Universytet (, ; , ) is a station on the

Kharkiv Metro The Kharkiv Metro () is the rapid transit system that serves the city of Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine. The metro was the second in Ukraine (after Kyiv Metro, Kyiv) and the sixth in the Soviet Union, USSR when it opened on 22–23 ...

Saltivska Line The Saltivska line (, ) is the second line of the Kharkiv Metro operating since 1984, serving Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine. The Saltivska Line is the shortest line segment of the system, at , with a total of eight stations. Unique ...

. The station was opened on 10 August 1984 and is located beneath the '' Maidan 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 () is a city square in the city center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen ("''Gate of Heavenly Peace''") located to its north, which separates it from the Forbidden City. The square contains th ...

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

Kharkiv National University The V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University (), also known as Kharkiv National University or Karazin University, is a public university in Kharkiv, Ukraine. It was founded in 1804 through the efforts of Vasily Karazin, becoming the second olde ...

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

Felix Dzerzhinsky Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky (; ; – 20 July 1926), nicknamed Iron Felix (), was a Soviet revolutionary and politician of Polish origin. From 1917 until his death in 1926, he led the first two Soviet secret police organizations, the Cheka a ...

. It currently forms a complex with the adjacent station Derzhprom on the

Oleksiivska Line The Oleksiivska line (, ) 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 and contains a total of nine stations, with Peremoha (Kharkiv Metro), Peremoha being ...

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

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

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 Maidan Svobody. The underground transfer was once used for daily passenger usage during the 1980s, but was closed down during the early 1990s. Cupolas with a diameter of six meters, 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 Oleksiivska 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. In September 2023 a small school was created in the metro station so that education would continue during the bombing of Kharkiv in the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

References

External links

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