The station was originally planned to serve the enormous Palace of the Soviets (Dvorets Sovetov), which was to rise nearby on the former site of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.

The combination of unrestricted space and dry soil made for ideal conditions, and construction of the station took only 180 days from start to finish.

The station was named Dvorets Sovetov until 1957, when it was renamed in honour of Peter Kropotkin, a geographer, philosopher, and anarchist theoretician born in the vicinity.

The spacious platform is covered with squares of gray and red granite and the walls, originally tiled, are now faced with white Koyelga marble.

As of 2013[update] the station serves about 42,050 passengers daily, many of them tourists visiting the newly rebuilt Cathedral or the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts.