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# How high relief differs from bas-relief, as shown by a Moscow metro composition
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/ne-poimu-pochemu-vse-pishut-o-vozvrashchenii-barelefa-so-stalinym-na-stantsii-taganskaia-ved-eto-gorelef-a-ne-barelef-printsipialno-raznye-vidy-skulpturnogo-izobrazheniia/
- Published: 2025-05-15T07:44:10.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T18:46:51.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Architecture, Art, Moscow, Observations

I do not understand why everyone is writing about the return of the bas-relief with Stalin at Taganskaya station, when it is a HIGH RELIEF, not a bas-relief: two fundamentally different kinds of sculptural image.

Let me explain the difference. A high relief (haut-relief, or alto-rilievo) projects from a flat surface by more than half of its volume, with some elements that may even stand free of the background. From the French haut, "high", as in haute couture, so it is easy to remember.

A bas-relief comes from the French bas, "low". Its parts project from the background by less than half of their thickness.

The composition by Yevgeny Blinov and Pavel Balandin, restored in the Moscow Metro, is precisely a high relief.

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_16442@15-05-2025_10-44-10.jpg)