Biblioteka Imeni Lenina

Biblioteka Imeni Lenina (Russian: Библиоте́ка и́мени Ле́нина, lit. 'Lenin's Library') is a station on the Sokolnicheskaya Line of the Moscow Metro. The station was opened on 15 May 1935 as a part of the first stage of the Metro. It is situated in the very centre of the city under Mokhovaya Street, and is named for the nearby Russian State Library (named the Lenin Library from 1925 until 1992). Its architects were A. I. Gontskevich and S. Sulin.

Biblioteka Imeni Lenina
Moscow Metro station
General information
Location	Tverskoy District Arbat District Central Administrative Okrug Moscow Russia
Coordinates	55.7512°N 37.6100°E / 55.7512; 37.6100
Owned by	Moskovsky Metropoliten
Line(s)	Sokolnicheskaya line
Platforms	1
Tracks	2
Connections	Bus: 144, м1, м2, м3, м6, м27, н2, н11
Construction
Structure type	Shallow single-vault station
Depth	12 metres (39 ft)
Platform levels	1
Parking	No
Bicycle facilities	No
Other information
Station code	011
History
Opened	15 May 1935 (15 May 1935)
Previous names	Biblioteka Lenina, Mokhovaya, Rossiyskaya biblioteka
Services
Preceding station Moscow Metro Following station Kropotkinskaya towards Potapovo Sokolnicheskaya line Okhotny Ryad towards Bulvar Rokossovskogo Chekhovskaya towards Altufyevo Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya line transfer at Borovitskaya Polyanka towards Bulvar Dmitriya Donskogo Arbatskaya towards Kuntsevskaya Filyovskaya line transfer at Alexandrovsky Sad Terminus Smolenskaya towards Pyatnitskoye Shosse Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line transfer at Arbatskaya Ploshchad Revolyutsii towards Shchyolkovskaya
Route map Bulvar Rokossovskogo Cherkizovo yard Cherkizovskaya Preobrazhenskaya Ploshchad Preobrazhensky Bridge  Yauza River Sokolniki Krasnoselskaya Severnoye yard Komsomolskaya Krasnye Vorota Chistye Prudy Lubyanka Okhotny Ryad () Biblioteka Imeni Lenina Kropotkinskaya () Park Kultury Frunzenskaya () Sportivnaya Luzhniki Metro Bridge Vorobyovy Gory Moskva River Universitet Prospekt Vernadskogo Yugo-Zapadnaya Troparyovo Rumyantsevo Salaryevo Solntsevo–Butovo–Warsaw Highway Filatov Lug Prokshino Olkhovaya Novomoskovskaya () Stolbovo yard Potapovo
Location Biblioteka Imeni Lenina Location within Central Moscow

To prevent the disruption of traffic, Biblioteka Imeni Lenina was built using underground excavation rather than cut and cover even though the station ceiling is just two metres (6.5 ft) below ground level. Soil conditions and the narrowness of the space in which the station was to be built necessitated a single-vault design, the only one on the first Metro line. The entire excavation was only 19.8 metres (65 ft) wide and 11.7 metres (38 ft) high. The main station vault was built from rubble stone set in concrete and reinforced with an iron framework. This was lined with an "umbrella" of bitumen-coated paper to prevent groundwater from seeping into the station. The station was finished with plaster, yellow ceramic tile, and marble.

The station originally had two entrance vestibules, one at either end. The southern vestibule, located between the old and new buildings of the State Library, is shared with Borovitskaya. The temporary northern vestibule, which served Biblioteka Imeni Lenina and Aleksandrovsky Sad, was removed in the 1940s.

Transfers

From this station it is possible to transfer to Arbatskaya on the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line, Aleksandrovsky Sad on the Filyovskaya Line, and Borovitskaya on the Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya Line.

Though Biblioteka Imeni Lenina and Aleksandrovsky Sad (then called Komintern) were built concurrently, they were not connected by transfer passages until 1938, when Aleksandrovsky Sad became part of the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line. Before this the line from Aleksandrovsky Sad to Kievskaya operated as a branch of the Sokolnicheskaya Line.

External links

• Description of the station on Metro.ru (in Russian)
• Description of the station on Mymetro.ru (in Russian)
• Description of the station on Metro.molot.ru (in Russian)
• KartaMetro.info — Station location and exits on Moscow map (in English and Russian)