Teatralna metro station Kyiv
Inspired by Becky’s Photo Friday series of photos of the Moscow metro stations on her blog Trekking with Becky, we’ve decided to do a similar set of posts and photo albums about some of Kyiv’s metro stations. Like many metro systems from the ex-Soviet Union, the metro stations are all unique and decorated in different styles, with carvings, murals, tiles and some awesome architecture.
Kyiv metro is made up of three line: red, green and blue, snaking out from the centre of the city. It was only opened in 1960 but still seems old compared to the Bangkok metro that we travelled on for the 18 months before moving to Kyiv.
We live next to the Teatralna metro station, so let’s begin there.
Teatralna metro station was a late arrival to the Kyiv metro system, opening in 1987, to act as a transfer station between the red and green lines. At the time of opening, it was called Leninska, after Lenin obviously. In 1992, as the monuments to socialism were being removed after Ukrainian Independence, the station was renamed Teatralna, since it’s next to one of Kyiv’s big theatres.
The metro station is quite deep underground (the Kyiv metro system includes the deepest metro station in the world, Arsenalna, where we’ll take you in another post), so you first have to spend rather a long time travelling on the long escalators.
At the bottom of the escalators, at the end of the hall between the platforms is a huge mural of a theatre, which I think is really cool. Interestingly, however, this covers a big bronze base relief of Lenin, and was only put in in 2014.
There also used to be base relief carvings of Lenin and quotes on the big marble columns between the platforms in Teatralna metro station, but these have also been covered up.
What does still exist, however, is some communist-looking base relief at the top of the escalators. They remind me of posters that were all around Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.
If you are interested in metro stations, check out our other posts:
Osokorky Metro station has great street art.
Zoloti Vorota is one of the most beautiful in the world.
Universitet is a tribute to Ukrainian writers and scientists
Wow! I’m so flattered, and I’m so happy to see that another country has incredible metro stations! I can’t wait to see more!
Moscow has a Teatr station, but this station’s painting is incredible. 😀 Great job!
Thank You! I just saw a blog on Almaty, which seems to have them too. Lots more great ones to focus!
Wow, this has to be one of the most impressive metro stations I’ve seen! I like that they take pride in the small things like this. It’s simply beautiful~
Awesome! I have enjoyed Becky’s posts a lot. Therefore, I am glad to see your contributions to this topic. I get a sense of awe when I see these metro station. One of the reasons I would like to live in Europe. #feetdotravel
The details in these photos are awesome! Such a cool area/thing to focus on, a metro station. Nice post!
Would love to see some of these train stations! Becky has definitely written about several amazing ones for sure! #feetdotravel
This post has reminded me to stop and smell the roses so to speak. Generally when I use the metro in any city I rush through and jump on the train without really taking in the surroundings. I’ll take a moment next time and see if there are some interesting nooks and crannies in the station. Great post and some very cool art. Love the propaganda poster reference.
Yeah, I’ve just started noticing this sort of thing. It does make you stop and look.
What an intricate and unique metro station, I would love to check this out one day! Absolutely beautiful 🙂
This post is proof that beautiful places exist everywhere, if only we open eyes and look around and up a little more. Love the detail, I will be looking at train stations much more closely now so thank for you bringing this to my attention! #feetdotravel
When I was in Kiev I visited the deepest metro station in the world, Arsenalna. I think it used to have the longest escalator in the world too but I think London has that now. Great post, the metro in Kiev is a point of interest in itself!
Yeah, we are going to visit that and take photos soon. I didn’t know it was now not the longest escalator though. It’s interesting that the station after it is above ground, so it must go up…..I’d better not spoil that as I’ll write about it in another post.
Fabulous post – great to see stuff like this (I love art/architecture, history and trains!) will be checking out beckys posts too.