Canadian photographer David Burdeny spent an entire year trying to get permission to photograph the gorgeous Moscow subway, because he wanted to be there between midnight and 6AM, when the trains aren't running and the halls are empty. When it finally happened, he got some truly sublime images.
Launched in 1935, also as a form of Communist propaganda — photos of Stalin were hung inside the stations, which were brightly lit environments that people looked up to, just as they metaphorically looked up to Stalin above ground — today some 9 million Russian people go through the Metro’s 200 stations each day. It’s already among the busiest systems in Europe, but it’s still expanding and aims to be the world’s largest by 2020. David is the only photographer to ever shoot it while it was empty.
Shown here is the Arbatskaya Metro Station. See all the images in Burdeny's gallery. -via Nag on the Lake