Radianska (Kharkiv Metro)

The Sovetskaya or Radyanska ( _uk. Радянська; _ru. Советская) is a station on Kharkiv Metro's Kholodnogorsko-Zavodskaya Line. The station was opened on August 23, 1975. It is located in the historical part of Kharkiv, beneath the "Ploscha Konstytutsii", literally "Constitution square", and is named for Soviet.

The Sovetskaya station forms a complex with the adjacent station, Istorichesky Muzei, on the Saltovskaya Line. Before the Istorichesky Muzei station's completion in 1984, a relief marble architectural item adorned with the hammer and sickle was located on the station. Inside the passenger transfer tunnel is the Kharkiv Metro's only public restroom, which is unlike the western European metro systems.

Early during the planning stage, the station was to be called "Tsentr", literally "Center", and to be built in the vicinity of the "Tsentralny" Restaurant. But because of the hydro-geological circumstances in the area, also affecting the construction of neighbouring stations, the station was moved to the northern end of the Constitution Square.

Inside the cashier hall columns hold up the ceiling. They are made of marble blocks, the lower half being made of dark tones, gradually moving on into whiter tones. The station vestibule is lightened with luminecient lamps, put inside niches within the ceiling. The vestibule's area is 500 square meters, which due to the high passenger traffic, caused by the station being a transfer to another station.

The Sovetskaya station is lain deeply underground and is a pylon trivault which is separated by arcades of the tracks. It was designed by V.A. Krasnolobov, N.P. Nikulin, and P.G. Chechelnitskiy; engineered by P.A. Bochikashvili, Y.E. Kryk and V.A. Tovalyuk; and decorated by D.G. Sova. The partitions the tracks have been held with are made of rose marble from Uzbekistan, and the arcades themselves have been finished with blank marble. The marble harmonizes with the floor which has been paved with red and black blocks of polished granite.

Until the end of 1985, the station hall was lighted with lights placed inside original geometrical forms. In the next year, the geometrical lamp forms were replaced by different metal forms. In connection with the 350th anniversary of Kharkiv in 2003, the stations, including Sovetskaya, were lightened with brighter lamps.

External links

*ru icon [http://gortransport.kharkov.ua/index.htm?/subway/stations/stations.php?subway_station_page=4 Sovetskaya on Gortransport Kharkiv site] -