For several months last year, Canadian photographer David Burdeny toured around the Russian cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg, snapping photos of the most beautiful and ornate train stations he found.
And he found a lot.
The metro stations were all built in the early- to mid-20th century, mostly as propagandist odes to Russian dictator Joseph Stalin.
As Burdeny tells Tech Insider, these stations are beloved by the people who travel through them.
We can see why.
Many of Burdeny's shots, like this one at Belorusskaya Station (built in 1938 in Moscow) are lit in a way that's meant to represent how the station would've looked when first built: immaculate symbols of beauty in the midst of Stalin's dark reign.
To shoot in each location, Burdeny had to obtain the proper permits. He says he spent about $10,000 in total. All but two of the shots come from Moscow. Sportivnaya Station, pictured here, opened in 1957 in St Petersburg.
The other St. Petersburg station is Avtovo Metro Station. Burdeny says it's among his favorites. "They're very Russian in a way," he says of the collection, emphasizing the heavy use of art deco and constructivism, typically to honor Stalin.
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