Universytet (Kiev Metro)

Universytet ( _uk. Унiвеситет, _ru. Университет, "Universitet") is a station on Kiev Metro's Sviatoshynsko-Brovarska Line. The station was opened as part of the first stage of the Metro in 1960, and is named after the Kiev State University. The station is a pylon trivault and is considered to be amongst the most beautiful stations in the system, and iscurrently the only one in Kiev that is the closest in appearance to the famous Stalinist architecture used in the Moscow and Saint Petersburg Metros of the 1950s. (work of architects H.Holovka, M.Syrkin, Ye.Ivanov, Zh.Yegulashvili, L.Semenyuk and O.Lozynska). The red marbled pylons are adorned with white marble busts of famous scientists and Ukrainian literature poets (sculptors M.Dekermendzhi, A.Bilostotsky, V.Znoba, A.Kobalyov, Ye.Kuntsevych, M.Lysenko, P.Ostapenko, O.Suprun and A.Shapran).

The white marble friezes also decorate the pylons and lighting is achieved by hidden lamps in the niches of the central vault, and by lamps on the platforms. The walls are covered with orange tiles and the floor is made of various shades of granite arranged in a traditional Ukrainian ornament layout. In the end of the station is white marbled wall, before which a large statue of Vladimir Lenin used to sit. However this was dismantled in the early 1990s, making the station lose its original look.

The station's large vestibule (monument to architecture) is situated in the middle of the A.V.Fomin Botanical Garden with a gallery allowing direct access to the gardens or to Taras Shevchenko Boulevard. The escalator ride consists of two separate tunnels linked in between by a smaller hall.

External links

* [http://www.metro.kiev.ua/Ukr/UniverUkr.html Description of station on official site] uk icon
* [http://www.metropoliten.kiev.ua/station/station.php?lang=0&station_id=9 Station description + gallery] ru icon
* [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Kiev&t=k&om=1&ll=50.444128,30.505718&spn=0.003034,0.010815 Satellite Image centred on the vestibule]
* [http://metro.zarohem.cz/kyjev/01-svjatosinobravarska/09-universitet/index.html Photo gallery] cs icon