Market Friday. Let's pay $1 and go down to the metro

Greetings, friends, today I propose to go on an unusual excursion: for just one dollar we can take a close and detailed look at one of the stations of the St. Petersburg metro. I have chosen the "International" ("Mezhdunarodnaya") metro station. It is one of the relatively new stations, it was opened in 2012.

In fact, if it were not in the pages of my blog, but in reality, we could see as many stations as we were able to. A metro ticket doesn't limit us by distance or time. We could enter the metro at 5:30 in the morning, ride the trains and view the stations all day, and return to the surface after midnight, when the underground workday is over. True, there is a chance that such a long excursion would have attracted the attention of transport security officers and we would have had to take a short break to explain ourselves.

Out of curiosity, I looked up online how much a metro ticket costs in other countries when I was preparing this story. It turned out that in my city, it wasn't as expensive as I'd previously thought. But if you compare it to the cost of travel in other Russian cities, we come out on top. Even in Moscow, it is cheaper, even though Moscow is the capital and the metro system there is much longer and the number of stations is much greater. The high price has a justification. St. Petersburg is built in the delta of the Neva River, on unreliable, in some places swampy soils. Underground tunnels have to be built at great depth, and this is very difficult and costly.

Unfortunately for the city's residents, the high cost of laying new lines and constructing new stations means the underground is slow to build. And the opening of new stations is always a great celebration for the inhabitants of the neighbourhood: after the opening of the metro, they will be able to get to other parts of the city much faster.

The International metro station was opened in 2012 in an area that was already densely populated at the time. One of my acquaintances lives near that station, and he regularly read the news from the construction sites and dreamed of the moment when the new station would start operating. The station is one of the stations on the new metro line, the line runs roughly midway between two older lines and has greatly alleviated the transport suffering of the inhabitants of the densely populated area.

Some authors think International station is the most beautiful among new stations of St. Petersburg metro (stations built in "Stalin Empire" style stand apart in this rating, and nobody contests their primacy - first Leningrad metro stations were built as underground palaces). I'm not sure if that's fair - the other stations are very beautiful, too. I'd probably put Sportivnaya in first place and Admiralteyskaya in second... though I'd have to think and look again before making that comparison:)

When you go down the escalator to the station, it doesn't make a strong impression at first. In order to appreciate the view of this station from the best possible angle, you have to walk to the opposite end of the concourse. On the way you will think you can climb up the steps and turn left to another exit or to the transition to the adjacent station, but you will be disappointed: the steps end in a blind wall. But you'll get a wonderful surprise if you turn around and look back: the best view of the station is from this point.

I suggest we also pay attention to the details. You can take a closer look at the mosaic: Atlantean holds the globe on his shoulders. This work is made of smalt and was created by Alexander Bystrov. Marble and granite were used to decorate the walls and floor of the underground hall. The design details reveal the general idea, even the ventilation grilles are in the same style.

This is my entry for the #marketfriday challenge by @dswigle.