Avtovo

Opened in the mid-1950s, this Saint Petersburg Metro station is often ranked among the most beautiful in the world for its columns clad in cut and moulded glass that catches and scatters the light like crystal. Designed to celebrate the city's wartime defence during the siege of Leningrad, its white marble hall ends in a mosaic of a mother and child symbolising victory. Some columns were finished in marble when the difficult glass technique proved impractical.