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Novoslobodskaya photo 1
Subway station

Novoslobodskaya

Metro hall lit by thirty-two glowing stained-glass panels made from repurposed cathedral glass.

0:00≈ 2 min

Location

0:00≈ 2 min

About this audio guide

This guide to Novoslobodskaya metro station in Moscow follows architect Alexey Dushkin's 1952 gamble on glowing stained glass inside a Soviet subway hall, an idea that started even stranger with glass laced with uranium. It traces the panels to Latvian craftsmen in Riga who built them from glass originally set aside for a cathedral's windows, and to artist Pavel Korin's mosaic of a mother and child at the hall's far end. Listen for whose face is said to be hidden in that mosaic, and for what once hung nearby before it was quietly chiseled away.

This audio guide was created using AI.

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