Chistye Prudy (Russian:Чистые пруды, English:Clean Ponds) is aMoscow Metro station in theBasmanny District,Central Administrative Okrug,Moscow. It is on theSokolnicheskaya Line, betweenLubyanka andKrasnye Vorota stations. Chistye Prudy was opened on 15 May 1935 as a part of the first segment of the Metro. The station lies beneathMyasnitskaya Street, close toTurgenevskaya Square and theClean Ponds, after which the station was named. It was the deepeststation inMoscow Metro from 1935 until 1938.
Though planned to be a three-vaulted station with a full-length central hall (similar toKrasnye Vorota andOkhotny Ryad), Chistye Prudy was built instead according to aLondon Underground type design with two passages at either end of the station connecting the platforms. The outer platform vaults were finished to give the impression that a central hall did in fact exist, with what appeared to be a row of darkmarblepylons. However, all of the archways except those at either end of the platform were barricaded. The architect of the initial station wasNikolai Kolli who worked withLe Corbusier on the nearbyTsentrosoyuz building.
DuringWorld War II the station was closed and its platforms were fenced off withplywood for use as the headquarters of the Joint Staff andPVO Air Defence. All trains bypassed this station.Chistye Prudy's central hall was built in 1971 so that the station could become a transfer point to theKaluzhsko-Rizhskaya Line. The architects for this project were N. Shukhareva, L. Popov, and A. Fokina. The new portion of the station was finished to resemble the original sections as closely as possible, maintaining its original character. Escalators were built in the centre of the platform to connect to Turgenevskaya.
Chistye Prudy is finished with dark greyUfalei and whiteKoelga marble, with a darkgranite platform. In 1989 the station's outer walls were refinished with marble rather than ceramic tile to approximate the original design even more closely.
The station was namedKirovskaya from its opening until 1990, and there is still abronze bust ofSergey Kirov at the end of the platform. In 1992 it was briefly calledMyasnitskaya, but renamed a few days later into its current name.
The station retains its original entrance, a glazed art deco pavilion, situated at start of the Chistoprudny boulevard with entrances from both sides: to the ponds on the boulevard and towards the Myasnitskiye Vorota square.
The pavilion links up to the subterranean vestibule and ticket hall. During the reconstruction in 1971, a subway was built directly linking the underground space with the new network of entrances for theTurgenevskaya station, which makes it possible to walk from one station vestibule to the other without descending into the platform halls.
The original 3 N-type escalators were replaced in 1995 by ET-3M models (30 metres high {98 ft}), during which the pavilion and vestibule underwent renovation.
The station's transfer toTurgenevskaya of theKaluzhsko-Rizhskaya Line is done via a tunnel that begins underneath Chisye Prudy's platform. Access to which is gained by two sets of two 9.4 metre (30 ft) high LT-5 escalators (northern - ascent, southern - descent), opened 5 January 1972. Transfer to theSretensky Bulvar station of theLyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya Line, opened on 13 January 2008, is accomplished by 3 E-25T escalators (23.8 metre high {78 ft}) which begin at the northern end of the central hall and descend into the newer station.
The name "Chistye Prudy" also refers to the neighborhood surrounding the Metro station. This area is sometimes called Chistye Prudy orPokrovka (referring to the street by the same name). In the 16th century, Pokrovskye Vorota (Pokrov Gates) stood at the current intersection ofPokrovka Street andChistoprudny Boulevard.
The Chistye Prudy neighborhood is famous for the beautiful Chistoprudny Boulevard and the pond after which the area is called—Chisty Prud (Clean Pond). In medieval times, several ponds stood on the location of the current single pond. They were used as refuse dumps and were fittingly called Griyaznye Prudy (Dirty Ponds). UnderPeter the Great's reign, his friend and advisorMenshikov dredged the ponds, unified them into one pond and renamed them Chistye Prudy (Clean Ponds).
There is the only tram line in Moscow Center near there. Namely, route 39 tram starts from Chistye Prudy station's area and allows to ride near several landmarks of Moscow's city centre in one go.
 Sokolnicheskaya line |
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 Zamoskvoretskaya line | |||||
 Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line |
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 Filyovskaya line |
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 Koltsevaya line | |||||
 Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya line |
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 Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya line | |||||
| Kalininsko-Solntsevskaya line |
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 Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya line |
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 Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya line |
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 Bolshaya Koltsevaya line |
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 Butovskaya line | |||||
 Moscow Monorail | |||||
 Moscow Central Circle |
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 Nekrasovskaya line | |||||
 Troitskaya line | |||||
 Rublyovo-Arkhangelskaya line | |||||
 Biryulyovskaya line | |||||
 19 line | |||||
