Biblioteka Imeni Lenina

Biblioteka Imeni Lenina
Moscow Metro station
General information
LocationTverskoy District
Arbat District
Central Administrative Okrug
Moscow
Russia
Coordinates55°45′04″N 37°36′36″E / 55.7512°N 37.6100°E / 55.7512; 37.6100
Owned byMoskovsky Metropoliten
Line(s)#1 Sokolnicheskaya line Sokolnicheskaya line
Platforms1
Tracks2
ConnectionsBus: 144, м1, м2, м3, м6, м27, н2, н11
Construction
Structure typeShallow single-vault station
Depth12 metres (39 ft)
Platform levels1
ParkingNo
Bicycle facilitiesNo
Other information
Station code011
History
Opened15 May 1935; 89 years ago (15 May 1935)
Previous namesBiblioteka Lenina, Mokhovaya, Rossiyskaya biblioteka
Services
Preceding station Moscow Metro Following station
Kropotkinskaya
towards Potapovo
Sokolnicheskaya line Okhotny Ryad
Chekhovskaya
towards Altufyevo
Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya line
transfer at Borovitskaya
Polyanka
Arbatskaya
towards Kuntsevskaya
Filyovskaya line
transfer at Alexandrovsky Sad
Terminus
Smolenskaya Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line
transfer at Arbatskaya
Ploshchad Revolyutsii
Location
Biblioteka Imeni Lenina is located in Central Moscow
Biblioteka Imeni Lenina
Biblioteka Imeni Lenina
Location within Central Moscow

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.

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.