In St. Petersburg, everything is surprising and not so much as in the capital in general, but as in St. Petersburg exclusively. Not only the streets that diverge from the center in all directions, not only the deepest metro in the world, but also the hours of operation of the metro are shorter than in other megacities.
Opening hours on weekdays and holidays
For example, the work of the Vasileostrovskaya metro station is from 05:45 a.m. to 00:30 a.m.
The metro covers the most active hours of life of citizens and visitors. For those who like to take longer walks, enjoy night walks, get-togethers, nightlife, the city authorities have come up with alternative ways to get to the place - these are taxis and buses with routes along the metro lines. Or you can just walk through the Palace Bridge to Admiralteyskaya Embankment, across the Tuchkov Bridge to Bolshoy Prospekt, to Academician Likhachev Square through Birzhevoy Bridge and through the Annunciation Bridge to Promenade des Anglais.
But this is on ordinary days, and on New Year's Eve, on the night of honoring graduates - the show “Scarlet Sails”, on City Day, Victory Day and other state and major city celebrations of the St. Petersburg metro and, in particular, Art. metro station "Vasileostrovskaya", work almost around the clock. This is done so that the townspeople and tourists, who are especially numerous these days, enjoy spectacular performances and enjoy walking around the amazing city.
The only one on the island
And there is something to see. The Vasileostrovskaya metro station alone can become a place for tourists to visit. This station of the Nevsko-Vasilievskaya line is considered one of the deepest - located at a depth of 64 meters. It was commissioned on November 3, 1967 and still remains the only station on Vasilyevsky Island.
Hence the name, although earlier, at the design stages, there were several options: “Middle Avenue”, “Eighth Line”. The reason is simple - it is at the intersection of these streets that the station lobby is located.
But on the 7th line near house 34 there is a monument to the scorer-lieutenant Vasily, in whose honor the island was named. According to historical legends, Tsar Peter I personally signed orders to the artillery battery with a note: "Vasily to the island." It is worth mentioning that the action took place in the days of the defense of Russian borders from the Swedes.
And since the station on the island turned out to be the only one for the entire historical building, the name was given to it the only possible one - the Vasileostrovskaya metro station.
Restructuring
Now the passenger traffic on average per month is about 2 million people. This was not in the calculations of architects and builders. For this reason, during rush hours in the Vasileostrovskaya metro station it is a bit crowded. But now experts are working on it.
The interior of the station is concise, convenient - the walls are dressed in white granite, the floor is paved with gray granite inlaid with an aluminum profile, the platform and tunnel leading to the escalators are decorated with blue-green smalt. Convenient wooden benches for tired travelers were installed along the walls.
By City Day in 2016, Metrostroy prematurely completed the repair of the Vasileostrovskaya metro station. The mechanisms of escalators were debugged, drainage umbrellas were replaced with structures made of modern reinforced materials.
The outer lobby was redone, and now there are wide comfortable doors for passengers with limited mobility, all the old obsolete structures were replaced: massive iron supports and a visor, and stained-glass windows and windows were replaced. The color scheme of the Vasileostrovskaya metro station was also corrected - a yellow-canary, more saturated color is noticeable from afar.
In 2010, there was talk and there was even a construction project to replace the outdated lobby of the already 7-storey (!) Building of the shopping center. It’s hard to judge how he would fit in the historical center. But the wise leadership of the municipal improvement council in the person of Galina Kalinina decided: "Before creating new problems, the old ones must be solved."
The same Metrostroy of St. Petersburg promises to commission the transition to the Vasileostrovskaya -2 metro station in 2018. This is the Ring Line station. The city is growing, more and more tourists are coming, and the subway should develop in accordance with the needs of its passengers.
Helpful information
Even just the name of the metro station "Vasileostrovskaya" is already fascinating with its sound. And how many attractions are around! All of them are associated with the ghosts of the island, its legends, follies and extravagant secrets. Brusnitsyn mansion with a mirror of Dracula; Egyptian sphinxes, once guarding the entrance of the temple of the pharaoh Amenhotep III and finding refuge on the banks of the Neva; the courtyard of the Academy of Arts, created at the behest of Catherine II the Great, has a perfectly round shape and is equal in diameter to the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral in Rome; the first palace in St. Petersburg - the magnificent chambers of Prince Menshikov; Konke monument - installed just near the Vasileostrovskaya metro station - to the right of the exit; the pharmacy of Dr. Pel and sons; Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art.
Come - it will be interesting.