According to eyewitnesses, the entire underground in the center of Moscow is dug by underground labyrinths, which for many centuries were built by human hands. There are government bunkers and defense workshops, as well as the headquarters of the special services … Irina Shlionskaya, journalist, publicist and author of the book "Secrets and Mysteries of Moscow", tells about the mysterious Metro-2 labyrinth and similar myths about the underground capital.
Even under Ivan the Terrible, a huge number of underground passages were dug from the Kremlin to the Zemlyanoy Val and to the forest thicket, in the place of which Myasnitskaya Street and Red Gate are now located. This dungeon came in handy: the subjects displeased to the tsar, who for whatever reason could not be executed publicly, were killed and walled up in the walls of these "underground rooms".
They say that one of the exits of this creepy labyrinth was in the basement of a house at the corner of Vosstaniya Square and Bolshaya Nikitskaya. And already in later times, according to eyewitnesses, new underground branches appeared there, which led under the Menshikov tower, the building of the Secret Chancellery and to the house of Prince Pozharsky.
And already in the years of Soviet power, this clear system of underground passages already covered the whole of Moscow. This system was in charge of a specially created Bunker Directorate under the KGB. Secret tunnels led to the Mausoleum from the Kremlin, from there to the Main Building of Moscow State University, located on Vorobyovy Gory, the Bolshoi Theater, to various metro stations, to airports and other important objects. The tunnels were laid both on Solyanka and under Vernadsky Avenue, the same underground road led from the Spassky Gate directly to Sokolniki …
During the Cold War, when the then Soviet leaders were very much afraid of the use of nuclear weapons by the enemy in the person of America, a secret facility was built called "Tagansky", ZKP - GO-42 or the Protected Command Post "Tagansky".
Promotional video:
The design of the object began in the early 1940s, and it was ready for commissioning in 1956. With a total area of almost 7,000 square meters, this facility, whose tunnels went down to a great depth, had bunkers, into which people had to descend in case of danger. It is clear that we are talking about not quite ordinary mortals, more specifically, only about representatives of the authorities …
When in the 60s the threat of an incipient nuclear war became very real, GO-42 or ZKP "Tagansky" fully provided everything necessary in the event of an atomic explosion. The reserves of food, fuel, drinking water available there, as well as the ways of its supply, systems of purification and regeneration of air, were able to support the life of the inhabitants of the underground for many months.
This huge complex was connected by two tunnels at once with the "Taganskaya-ring" metro station. The first tunnel with an entrance located on the tracks between Taganskaya and Kurskaya metro stations ensured uninterrupted supply of bunkers. The second is a passage through the technical premises through the Taganskaya station. The bunker housed the Central Telegraph, the Headquarters of Long-Range Aviation, and a geodetic laboratory. radio station and many other institutions.
With the beginning of perestroika, such a need for such an outpost, located in the very center of Moscow, disappeared. And in 1995 ZKP "Tagansky" was already declassified. And already in 2006 it was purchased by a private company at an auction, which began its restoration work. Now the ZKP "Tagansky" is a museum of the history of the Cold War.
Now the dungeon can be accessed through the building's elevator shaft. However, this path is blocked for some reason by locked doors, which are half a meter thick. The mine itself is covered with a reinforced concrete dome, the thickness of which is 6 m. The dome is disguised in the building of an old house in the 5th Kotelnichesky lane … 310 steps lead to the land. Downstairs there are 18 underground floors …
Visitors wishing to explore the museum are offered guided tours of these secret tunnels, where they could get acquainted with both weapons of various years, and with the communications equipment of the Armed Forces, mainly of the Soviet era. For example, there are chemical protection suits, a Geiger counter used for measuring radiation, gas masks, Soviet radio stations and propaganda posters … The museum also has its own "highlight": each of those who visit it receives a bright red crust as a souvenir - a pass from the Soviet Ministry of Defense, where his name fits in, and instead of a photograph - a picture in a gas mask of an unknown …
Near one of the famous metropolitan monuments, in the very center, at the bottom of the pool near the fountain, there is a hatch with which you can descend into the legendary Metro-2 system, parallel to the Moscow metro lines. You can get into this secret dungeon through sewer wells, and even through ordinary metro tunnels. Those who managed to visit there talk about some kind of locked doors, sometimes guarded, about metro lines that are not present on the diagram, but are active.
However, the official structures do not recognize the existence of secret tunnels and stations in the metro, although they do not deny it. As the press secretary of the Moscow metro Svetlana Tsareva said: “Metrostroy is in charge of the entire metro infrastructure, and therefore all questions related to this should be asked to them. Although, of course, for such a responsible matter, not even Metrostroy is responsible, but rather the country's special services."
Most likely, the issue of "Metro-2" remains unknown, as well as many other issues related to the capital's underground structures.
In the meantime, everything is at the level of "sensations", legends and rumors.