Mayakovskaya is the Moscow Metro station opened in 1938 that is noted for its Art Deco design.
The station opened on 11 September 1938 as part of the second stage of the Moscow Metro. Architect Alexey Dushkin created a deep-level column station whose streamlined forms, polished materials and dramatic lighting expressed an idealised vision of a modern Soviet future. Its name honours the Futurist poet Vladimir Mayakovsky.
Mayakovskaya is often described as Art Deco, although architectural references also place it within pre-war Stalinist architecture. Those labels are not necessarily contradictory: the station combines Art Deco geometry and modern materials with the monumental scale and state symbolism associated with Stalin-era Metro design.
Its best-known feature is a sequence of ceiling mosaics by Alexander Deyneka, originally organised around the theme “24 Hours in the Land of the Soviets.” Stainless-steel columns, pink rhodonite and contrasting marbles add to its distinctive appearance. The other options are also famous Moscow Metro stations, but Mayakovskaya is the canonical answer to this 1938 Art Deco question.