The Dog’s Nose at Ploshchad Revolyutsii: Why It Shines

The bronze dog's nose at Ploshchad Revolyutsii station has been worn down by passengers touching it. The Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO links the wear to a belief that touching it brings good luck in exams, while a city magazine urges people not to touch the sculpture. The shiny nose is a trace of this habit; the figure itself forms part of Matvey Manizer's sculptural ensemble, installed in December 1937.

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Where can you find the border guard's dog?

The sculpture ‘Border Guard with a Dog’ at Ploshchad Revolyutsii station stands in the passenger hall on the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line. The figures occupy the arched passageways between the central hall and the platforms. The uniformed man with his dog is easy to recognise by the animal's shiny nose.

The sculpture appears four times in the hall: The Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO reports that 18 of the 20 sculptural subjects appear four times each in the hall. Historical and cultural expert assessment report places the border guard in the fourth archway beside a young woman wearing a ‘Voroshilov Sharpshooter’ badge.

Who created this sculpture, and why does it include a dog?

In Matvey Manizer's sculpture, the dog helps identify the man as a border guard: the composition belongs to the section devoted to national defence within a series created for the station, which opened on 13 March 1938. The bronze statues were made by a team at the Leningrad Art Casting Workshop under his direction. The Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO states that the figures were installed in December 1937, before the station opened. The ensemble follows a sequence from the events of 1917 to 1937: the border guard with his dog and other figures representing national defence are followed by figures representing work and education.

To fit the archways, the figures had to be shown sitting, bending over or kneeling on one knee: the shape of the openings limited their poses. The dog that served as the model has not been identified: a city magazine offers two possibilities — Indus, the dog of border guard Nikita Karatsupa, and Irma, the shepherd dog owned by architect Alexey Dushkin. A publication by the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO identifies Irma as the model, citing a recollection by Dushkin's grandson. The 2025 edition leaves the precise answer open and notes that the stories of only six models for the twenty sculptural subjects are known. Both accounts of the dog should be read with this qualification in mind.

In 1941, the bronze figures were taken to Central Asia for safekeeping during the war. They were returned to the station in 1944; some sculptures were damaged during the evacuation, and the repeated compositions helped with their restoration. This history concerns the entire ensemble. The publication by the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO attributes the polished nose to the many passengers who have touched it.

Why does the nose shine, and what difference does it make?

According to a local superstition, touching the dog's nose at Ploshchad Revolyutsii brings good luck in your studies. The Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO described the superstition on 1 November 2020; the publication does not say when it originated. The historical and cultural assessment report assigns the border guard to the theme of national defence; it makes no mention of exams.

The shine is the visible result of repeated contact with the bronze. The publication dated 1 November 2020 states that frequent touching has noticeably worn down the sculpted detail of the muzzle. The polished nose shows how frequent touching changes the sculpture's surface.

The entry for Alexander Spiridonov's photograph dates it to 29 January 2016 and gives its title as ‘The Worn Dog’. The photograph records the figure's condition on that date; it cannot reveal the original sculpted detail of the bronze as it was in 1938.

How can you examine this detail with care?

You can examine the marks left by touching the dog's nose at Ploshchad Revolyutsii station without touching the bronze yourself. Compare the shiny nose with the surrounding areas of the muzzle, then look at the sculpture as a whole: the animal is shown beside the border guard as a partner on duty. The city magazine reminds readers that they must not rub the sculpture's nose for luck.

Looking at the neighbouring sculptures helps reveal the composition's original meaning. The border guard with his dog and the young woman wearing a ‘Voroshilov Sharpshooter’ badge share an archway, according to the historical and cultural assessment report; The Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO assigns both figures to the theme of national defence. In this way, Manizer included the border service in a chronological narrative about the people of the early Soviet decades.

You can see the sculpture in the context of other stations on the Underground Palaces tour: the route includes Ploshchad Revolyutsii. In the next instalment of ‘Moscow in One Detail’, we will explore another feature of the city that is easy to walk past.

Sources

1. State Historical and Cultural Expert Assessment Report on Ploshchad Revolyutsii Station, 5 August 2016
2. Russian Commission for UNESCO: ‘A Bronze Chronicle of the Land of the Soviets’
3. ‘Privet, Moskvoved!’, No. 2 (10), 2025: ‘Who Are These People?’
4. Alexander Spiridonov, ‘The Worn Dog’, 29 January 2016, CC BY 3.0
5. Kinsht A. V., Shamets A. A. ‘The Cultural and Aesthetic Function of the Soviet and Russian Metro’, 2021
6. "Palace Dungeons" - a tour of the Moscow metro