Enough opulence: Take in the aesthetic architecture of Moscow’s metro

It is sometimes hard to tell whether the Moscow subway is a means of transportation or a museum of Soviet architecture.

The opulence of the Moscow metro interior, Lenin monuments, the numerous Soviet symbols and intricate decorations impress tourists.

Why is the Moscow Metro special? The Moscow Metropolitan is one of the busiest subways in the world. In 2014 it got 2.4 billion people to where they needed to go; there have been more than 145 billion rides on the capital’s metro over the last 80 years.

The Moscow Metropolitan is the world record-holder for on-time departures and arrivals. According to the Moscow transport department, its accuracy equals 99.99 percent. This is quite impressive considering that the interval between trains during rush hour is only 90 seconds.

The Moscow subway is called the most beautiful in the world – 44 of 200 stations are listed as cultural heritage sites.

Hungarian photographer Szabolcs Vörös tells a photographic story, that can be called "How I Was Impressed by the Moscow Metro.”

“For some reason, out of many attractions of the city, the Moscow Metro turned out to be the best topic and the readers' reactions made it clear that I am not alone with this sentiment."

"Probably, it is because in Hungary one cannot imagine that the socialist/communist architecture could be aesthetic because we seldom see it."

Having seen however, stations like Elektrozavodskaya (pictured), Komsomolskaya, and especially Mayakovskaya...

... as well as contemporary masterpieces like Park Pobedy (pictured) or Slavyansky Bulvar - even people with the most extreme bias could make a U-turn. I did."