Press release
The Lefortovo History Museum, with the support of Mosmetrostroy, opened the exhibition “Rings of Lefortovo”
To mark the 20th anniversary of the completion of the Third Transport Ring and the opening of traffic through the Lefortovo Tunnel, the Lefortovo History Museum, a branch of the Museum of Moscow, opened the exhibition “Lefortovo Rings” on July 7. The exhibition presents the historical, urban planning, architectural, social and technological features of the city’s ring structure at two levels – the global Moscow level and the local Lefortovo level.
The exhibition “Lefortovo Rings” occupies two halls of the Lefortovo History Museum. The Great Hall introduces visitors to the history of the rings from the Kamer-Kollezhsky Val to the Big Circle Line. In the Small Hall, the library and the designer’s office, as well as a warehouse and archive, have been recreated. Exhibits of the exhibition include maps, lithographs, engravings, photographs, design materials, archaeological finds and models from the collections of the Moscow Metrostroy, the Institute of the General Plan of Moscow, the Shchusev Museum of Architecture, etc.
“Moscow Metrostroy traces its history back to 1931. Over 92 years, our team has built and reconstructed about 200 metro stations, laid more than 600 km of tunnels, and constructed 30 km of road junctions and highways,” said Sergei Zhukov, General Director of Mosmetrostroy JSC, at the opening of the exhibition. – Moscow Metrostroy took an active part in the construction of the Lefortovo automobile tunnel. This tunnel was the last, closing section of the Third Transport Ring and one of the most complex construction projects of its time.”
When laying a tunnel under the Yauza River and Lefortovo Park at a depth of 30 meters, the builders mastered new equipment and new progressive excavation methods. Here, for the first time in Russia, a tunneling shield with a diameter of 14.2 meters was used, and they also used the method of fencing the pit with a 30-meter sheet pile.
“Highly trained specialists, modern equipment and technologies - all this made it possible to complete the work in a timely and high-quality manner,” emphasized Sergei Zhukov.
Mosmetrostroy also built the Lefortovo station of the Big Circle Line of the metro - it opened in 2020, initially as part of the Nekrasovskaya Line, and in February 2023 it was integrated into the Big Circle Line. The Lefortovo station was built using an open pit method in pits 20-27 meters deep.
Interesting facts: the station is located on the site of a former pond. This created certain difficulties for builders. When they were constructing the flume slab, which is essentially the base of the station, it turned out that there was an underground stream in its place.
The second feature is that a two-flight lift was built at the station - now this is a rather rare combination.
The third feature is one lobby instead of the planned two. At the insistence of residents, the project was changed. The station now has only one exit - it is located away from the station itself between Nalichnaya Street and the Sputnik cinema. The second lobby was built only as an emergency exit.
At the exhibition you can see authentic costumes of the first metro builders, from the 1930s to modern examples. Some of them are original, and the other part is artificially aged. In addition, a miniature copy of the Herrenknecht mechanized tunnel boring complex is presented. This shield built transport tunnels from the Lefortovo station to the Aviamotornaya station of the BKL and many others.
You can also see a model of the Lovat TBM for inclined motion - it was first used by Moscow Metrostroy in the construction of escalator tunnels. The model is used as a visual aid for training and advanced training of workers.
Exhibition dates: July 7 – November 26, 2023
Venue: Kryukovskaya street, 23, Lefortovo History Museum
Curators: historian of architecture and urban planning of Moscow Alexander Zmeul, head of the Lefortovo History Museum branch Natalia Smolyaninova.
Photo: https://disk.yandex.ru/d/vzkS_VQPIjJrGg
photo Lefortovo tunnel: https://disk.yandex.ru/d/gmHAjj0fG6dpPw