The Komsomolskaya (Russian: Комсомо́льская) station of the Moscow Metro is the most famous of all those on the Koltsevaya Line and of the whole system, and an icon of Moscow itself, partly due to it being located on Moscow's busiest transport hub, Komsomolskaya Square, which serves three railway terminals: Leningradsky, Yaroslavsky and Kazansky. As such the station's connotation is of a gateway to Moscow and to the rest of Russia, and its theme is of the patriotic history and inspiring future of the nation. It was opened on 30 January, 1952, as part of the second stage of the Ring line. While the first southern segment of the Ring Line were dedicated to the victory over Nazi Germany, the northern segment (Belorusskaya-Koltsevaya to Komsomolskaya) was dedicated to the theme of post-war labour. Komsomolskaya, however, is a clear exception: lead designer Alexey Shchusev designed it as an illustration of a historical speech given by Joseph Stalin November 7, 1941. In this speech, Stalin evoked the memories of Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy and other military leaders of the past, and all these historical figures eventually appeared on the mosaics of Komsomolskaya. Early roots of the station's design can be traced to a 1944 draft by Shchusev executed in pure Petrine baroque, a local adaptation of the 17th century Dutch Golden Age. However, after the end of World War II the drafts of 1944 were discarded and the stations of the Ring Line were completed in the mainstream late stalinist style of the period. Shchusev however, who died in 1949, retained his baroque nonce order. Komsomolskaya remained Shchusev's first and only metro station design. The station was initially planned as a traditional deep pylon type. Later, Shchusev replaced the heavy concrete pylons with narrow octagonal steel columns, riveted with marble tiles, creating the larger open space. After Shchusev's death, the station was completed by Viktor Kokorin, A. Zabolotnaya, V. Varvarin and O. Velikoretsky and Pavel Korin, the creator of the mosaics. Beginning with the large vestibule located among the former of the two train stations, the building features an immense octagonal dome topped by a cupola, and a spire crowned by a large star and imposing full-height portico with stylised Corinthian columns. Inside amid the Baroque-style ornaments, rich torchères and chandelier lights, two escalators descend, one leading to the old 1935 Komsomolskaya-Radialnaya station, and the second to this one. Once on the platform level, the full details of this deep column station built to special design on a monolithic plan become apparent; there is an imposing Baroque ceiling, with accompanying friezes, painted yellow. Supporting the enlarged barrel vault are 68 octagonal columns faced with white marble, and topped with baroque pilasters. The platform is lit up by chandeliers and additional concealed elements in the niches of both the central and platform halls. The theme of the design, the Historical Russian fight for freedom and independence, is expressed in eight large ceiling mosaics by Pavel Korin. Korin said that the inspiration came from Joseph Stalin's speech at the Moscow Parade of 1941, where he inspired the soldiers amid the catastrophic losses in the early period of World War II to remember the historical heroics of their Russian forefathers. The idea to design the art as a mosaic came from the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, where Korin saw that such artforms could last for eternity.