The Universytet ( uk, Університет, , russian: Университет) is a station on Kharkiv Metro's

Saltivska Line The Saltivska line ( uk, Салтівська лінія, russian: Салтовская линия) is the second line of the Kharkiv Metro operating since 1984, serving Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine. The Saltivska Line is the short ...

. The station was opened on 10 August 1984 and is located beneath the '' Ploscha Svobody'', at the time, the largest square in Europe and the second largest in the world after

Tiananmen Square Tiananmen Square or Tian'anmen Square (; 天安门广场; Pinyin: ''Tiān'ānmén Guǎngchǎng''; Wade–Giles: ''Tʻien1-an1-mên2 Kuang3-chʻang3'') is a city square in the city center of Beijing, China, named after the eponymous Tiananmen (" ...

, in the centre of Kharkiv. The station is named after the

Kharkiv National University The Kharkiv University or Karazin University ( uk, Каразінський університет), or officially V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University ( uk, Харківський національний університет імені ...

, which is located on top of the square. Up until 1994 the station was called ''Dzerzhinska'' according to the name of the square ''Poloscha Dzerzhinskoho'', (Dzherzhinsky square) after the founder of the Soviet Secret Police

Felix Dzerzhinsky Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky ( pl, Feliks Dzierżyński ; russian: Фе́ликс Эдму́ндович Дзержи́нский; – 20 July 1926), nicknamed "Iron Felix", was a Bolshevik revolutionary and official, born into Poland, Polish n ...

. It currently forms a complex with the adjacent station

Derzhprom The Derzhprom ( uk, Держпром) or Gosprom (russian: Госпром) building is an office building located on Freedom Square in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Built in the Constructivist style, it was the first modern skyscraper building in th ...

on the

Oleksiivska Line The Oleksiivska line ( uk, Олексіївська лінія, russian: Алексеевская линия) is the third and newest line of the Kharkiv Metro that was opened in 1995. The Oleksiivska line is the second longest in the system at ...

. The station is located deep underground and is a bi-level pillar-trispan with blank

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

columns. The station's service rooms are located on one of the second level balconies, and the other balcony is used as an underground passenger transfer for when there are fairs and concerts on the Ploscha Svobody. The underground transfer was once used for daily passenger usage during the 1980s, but was closed down during the early 1990s. There are six-meter cupolas in diameter, each hanging 12 meters apart and weighing 120 tons, are incorporated into the ceiling, in which the station's chandeliers hang. The station itself is 13 meters in width, due to the transfer point to the Derzhprom station on the Oleksiyivsky Line. The transfer itself was supposed to include escalator access to passengers, but as there was an economic crisis in the country, the escalators were abandoned and replaced with regular stairs. A large portrait of

was located on the station which was later removed after the renovation of the station. Station vestibules are located on both ends of the station, which have been linked with a network of underground passenger tunnels which have many small shops.

External links

Gortransport Kharkov
- Universitetskaya Station {{Kharkiv Metro Kharkiv Metro stations Railway stations opened in 1984 Railway stations at university and college campuses