(Source: http://www.taday.ru/text/2127104.html)

On March 14, 2014 the final section between Belorusskaya and closing Park Kultury stations of the Circular (Koltsevaya) Line marked 60 years since the opening. 

Initially, the ring was not included in the development plan of Moscow Metro, but after commissioning the second metro stage in 1938, it became clear that the load on the interchange nodes would be enormous. It was decided to build Koltsevaya Line in order to solve this problem.

Primarily, in 1938, the Koltsevaya Line was projected to be much farther from the center, but for unloading the Central Interchange, it was decided in 1943 to build it along the current track, which partially repeats the Garden Ring’s outline. The construction of Koltsevaya Line started right after the Great Patriotic War. The line was built over extremely short time. By the beginning of 1949, construction works on Koltsevaya Line were in full swing.

The first section of the line: from Park Kultury to Kurskaya station opened on January 1, 1950. Two years later, on January 30, 1952 was commissioned the second stage: from Kurskaya to Belarusskaya station. The final third section of the Koltsevaya Line between Belarusskaya and Park Kultury stations was put into operation on March 14, 1954. Thus, the ring closed up. All Koltsevaya Line stations are considered as part of the capital's appearance. 

The theme of triumph dominates in the decorations of Belorusskaya, Komsomolskaya, Taganskaya stations and ground pavilions of Oktyabrskaya and Kurskaya stations. These stations represent majestic and grandiose monuments to the people, who won the hardest war ever fought. 

Their style intersects with Stalin's Empire style of Moscow’s seven skyscrapers. Circular Line stations' architects were such great masters as Alexei Shchusev, Alexey Dushkin and Ivan Taranov. 

Koltsevaya has 12 stations and connects 9 lines. All the stations on the line are interchange. Due to the fact that Circular Line covers seven out of the nine Moscow stations, the major portion of the passengers are transit passengers, who use the subway to transfer from one station to another. At the same time Koltsevaya Line is not the busiest one of the Moscow Metro: average daily passenger traffic is just over 550,000 people. 

It would take only half an hour to ride across the whole ring. Koltsevaya Line was one of the first Moscow Metro lines equipped with free Wi-Fi, the press service of the Moscow Metro reports.