Kiyevsky Rail Terminal

Kievsky Station on the Moskva River is one of Moscow's nine terminal stations and the endpoint of trains heading southwest - originally to Kiev, which gave the station its name in 1934. It was built between 1914 and 1918 in the chaos of the First World War; the architect Ivan Rerberg combined neoclassical facades with a monumental steel train shed by engineer Vladimir Shukhov, whose unsupported span still draws engineering admiration. The clock tower on the head wall is one of the defining silhouettes of Europe Square. Today Kievskaya metro station adjoins it directly, with mosaics glorifying Soviet-Ukrainian friendship. Commuters rush through, but anyone who pauses stands beneath one of the most elegant station halls in Europe.