Yaroslavsky Railway Station

Yaroslavsky Railway Station on Komsomolskaya Square is the busiest of Moscow’s ten terminals by passenger traffic and one of the most recognizable works of architect Fyodor Shekhtel. It is the starting point of the Trans-Siberian Railway: the “zero kilometer” mark is set between platforms three and four, and the world’s longest passenger routes head east from here — all the way to Vladivostok. The Neo-Russian style building also serves as the terminus for trains to Arkhangelsk and Vorkuta.

The first station on this site was built in 1862 to a design by Roman Kuzmin for a short 64-verst line to Sergiyev Posad, easing the journey for pilgrims to the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius; the station was consecrated by Metropolitan Filaret, who had initially doubted the usefulness of railways. After the line was extended to Yaroslavl in 1870, the station received its current name. By the end of the century the building could no longer cope with passenger traffic, and after a train collided with a wall in 1897, reconstruction became urgent. A rebuilding begun by Lev Kekushev was interrupted by a change of railway management, and a new design was carried out in 1902–1904 by Fyodor Shekhtel, using reinforced concrete and metal.

Shekhtel created an asymmetrical façade with three towers of different heights: the left one recalls the Kremlin towers, the central one is marked by a massive arch on heavy columns, and the right one is crowned with a tented roof. A ceramic frieze in turquoise-green tones runs along the façade, made to the architect’s own designs at Savva Mamontov’s Abramtsevo workshop, while the walls are decorated with machicolations and a bas-relief depicting the peoples and animals of the north. The coats of arms of Moscow, Arkhangelsk, and Yaroslavl are placed above the entrance. The concept was partly inspired by Konstantin Korovin’s “Russian North” pavilion at the 1896 exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod, whose canvases later adorned the station’s interiors.

In 1918, architect Alexei Shchusev proposed uniting the Yaroslavsky and the neighboring Nikolayevsky stations under a single train shed, but the project was never realized. In 1922 the station was renamed Severny (Northern), likely to avoid associations with the Yaroslavl Uprising, although the old name persisted on maps for a long time. On 20 June 1929, the country’s first suburban electric train departed from here for Mytishchi. The historic name was restored in 1955, and Shekhtel’s interiors were reworked by architect Alexei Dushkin and sculptor Ivan Yefimov, who added reliefs on fishing and hunting themes.

Reconstructions in the 1960s and in 1995 increased capacity, and work carried out in 2005 to a design by Timur Bashkayev’s bureau enlarged the waiting halls and restored pre-revolutionary details to the decor. In 2015 the platform welcomed the “Eurasian Friendship Train,” after which the station became twinned with Seoul Station, and the Central Bank issued a commemorative coin bearing its image. In 2024, marking the anniversary of the Baikal-Amur Mainline, a ceiling mural by Dmitry Aske was added to the waiting hall.

Today Yaroslavsky Railway Station remains a working monument of Art Nouveau and Moscow’s gateway to the north and east of the country. The combination of a fairy-tale tower appearance with its role as the starting point of the Trans-Siberian Railway makes it one of the most symbolic buildings on the map of Russia’s railways.