35 years ago this was the place where the Russian-Italian movie “Sunflower” was filmed, with Sophia Loren walking down this escalator. And today it is completely ruined. Can you imagine this? Could Sophia Loren imagine this? Let’s see!
Moscow metro has a large network of branches. Due to this there are also some “ghost-stations”. In this article we will talk about ruins of escalator gallery of metro station “Leninskie gory”.
Nowadays metro station is called “Vorobyevy gory”, it is a popular park for young people, who are riding bikes, roller skates, scooters, or just sitting in the branch talking with friends . It is located not so far from the centre, and from here you can see the biggest orthodox chirch The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.
It is here where we have found this gallery!
History.
In January 1959, on the bridge that connects the Luzhniki and Leninskie Gory metro station “Leninskie Gory” (now “Vorobyevy gory”) was opened .
It was conceived that the station will have two exits in the both parts of the bridge: one – directly to the territory of Luzhniki, and the other – with the help of a nearby escalator long gallery took passengers directly to the top of the Leninskie Gory (Lenin Hills). Works on the construction of escalator gallery-lift began on 25, February, 1959, just after the opening of the metro station, and on 23, July, 1959 they were fully completed. The length of the escalator lift was 90 meters.
In October, 1983, station “Leninskie Gory” was closed for repairs due to some structural defects, and after 5 years also gallery was closed. In December 2002, the station was put into operation again, but escalators after almost 20 years came in complete disrepair. In addition, the gallery is located in a dangerous landslide zone and is unlikely to have ever be restored.
Nowadays metro station is a place where young people are gathering, and drinking vodka\beer. In the evevnings it is a nice place with a unique atmospere. The place is not guarded by anybody, so you can easily come inside.
Several rooms of the escalator are half flooded, so be ready to wear good shoes. Also there is lot of rubbish there, what is quite common for most abandoned places in Russia. You can find some traces of homeless who are living there, though we haven’t seen any of them.
How to reach.
It is located near the metro station “Vorobyevy Gory”. You need to go out from it, go straight under the bridge, then turn right, 2-3 min, and you are there.
On the map.
Hi!
I’ve been there today 🙂
There are containers with people who seemed to maybe guard the place, but I’m not sure so I didn’t get inside even if there are many holes in the fence. I climbed a bit on the side and could take good pictures, there is also a big hole on the fence at the beginning of the stairs on the right side of the station where you can go and see well the inside. Then I didn’t climb till the top in the forest because it was raining and the ground was really slippery.
Anyway thank you for the tips again!
Well, there is no guard, just maybe homeless there. Anyway, thanks for your feedback, we are happy to help!
How and by the way, you could maybe modify a bit the map because the station is what is called “Eskalatornaya Galereya” on the Google Maps a bit more east that the point you used : https://www.google.com/maps/place/Eskalatornaya+galereya/@55.7076331,37.5538097,16z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xed46de4521d1ce58!8m2!3d55.7075615!4d37.5540295?hl=fr
Thank you very much!!! I have updated the map.