municipal service vehicles, bicycles, and motorcycles. The exhibits can be seen in exhibitions about the capital’s transport infrastructure.
To find out how the capital has changed over the past years, what initiatives aimed at making residents’ lives even more comfortable are currently being implemented, and what awaits Moscow and its inhabitants in the near future, one can see in the large-scale special project on the mos.ru portal dedicated to the development of key areas of the city. Among them are transport, industry, healthcare, education, sports, and construction sectors.
Project “Transport” will be of interest to everyone who wants to learn about the main stages of development in this field, support for electric transport, and the expansion of the route network.
In recent years, Moscow’s public transport has become more comfortable and environmentally friendly, travel time within the city has significantly decreased, and infrastructure for private electric vehicles has appeared.
Quickly learn the main news on the official channels of the city of Moscow in messengers “Max” and “Telegram”.
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