Sergey Kaluzhsky: every badge is valuable

In our organization, since the construction of the first stage of the metro, there has been a beautiful tradition of releasing launch badges for the opening of new stations. Badges are produced in limited editions, issued to workers involved in the construction of a particular station, and are not available for sale. Every metro builder has at least one commemorative badge, and some have entire collections. For Sergei Kaluzhsky, contract manager of Mosmetrostroy JSC, collecting launch badges has become one of his favorite hobbies.

Along with his new job in the Moscow Metrostroy, Sergei Kaluzhsky discovered an unusual area of ​​hobbies - collecting launcher badges.

Today his collection adorns his office in the Office on Tsvetnoy Boulevard. The tapestry with the metro map, donated by the general director of Mosmetrostroy JSC Sergei Zhukov, has over 300 icons.

“In 2005, I joined the company; two years later Trubnaya was launched on the Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya line,” he said in a conversation with a Metrostroyevets correspondent. – Then there was “Sretensky Boulevard”... The collection began with them, to which new badges and old samples were added.

Among the earliest: “Kropotkinskaya”, Zhdanovsky radius, badges in honor of the launches of the first three stages. The latter, by the way, are copies. There are very few such award badges, and getting them is special luck! But in the museum of Mosmetrostroy JSC, located in the management building, there are originals.

– I’m proud of all the badges. There is no one who could single him out,” admitted Sergei Kaluzhsky.

The most fruitful year in his collection was the year of the organization’s 85th anniversary. Then the company released a fairly large collection. In 2016, the launch of three stations on the Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya line - Butyrskaya, Fonvizinskaya and Petrovsko-Razumovskaya - took place.

Collectors have a tradition of exchanging pins. Sergei Kaluzhsky notes: more often he gives new samples than he receives.

“I once exchanged a very rare badge for ten that I didn’t have in my collection,” he admitted. – But a sample appeared dedicated to the launch of the Gorkovskaya station (now Tverskaya). She is gone now, but the memory remains, cast in metal.

The collection also includes documents telling about the construction and commissioning of the stations. Aviamotornaya and Lefortovo are the most recent examples. Sergei Kaluzhsky was directly involved in the launch of these stations. Ahead is Sokolniki, which is scheduled for delivery this year.

Sergei Kaluzhsky is today one of the top ten Russian collectors of launcher badges. He is sure that other examples will appear on his diagram ahead, symbolizing another round of development both for the company creating the stations and for the subway itself, on the map of which new points of attraction will appear.

– The collection of badges itself brings us closer to the history of Mosmetrostroy. Some of the exhibits are presented in our museum, and it’s great that everyone can see them, and therefore learn more about how the metro appeared in Moscow,” he concluded. – We, collectors, as keepers of history, will continue the chronicle of the company!