St. Petersburg is one of the largest megacities of Russia and its first European city. And the metro is one of the achievements of technological progress, perceived in the city from Europe. However, in comparison with the metro of European cities, everything is done in the St. Petersburg metro taking into account the convenience and positive aesthetic impact on a person. Many guests of the northern capital compare subway stations with palace interiors. And not without reason.
Mayakovskaya Station: History of Creation
One of the oldest metro stations in St. Petersburg is Mayakovskaya. It was opened in 1967 as part of the stations of the second branch of the Leningrad Metro. Its name is one of the Petersburg toponyms. It came from the name of Mayakovsky Street located nearby, perpendicular to Nevsky Prospekt.
By construction, "Mayakovskaya" refers to a group of deep-seated stations. To reach the surface, you need to climb a steep escalator.
Mayakovskaya Station Decor: Lower Entrance Hall
In the photo - Mayakovskaya metro station in St. Petersburg, or rather, its lower lobby. It is made in scarlet colors, reminiscent of the color of a revolutionary banner and blood. Apparently, because Vladimir Mayakovsky was the "mouthpiece of the revolution." And the color of blood is the symbolic color of revolutionary events and changes in the life of the city and country.
The wall cladding is made of red smalt with areas where a red and white portrait image of Mayakovsky is laid out and has an uneven structure, creating the illusion of a number of unfolded flags. The name of the station is laid out in red letters on a wall in large letters on a dark background. The general illumination is complemented by the special lighting achieved by the milk glass lamps, giving a soft diffused color, acquiring a somewhat mystical shade from the overall color of the station. And the mosaic lining of the walls seems luminous from the inside. Also, the artist Yu. Mogilevsky used a quote from the famous poem of the poet in the design.
The upper lobby of the Mayakovskaya station in St. Petersburg
The decor of the upper lobby is brownish yellow. The walls are lined with rectangular stone slabs of a heterogeneous structure in the form of veins. The center of the room is marked by a large rectangular pillar-pylon separating the front part from the escalator. The composition from the portrait image of V. Mayakovsky, made in full growth, and in large letters of the depicted quote from his work, is minted on a copper pylon.
Historical entrance
The upper foyer of the Mayakovskaya metro station in St. Petersburg faces two streets - Nevsky Prospekt and Marata Street. It is “hidden” inside an old 19th century apartment building.
House No. 71 on Nevsky Prospekt was built in 1848 for P.I. Zaitsev. The building was designed by P. A. Chepyzhnikov in the then prevailing architectural style of eclecticism in the city. Its facades are divided by cornices into horizontal stripes so that the third and fourth floors are visually combined into one tier. This tier is decorated with white shovels. And the first floor is decorated with an arcade of rows of semicircular arches from both highways.
The fifth floor of the building repeats the division of the third tier with white blades and is also separated by a cornice. It was erected in the 20th century in violation of the rules adopted in St. Petersburg during the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna — all residential buildings should not exceed the height of the upper eaves of the Winter Palace.
At the end of the century, the merchant V. A. Lapshin and I. V. Dobrynin became the owners of the house in turn. The building was used as a tenement house. There were furnished rooms mainly for wealthy tenants. There was a Solovyov’s partnership store on the ground floor, and at the beginning of the 20th century a liquor store, restaurant and pubs.
In Soviet times, at the very end of the existence of the Soviet Union, on the street Marat, formerly Gryaznaya, the Nevsky restaurant worked, and earlier, in the sixties, the Trust Lengosnarpit restaurant, which later became a dining room.
The building is also known for the fact that the famous Russian writer G.P. Danilevsky lived, worked and died here.
Mayakovskaya in the city infrastructure
This station is very important in urban infrastructure. You have a question: how to get to Nevsky? The Mayakovskaya metro station in St. Petersburg is one of the most convenient options when you need to get to the Liteiny or Vladimirsky Prospects, Marat and Mayakovsky streets and perpendicular lanes.
The Mayakovskaya station in St. Petersburg is part of the green metro line from Rybatsky to Primorskaya. "Mayakovka" is located just between the stations "Alexander Nevsky Square" and "Gostiny Dvor".
Attractions around Mayakovskaya in St. Petersburg
Once on Nevsky Prospect, look around! On your right is an obelisk in the form of a granite bayonet - a monument to the defenders of Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War, and on the left you can see one of the most beautiful bridges of the city - Anichkov, thrown over the Fontanka.
On the corner near Anichkov Bridge is the Beloselsky-Belozersky mansion, the work of Andrei Ivanovich Shtakenschneider, built in the 19th century in the eclectic style (historicism trend), using elements reminiscent of the high baroque fashionable in the city in the 40-50s years of the XVIII century. On the contrary, through the Fontanka River - the famous Anichkov Palace, built in the XVIII century. Mikhail Zemtsov for favorite Elizabeth Petrovna - Count Alexei Grigoryevich Razumovsky.
On the other side of Nevsky Prospect stands out a building that resembles an antique building with its facade - the palace of Princess Z. Yusupova. Most of the houses are former profitable. But they also have their own history and remarkable architecture, making them important historical and cultural monuments of old Petersburg.
Finally, we recall that the operating mode of the Mayakovskaya metro station in St. Petersburg allows you to use it daily, from 5:42 to 0:25.