Teatralna (Kiev Metro)
Encyclopedia
Sviatoshynsko-Brovarska Line
The Sviatoshynsko-Brovarska Line , is the first line of the Kiev Metro, dating back to 1960. It includes some of the system's more historically significant stations, like Arsenalna, which at 105.5 meters is the deepest in the world and the next station Dnipro, which although the tunnel follows a...
of the Kiev Metro
Kiev Metro
The Kiev Metro is a metro system that is the mainstay of Kiev's public transport. It was the first rapid transit system in Ukraine and the third one built in the USSR . It now has three lines with a total length of 63.7 kilometres and 49 stations...
system. The station serves as a transfer point, via a pedestrian walkway connecting it to the Zoloti Vorota
Zoloti Vorota (Kiev Metro)
Zoloti Vorota is one of the most famous stations on the Kiev Metro. Named after the Golden Gates historical structure, the station is arguabely one of the most stunning achievements in late Soviet architecture....
station on the Syretsko-Pecherska Line
Syretsko-Pecherska Line
The Syretsko-Pecherska Line is third line of the Kiev Metro, first opened in 1989. It extends the metro system southeast along the right bank of the Dnieper River before crossing it on a covered bridge and then east from there. The northern section extends further northwestwards. The line is one...
. The station was opened in 1987, between the Universytet
Universytet (Kiev Metro)
Universytet 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...
and Khreshchatyk
Khreshchatyk (Kiev Metro)
Khreshchatyk is a station on the Sviatoshynsko-Brovarska Line of the Kiev Metro. The station is named for the Khreshchatyk street, the most central street in Kiev. The station was opened in 1960 along with the first stage of the Metro...
stations which were opened 27 years earlier. Currently there is a proposal for a second entrance to the station.
The station owes its name to the Kiev Opera Theatre
Kiev Opera
The Kiev Opera group was formally established in the summer of 1867, and is the third oldest in Ukraine, after Odessa Opera and Lviv Opera. Today, the Kiev Opera Company performs at the National Opera House of Ukraine named after Taras Shevchenko in Kiev....
located a few blocks away, and Lesya Ukrainka National Academic Theater of Russian Drama
Lesya Ukrainka National Academic Theater of Russian Drama
Lesya Ukrainka National Academic Theater of Russian Drama is a theater in Kiev, Ukraine.Founded in 1926, the theater produces many important plays of Russian and Ukrainian dramatic art. Its repertoire consists of plays by famous playwrights such as Fyodor Dostoevsky, Mikhail Bulgakov and others...
, next to the metro entrance. Prior to 1992, the station was known as Leninska from its location on Leninska Street (renamed to Khmelnytska Street), in reference to Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
leader Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
.
History
In the original 1950s Kiev Metro development plans, the northwest-southeast Syretsko-Pecherska Line was not foresee. Therefore, no space was left for a transfer station on the Sviatoshynsko-Brovarska line. When the former line was being planned during the 1970s, it was decided that a new station was to be built onto the existing track.The original curved tunnels lacked any provision for a future platform, and had to be very precisely rebored to create a straight section for the new station. Construction began simultaneously when the work commenced on the Syretsko-Pecherska Line in the early 1980s. During the last six months of construction, the service on the line was disrupted, and the Sviatoshynsko-Brovarska Line was effectively split in two, with a replacement bus service operating free of charge between the two stations on either end, Universytet from the west, and Khreshchatyk from the east, respectfully. Finally, on November 7, 1987 (the 70th anniversary of the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
), the Teatralna station was opened to the public. The old tunnels were then used to build the enlarged vault of Zoloti Vorota
Zoloti Vorota (Kiev Metro)
Zoloti Vorota is one of the most famous stations on the Kiev Metro. Named after the Golden Gates historical structure, the station is arguabely one of the most stunning achievements in late Soviet architecture....
, which opened in 1989. An underground walkway connects the rear end of Zoloti Vorota to the side of Tetralna, allowing passengers to change lines without leaving the metro.
Architecture
The Teatralna station's decor strongly recalls its former name, that of commemorating Vladimir Lenin. As it was located between two earlier stations constructed in the Stalinist styleStalinist architecture
Stalinist architecture , also referred to as Stalinist Gothic, or Socialist Classicism, is a term given to architecture of the Soviet Union between 1933, when Boris Iofan's draft for Palace of the Soviets was officially approved, and 1955, when Nikita Khrushchev condemned "excesses" of the past...
, its architects T. Tselikovska, N. Aloshkin and A. Krushynsky took care not to create any sharp contrasts between the Teatralna station and those that were already existing. Rich red marble adorns thick pylons which separate the platforms from the central hall. They hold niches decorated with bronze sculptures showing the name and life years of Vladimir Lenin, leading up to a large bronze bas-relief at the end of the central hall. The walls are reveted with white marble and the floor is laid with grey granite.
In the early 1990s, almost all of the Lenin plaques, statues and individual sculptures were removed from around Kiev, including from other Metro stations. Leninska station was renamed to Teatralna in 1992. However, the statue on the street and bas-relief in the station were retained, among just a handful of surviving Lenin monuments in Kiev.
Keeping the Lenin monuments on the station cost the director of the metro company, Mykola Shavlovsky, his position. Kiev Mayor
Mayor of Kiev
Mayor of Kiev is the elected mayor of the municipality of Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, who is also normally automatically appointed as Head of the City's State Administration and Chair of the City Council....
Leonid Chernovetsky criticized Shavlovsky for lack of order in the metro. "Everything is left as it was in 1970s. Socialism is still left in the metro-just take a ride-the citations of Vladimir Lenin are all around [on Teatralna station]. But even Lenin did not want such a metro as it is these days."